It's not secret that Linen is my favorite fabric in the summer. It's comfortable, lightweight, breathable and perfect in the heat. This summer I've added so many beautiful pieces linen dresses to my wardrobe and I cannot get enough.
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| The Laundress |
Linen can be intimidating to some since most of those pieces are "Dry clean only". The last thing most of us want is the dry cleaning bill and the effort and energy it takes to drop off and pick up. I am here to tell you, it's estimated that 90% of dry clean only item can be laundered at home. You'd be surprise by how easy it is to take care of those special pieces in your closet at home. Caring for your garment at home is great for the environment and you. I hardly ever taking anything to the cleaners due to all the crazy chemicals they use, I also don't like when other people touch my clothes and also I have severe fragrance/scent sensitivity. It's to the point where I used to get headaches/skin rashes/nausea if mum used those detergent with those synthetic scents. So caring for my clothes at home has always been very important to me and better for for the longevity of my garments.
Now let's get back to linen, fabric of the season. Since discovering the Laundress last year when I was looking for products to wash my cashmere/wool pieces. I fell in love with their products as they are biodegradable, allergen free and vegan. Linen is already a natural fabric, using the laundress to care for those pieces are a match made for laundry day.
You can hand wash most of your linen pieces or machine wash! I recommend checking the label of your garment for specific advice from the brand, but you don't always need to dry clean linen, most linen can be hand/machine washed on a short or delicate cycle with the Laundress signature detergent. Always wash in lukewarm, in fact most of your clothes will last longer if you wash them in cooler water and it's also better for the environment. You will extend the life of the fabric if you hand-wash your linen dresses in cold water. It's recommended to wash your dresses inside out, but I prefer the other way. One tip is you don't need to wash your dresses after every wear, if your dress gets dirty then obviously wash it, but if it's still clean then it is better for the fabric to not wash it until it needs it. I don't wash clothes after every wear, I think it's putting unnecessary pressure on the garment. Always remember to separate your whites and colors—new linen dyes have a tendency to bleed in the wash.
Steer clear of harsh laundry detergents when washing linen clothes.
I also recommend thelaundress new Limited edition signature detergent no.723 which features the complex damask rose along with notes of jasmine and amber. Smells uber chic. There's currently a 25% off sale which runs through 7/27/2020.
My new favorite scent for all my linen dresses.
Air dry or partially tumble dry your linen. So now Linen has no stretch, I myself air dry most of my pieces. Some brands will recommend not tumble drying linen at all, but you can partially tumble dry your linen dresses. If you don't have a good space outside to hang your linen to dry and don't want to use inside your house, you can partially let your linen dresses dry in your tumble dryer, then pull it out while it is still damp and hang on drying rack to finish the process(this sounds more complicated than it is, I promise it's super easy). Hanging it to dry also means you can skip ironing, it will have less wrinkles and a really nice texture/feel when hung to dry. It's better to steam your linen dresses whilst still damped. I would not recommend ironing, too much pressure on the fabric.
Embrace the wrinkles. We spend our lives trying to prevent wrinkles, whether it's in our face or clothing, but part of loving linen does mean embracing a bit of wrinkle. In the past, I avoided wearing linen because of the wrinkles. As I got older and got better understanding of fabrics and falling in love with linen, I've since embraced the wrinkles of linen. I think it's part of its charm and I think it's sill chic! I can usually avoid steaming my dresses by hanging them to dry, but still throughout the day wrinkles will develop on my garments with wear. Some styles are more prone to wrinkles than others, but it's just part of the look of linen. One thing you can do to prevent wrinkles while wearing is to use a spray starch, this will help keep wrinkles at bay. If your clothes do wrinkle while wearing but are still clean then you can gently mist them with a spray bottle and smooth the wrinkles away with your hands or lay flat to dry before your next wear.
Don't be scared of stains. The laundress stain solutions make its so easy to remove stains from your favorite linen dresses. If you know anything about me, you'd know I can wear white dresses everyday if I could. I also enjoy my red wine. Stains happen, and often at that. It's been amazing not worrying about accidentally spilling some wine on myself because I know I can count on the laundress for those needs.
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| The Laundress no.723 |
How do you take care of your garments?
Thank you for reading,
Xoxo, Rose
***This post is in partnership with The Laundress. All opinions are my own
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