TIPS & LINEN CARE

Useful Advice

Taking the proper care of your Details of Class linens will ensure that they last longer and are always beautiful. Fine linens require special care, but it’s not a long, time consuming task. Proper care will prevent continual replacement, and will prolong their beauty and useful life. The use of improper products, such as bleach, and over washing, are the most common causes of damage to the fabric.

Linen Closet Organizer

Taking a few minutes to correctly store your linens and organize your linen closet will increase their life and avoid bad surprises just when you need them for that special event.

Fabrics

A basic knowledge of how to care for different kinds of fabrics used in our products will help you deal with them in an easier way.

Stain Removing Tips

Learn how to deal with bad spots. Some of them are very common and easy to remove.

Washing & Ironing

After reading about Fabrics, please read this section carefully to select the proper technique for washing and ironing your linens.

Instructions:

Bed Sheets

Each of our products is delivered with specific care instructions, matching the fabric of the items you purchased.

Our bed linens are made from natural fabrics, and almost all of them are machine washable. If an item is embroidered or has an "appliqué" you should examine the material of the "appliqué", and apply a mix of treatments like selecting a gentle wash cycle or even stopping the spin cycle to avoid damaging the "appliqué". We recommend the use of a neutral laundry soap, and never use bleach.

For a stain, we recommend that you first try to remove the stain, and then wash the entire piece. Never wash first, and then try to remove the stain. Most of the time, washing will cause the stain to last forever. Use a stain remover and apply it only to the stained area. Follow the instructions for the stain remover. Click here to see the products we carry and recommend in our Linen Care section.

Special tip: in order to have a good night’s sleep and to get the most enjoyment out of your bed linens, it is very important for the bed to be made every day. Remember that your pillows stay under pressure for many hours. It is important to fluff each pillow every day to allow the fibers to fluff again and breathe. It will keep your pillows soft and in good shape for a much longer time, and will ensure a good restful night’s sleep for you.

It is also important to refresh sheets and blankets every day. With the bedroom windows open, take off the sheets and blankets and shake them well. This will allow the mattress and linens to take fresh air. Straighten the sheets and blankets on the bed again. If you do not have allergies we would like to suggest you choose your favorite fragrance from one of our disinfectant linen sprays. Apply a delicate "cloud" to the sheets. It gives the sensation of a fresh bed every day.

Tablecloths

Our tablecloths come in many different fabrics, and each one is delivered with specific care instructions matching the fabric of the items you purchased. Because it is difficulty and time consuming to iron pure linen items, we recommend professional washing and pressing. It is not necessary to use starch, but you may like the look and feel, and for a formal and elegant dinner, we highly recommend starched and well ironed linen table cloths and napkins.

If you choose to wash and iron at home, you should know that linen has to be washed in cold water with a neutral laundry soap, and ideally should not be washed in a top loading machine with an agitator – linen should be washed in a front loading machine. Hot water, the action of the agitator and a heavy spin cycle will shorten the life of the fabric by breaking its fibers and fading its color.

For stain removal, we recommend that you first try to remove the stain, and then wash the entire piece. Never wash first, and then try to remove the stain. Most of the time, washing first will cause the stain to last forever. Use a stain remover and apply it only to the stained area. Follow the instructions for the stain remover. Click here to see the products we carry and recommend in our Linen Care section, and click here to read the stain removal tips.

Drying also requires some attention. Linen does not like high temperatures in the dryer, and should be ironed while still damp. For ironing, make sure you use a steam iron, set to the linen temperature. For the best appearance, the first ironing should be on the reverse side of the fabric to remove big wrinkles. Once the fabric is wrinkle free, spray our "Caldrea Spray Linen"; on the reverse side of the fabric and then iron the fabric on the right side. It is a good idea to iron only once from the reverse side. Next spray just a cloud of Caldrea Spray Linen – for a good fragrance, fold and store it. The day you use the tablecloth, spray Caldrea Spray Linen on the reverse side, and re-iron using the steam setting, on the front side to remove the folding wrinkles and embellishing the fabric.

