Linen Curtain Fabric Swatch

Machine Washing

• Linen should be washed at 40°C / 100 °F. If some heavy-duty stains appear, you can increase the temperature up to 60 °C / 140 °F. However, high temperatures shouldn’t be used too often as fabric tends to shrink.
• Linen should be washed separately from other fabrics and colors.
• If your washing machine allows you to select the water level, choose the highest one offered because linen is highly absorbent.

Hand Washing

• Hand-wash is best for thin linen fabrics, which could get damaged in the washing machine.
• Hand wash linen clothing using a gentle swishing motion, but never wring, twist or scrub the cloth.
• Any stain gets more and more difficult to clean with time. So to reach the best result, make sure you clean the stains as soon, as they appear. Read our blog for more tips how to clean almost every stain from your linen.

Detergent

• Choose soft, neutral detergents for delicate fabrics. Avoid detergents with bleach (i.e. chlorine, peroxide).
• Do not pour detergent directly on textiles; rather, add it to the water as the wash tub fills or dilute detergent with water, then add linens.
• Be sure that all detergent is completely rinsed from the garment before drying.

Bleaching

• You can only bleach white linen pieces. Do not bleach colored items.
• It is recommended to use oxygen-based bleaching agents.

Drying

• Linen can be dried in a tumble dryer on a low temperature, hung, or left to dry flat on a white towel.
• If using a tumble dryer, take the linen out when it’s still damp and complete drying by hanging it or laying flat.
• If possible, allow white linen pieces to dry out in the sun. It will help to maintain the fresh whiteness.
• Drying white linen in the sun helps retain the original white color.
• Over-drying is the most harmful process for fabrics as it weakens the fibers causing shrinkage and pilling.
• Over-dried items restore their natural moisture content after re-absorbing moisture from the air.

Ironing

• Iron linen while it’s still slightly damp.
• Use medium or high temperatures and steam. If needed, you can also spray some water on the fabric.
• Iron on the reverse side.
• Smooth and fold, or press with an iron if desired.
• If you like the natural, slightly crinkled look of linen, you can skip the ironing.

Shrinkage 

• Washed linen production is highly resistant for shrinkage compared with non-washed linen.
• Pre-shrunk items normally shrink 3 percent or less.
• Do not wash or, especially, dry linens on a hot setting, which is most likely to cause shrinkage.