Linen: Tips for Care and Wear

Dear users, dear authors,
Would you like to share your thoughts on linen as a summer fabric?

It’s a great summer fabric because it’s wonderfully breathable, and best of all, it absorbs sweat. Linen is a completely natural fabric with no synthetic fibers, which does have one drawback that some people might not like. Linen has one characteristic: it wrinkles very easily, and the wrinkles stay in the fabric—they don’t smooth out after wearing it, so you’ll need an iron to get it smooth again. If you sew your own clothes and want to make something out of linen, it’s recommended that you wash the piece of linen beforehand exactly as you would wash the finished garment afterward; otherwise, it might end up much too small, since linen can shrink by up to 20% after the first wash.
Linen is one of the oldest fabrics that has been—and continues to be—processed and used for clothing in the civilized world. Linen is derived from hemp; it is softened by beating and combing to remove the prickly fibers, then spun and processed into thread. It is then dyed either before or after weaving. Linen also dries relatively quickly after washing; you shouldn’t let it get bone-dry, but rather leave it slightly damp—that makes it easier to iron.
I myself just recently sewed a summer suit out of linen—with a vest and pants—and I love both pieces.

Best regards, Inge

Personally, I’m not a big fan of linen, precisely because it wrinkles so easily, and I really don’t like ironing. Besides, I also find the fabric to be relatively stiff. That’s why I prefer clothes made of viscose.

Linen is anything but stiff, Ruth—the linen I’ve worked with is so soft and supple. The days when linen used to be stiff are long gone; thankfully, thanks to modern fabric processing, that’s no longer the case.

Best regards, Inge

I also have linen clothes and love them. I have a traditional dress made of linen that holds its shape beautifully. It doesn’t get dirty easily, so it doesn’t need to be washed that often. When I do wash it, I put it in the washing machine at 30 degrees with a gentle spin cycle. It’s worked very well so far.

I love linen!
Since I also love shirt blouses, it’s a perfect match :-))

With linen, it really comes down to the quality—then it isn’t soooo “stiff” (if you let it dry completely). But since I personally think of linen more as a summer fabric, I hang it on the clothesline in the sun and breeze—and then you don’t have to iron it as hard afterward ;-)

These days, there are also great viscose/linen blends—they’re almost a little better than pure linen, and both are natural fibers, after all.