White linens should be stored in a bag made of white cotton.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Cotton tablecloths are usually machine washable and can go in the dryer. The exceptions are those with hand embroidery or with intricate work. These should be washed by hand or in a gentle cycle. Delicate items should not be washed in a top loading machine with an agitator – they should be washed in a front loading machine.

Cotton should never be washed in hot water. It causes an increase in the expected shrinkage, causes color fading, and dries the fabric fibers. We recommend the use of a neutral laundry soap, and never use bleach. A neutral soap will avoid drying the fibers as well as preventing the color from fading too soon.

For stain removal, follow the same general instructions as for linen fabric or click here to read the stain removal tips.

Our tablecloths come in many different fabrics, and each one is delivered with specific care instructions matching the fabric of the items you purchased.

Linen Closet Organizer

We suggest linens be stored by type. You should try to not mix different types of linen – store all bed linens together, and all table linens together. Once you have separated bedding from table linens etc., next try to separate by color and then fabric.

Make sure that a set of all sheets of sheets are complete: fitted and flat sheet, and all pillow cases are folded together. If you have bath linens that match a set of sheets, they should be stored in a different shelf or drawer, but you should try to never use them separately. It is very important to make sure that sheet and bath towel sets are washed at the same time. It will ensure that all pieces will look uniform and will age at the same time.

Make sure that each tablecloth is folded and stored with all its napkins. If you should decide to use your tablecloth without its napkins, even if the napkins are clean, remember to wash the entire set at the same time.

Ideally items should be folded to the same shape and size. Store the heavy and little used items on the bottom. Luxury items, especially the white ones, should be protected in a white cotton case. Try to have the every day and easy care items handy.

Store bedding items following the same instructions above for table linens.

As a final recommendation, we would like to remind you that you can store your linens in shelves or drawers. There is no right or wrong kind of furniture for storage. It is important to make sure that all shelves and drawers that come in contact with the linens are impeccably clean. If you are not sure about the painted surface, and if the storage surface is waxed or polished, we recommend you line the surface with a piece of clean white cotton fabric to prevent contact that could damage your linens.

Fabrics

Included here is general information about different fabrics used in our products.

NOTE:

• A new item, regardless of the kind of fabric, should be washed separately.
• Never wash table linen with bed linen, even if they are made of the same fabric and are the same color.

Linen: A soft material, nice to the touch, extremely elegant, but tends to wrinkle too easily. Linen is highly recommended for tablecloths.

Cotton: In many ways cotton is considered the ideal fabric. It is soft, nice to the touch, ventilated, allowing the skin to breath, is very resistant, and does not wrinkle easily. It’s usually machine washed and dried, but this depends on whether or not it has hand embroidery or has an "appliqué" done with a delicate fabric such as organza, lace, etc.

Silk: The softness of Silk makes this fabric the favorite when choosing nightwear and underwear. Without question silk is the most delicate fabric to the touch. Silk as well as linen and cotton is a natural fiber.

Washing: We recommend the use of a neutral or very mild soap. Never wash silk in hot water. Never put a silk item in the dryer. Some washing machines have a very good silk wash cycle. We recommend you test your washing machine’s silk wash cycle with an old silk item before you put in your favorite or finest items. A good suggestion is to protect your silk items by washing them inside a white cotton bag or net.

Ironing: Choose the silk setting. Do not use steam, sprays, and do not sprinkle water. For a good fragrance, place a fragrance sachet in with the silk items.

Synthetic: Usually items made with synthetic fabrics "easy care" and wrinkle free.

Washing: Machine washable. They should be washed in cold water. Modern washing machines come with a permanent pressed cycle. Synthetic fabrics should never be exposed to high temperatures, because it hardens the fibers. These fabrics generally should not be machine dried, except if your dryer has an air dry cycle or a synthetics cycle.

If you have to deal with a resistant stain or bad spot, we recommend you send the item to a good professional dry cleaner.