Linen Care
How do I take care of Linen?

Few people understand the characteristics of Linen or how to care for it. Read on to find out.

It is wrong to think linen must be dry-cleaned.Linen is stronger when wet.The more you wash linen, the nicer it becomes. Sometimes, however, colors fade or the fabric shrinks. This happens when the fabric is not dyed with colorfast dye or is not stabilized properly. As a general rule, the warmer the water used to wash linen, the more the fabric will shrink.

Some general recommendations when washing your Linen:

First of all,select an appropriate washing agent. Many detergents contain optical whitening agents that are perfect for white linens. These are not recommended for colored Linen however, as discolouring and spotting may result. When washing colored linen, check that the detergent does not have whitening agents.
If you have hard water with a high lime content, use a softening agent, especially for dark colors.
Dark colors should always be washed separately, to avoid discoloring lighter-colored garments. When you wash dark colors-particularly large pieces-avoid overloading the machine! If you do, you risk getting lighter streaks in the fabric.
Linen has to pressed to be perfect. But if you do your own washing, you can avoid some wrinkling. Never over-dry the fabric and avoid high dryer temperatures. When the drying cycle is over, remove laundry at once. If possible, pull out the corners and press them flat by hand. This reduces the amount of pressing later.

Linen Care: Part 2
You may wish to try out the following if you have stains on your linen:

INK: Soak in milk, or in a soap-and-ammonia blend, and rub the spot.

BLOOD: Rinse immediately in cold water.

FRUIT / COFFEE / TEA: Rub with alcohol, white vinegar, and ammonia.

GREASY WAX: Rub with ammonia.

RED WINE: Rub immediately with sparkling water or white wine.

CANDLE WAX: Chill with ice and scrape as much as possible.Then iron out the remainder between two tissues.

If the stains do not disappear, you may try soaking the Linen in a good washing detergent, or dissolving 3.5 oz sodium borate in boiling water, then adding enough cold water to obtain 1.5 gallon and soak for one hour or more.

NEVER use chlorine bleach as this can damage the fibre.

You can also try out the traditional way: spread the Linen out and sun it for a few days. This was the old way to bleach fabric! For the care of your linen you may want to dry clean it. Always tell the laundry that your product is made of linen!