A Crinkled Line Between Love and Hate

I love love linen in the summer. Who doesn’t ? But loving the relaxed look and airy feel and actually linen are two different things. Every summer I hear from clients at least 30 times, “ I love linen but I hate how it wrinkles”. Thus leaving an amazing outfit behind. Linen is easier to care for than you think. Over the years my mom, the ultimate fashion icon who turns heads every which way as she passes, has cultivated and perfected total linen care for our clients and now you can too. It’s so easy.

 

NEVER dry clean your white linen it will turn yellow. If you do you MUST ask that the smelly chemicals are not used. I don’t know what they are called but I ask that if I do dry clean anything as a rule. Every year I get a few ladies who are disappointed when their outfit turns a pale dingy yellow. This totally breaks my heart.

Another reason I just plain don’t like dry cleaning my linen is the fact that I don’t like having to pick up my clothes, it’s just one more errand I don’t want. Another is that a majority of the linen silhouettes I wear and sell are relaxed cuts.

 

 

When taking care of my own pieces I first wash in the washing machine on delicate. IMMEDIATELY after the cycle is complete I begin to “iron”. I shake my garment and reshape it. Line up my seams for a crease in my pants. Put on a hanger and and use my hands to smooth out all the major wrinkles. Rough drying as its called is so easy. So now you wonder what happens once you are dressed and going about your day?

 

When wearing linen keep a little spray bottle about your person. Lightly mist the areas when your outfit has crinkled. This will mainly occur if you have been sitting the areas most likely affected are in front where your hips and legs bend and in back where fabric may have bunched. After misting smooth as you would just after washing. This technique is so effortless and it keeps you cool. The great thing about linen is that dries quickly. I wore a linen top and pants the other day at the shop and I had the “Sitting creases” and a customer walked in wearing the almost identical outfit with the same crinkles in her shirt and pants. I quickly showed her and she was totally amazed and vowed to keep a bottle of water about.

 

That’s it.

 

And yes, it’s that easy to stay calm, cool, and collected when frolicking about in your linen sundress.