Caring For Linen Sheets
The nitty gritty detail of caring for 100% linen sheets.
Linen is very simple to care for. In fact we can share its care instructions in three short sentences:
Machine wash on cool with like colors.
Machine dry on low heat or line dry.
Do not over-dry.
However, being how detail oriented we are, we wanted to share the details to help you get to know linen better! Understanding the properties of linen will help you care for it properly and avoid mistakes that can reduce the life of your linen.
Linen is made out of the fibers of the flax plant. Those fibers are strongest when wet. Many dryers these days run very hot which is not good for the fabric over time. Over-drying makes linen more brittle and less soft than it’s meant to be. Always use the dryer on low heat, and remove the linen before it becomes bone dry. In fact, if you want the incredibly soft linen, we recommend taking it out of the dryer while it is slightly damp and letting it air dry the rest of the way. We like to drape it over our drying rack, or hang on the edge of the dryer, or even just lay it flat on the bed we are about to make. This smooths out the wrinkles and lets it air dry to an amazing buttery soft feeling. Remember that if you are washing the linen with other non-linen items, the linen would dry out faster, so we recommend washing it alone, or taking it out early.
Line drying is another wonderful option. The key to soft linen is to keep it moving slightly while it is drying. If you were to hang it to dry in a completely still room, it would dry slightly stiffer than if it were blowing gently in the breeze.
Linen shrinkage in general tends to be about 10% from its original form. At Black Earth Linen all of our items are pre-shrunk, so you should not expect them to shrink anymore, possible 1-2% over time. Sizes listed are for pre-shrunk linen.
We love the character wrinkles give to linen, however there IS such thing as too many wrinkles. This can happen if you haven’t smoothed them out before letting it dry or let it dry wadded up in a ball. Before you place your linens in the dryer, release the the wrinkles by shaking out the sheets and pillow cases, especially around the hems where it can tend to bunch up more. This will ensure they dry “nice” and leave you with soft and smooth linen. Wrinkles will also continue to release hours after you have smoothed the sheets out on the bed. But please remember wrinkles are part of the casual vibe and wonderful texture and character linen adds to a room. Re-moistening wrinkled linen will also allow the wrinkles to release again.
In general we don’t like to recommend dryer sheets. We have read conflicting articles about their safety and don’t recommend adding artificial smells and chemicals to your pure linens.
We do not recommend ironing your linen, even though it holds up well to ironing. If you feel the need to iron linen sheets then they are probably not for you.
When washing your linen, use cool or warm water. Using cool water will extend the life of your sheets but we understand wanting to use warm water once in a while for a deeper clean. Use a mild detergent and avoid fabric softeners. If you treat linen well it has been known to last decades!
10.03.2018