Creating A Beautiful Home and Garden

Love Your Linen: The 411 On Cleaning And Maintaining Your Linen Drapes

31 March 2016 by Alyssa Perkins

From adding style and privacy to increasing your home's energy efficiency, it is easy to see the importance of installing window treatments. Unfortunately, choosing the best for your home can be overwhelming due to the various options available. While silk, velvet, and cotton drapes are popular options, investing in linen window treatments is a smart choice. With an appealing design and a durability that is 2 to 3 times stronger than cotton, the benefits of linen drapes are easy to see. Of course, proper cleaning and maintenance will be essential to protect the look and quality of your new drapes. Using this guide, you will be able to clean and protect your linen draperies.

Light Cleaning

Preventing a heavy buildup of dirt, dust, and dander on your linen curtains will require a periodic cleaning. Thankfully, you can complete this light cleaning using the handheld attachment from your vacuum.

Open the linen drapes carefully out across the curtain rod. Begin at the top corner of one of your curtain panels, moving the soft-bristled brush attachment down the length of the linen panel. Work your way across the entire linen panel before moving to the other drapes.

The brush attachment will effectively remove dirt, dust, and dander from the curtain without wrinkling or harming the texture of the linen fabric. For the most effective removal of 99.7 percent of particles and allergens, consider a vacuum with a HEPA filter.

Stain Removal

Your window treatments may stain or discolor from the sun's harmful rays, pets, or smoking cigarettes or cigars inside the home. Fortunately, removing this discoloration and staining is possible. If your light-colored linen panels are yellowing, soak in a tub filled with the following:

• 4 gallons of warm water
• ½ cup of powder oxygen bleach

After soaking for a few minutes, rinse with cold water. Wring out the excess liquid and lay the panels on a flat surface covered with towels to dry.

For stains on darker colored linen panels, use a bar of gentle soap to remove the stains. Dampen the bar soap under your sink faucet before using to wash the stained area of linen. Allow the soap to soak the stain for a few minutes before rinsing with cold water.

Delicate Wash

Without periodic cleaning and stain removal, your linen drapes may require a more involved washing. To wash your panels without affecting the appealing look and texture of linen, use the following steps:

1. Use your vacuum attachment to remove light dirt and dust from each panel before removing them from the curtain rods.
2. Set your washing machine to the delicate or hand-washing cycle using warm water only. Avoid using hot water, since higher temperatures can weaken the linen fibers.
3. Add a gentle laundry detergent to the cycle. For white or cream colors, add oxygen bleach to the cycle. Do not use traditional bleach, since the chlorine can yellow the light colored linen.
4. Once the cycle is complete, remove one curtain panel at a time. Wring out any leftover moisture by gently squeezing the linen material. Place each panel on a flat surface covered with towels to dry for a few hours.
5. Remove wrinkles by ironing each panel. Ironing when the panels are slightly damp is the most effective way to remove wrinkles from the linen drapes. Set your iron on a low heat to prevent scorch marks on the damp linen.
6. Once cleaned and ironed, rehang the linen panels on their rods.

Linen curtain panels are great investments for your home's look, privacy, and value, but proper cleaning and care is necessary. Using these simple cleaning solutions, your linen drapes will remain attractive, durable, and functional.  

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