Simple Care For Linen Clothing
This post contains affiliate links from my favorite brand Mountain Rose Herbs. I love their high quality organic/fair trade products, and am blown away by their commitment to zero waste.
I started wearing linen clothing because it’s extremely practical. Linen is one of the most environmentally friendly fabrics on the market. Linen is also considered the world’s strongest natural fabric. After tiring of purchasing new clothing every season for my heavily worn small capsule wardrobe, it just made sense to look for mid and heavy weight linen garments that could be worn year round and layered that actually lasted.
Linen surprisingly keeps you cool when it’s hot, and warm when it’s cold.
I’ve learned more and more about how to care for linen over the past few years. I’ve made some mistakes along the way, but I’ve learned a very simple way to care for my linen garments. Although linen is a strong fabric, it still needs gentle care when washing.
I wash all my linen clothing in the washing machine in cold water on the delicate cycle. Hand washing would probably be the best method for long term care, but as a busy mom it hasn’t been the best use of my time since I predominately wear this fabric. I’ve also washed my linen clothes with a few different laundry detergents and have discovered that the best detergent is not detergent at all.
I LOVE washing my linen clothing with soap nuts.
Soap nuts can be used as an eco friendly laundry “detergent” which gently cleans clothing and gives it a fresh scent. I’ve used between 4-6 whole soap nuts in the past with great success per load and most recently? tried deseeded soap nuts. I add 1/3 cup of deseeded soap nuts inside a mesh bag tied tightly, and toss into the washer as my laundry detergent. (Update... I’ve started adding 1/4 cup of washing soda for the BEST results.) Afterwards I hang my garments to dry. When using soap nuts, my linen clothing needs less steaming and often none at all. What is great about soap nuts is that you can reuse them before replacing them as long as they dry thorougly after each use.
Linen clothing can last up to 2-3 decades if properly cared for.
After spending more money on clothing over the last decade than I’d like to admit, I’ve come to a place in my life where I’d like to focus my time and money that was once spent shopping on something else. One major advantage to those interested in dressing modestly is that linen doesn't cling to the body. I’m sure that you can find fitted linen clothing, yet the fabric still does not cling and many designs are loosely fitted. Linen can also be re-dyed if drastically faded and made like new again. I’m seriously a linen lover for life.
How do you care for linen clothing?
Image by Dawn Michelle