Hard-Wearing Embroidery?

[ragnvaeig]

I've decided that I need to upgrade our feast gear linens, which is a bit problematic. I've been using obviously-modern cotton as tablecloth and napkins--hemmed, at least--because I'm totally okay with getting food all over them and then tossing them in the machine to wash. It would probably freak me out entirely to try to create embroidered things out of linen to use on a regular basis, even though I've happily given them to others. So, Great LJ Horde (at least those of you who play with string or such), I have a couple questions:

Does reversible pattern darning hold up in machine wash?
Ought I to avoid using silk thread for the patterning to make sure it stays put?
What else should I do to make sure my pieces wear well as table linens?