Removing a stain from linen: our methods that really work

Our advice on caring for your linen table linen and looking after your nähen products.

Before the first use

When your products arrive, give them a first machine wash at 30°, to clean them and remove any marks left by the making-up process. On some of the darker products you may see small marks, left by the fabric passing through our sewing machines. They disappear with the first wash!

Washing

We recommend washing your nähen products on a gentle programme before using them. Partly for hygiene, and partly to remove any small marks left by the making-up process.

Our linen can be machine washed at 30°. For the first wash, the ideal is to soak the linen, which makes it softer, more absorbent and less prone to staining. How? Leave it to soak for a day in cold water, with no detergent or any other product!
After that, for ordinary washes, choose a neutral detergent with no bleaching agents (pointless on coloured linen, not eco-friendly and not very effective!). White vinegar, on the other hand, works well: around 25cl per wash will keep the linen in good condition without any toxic products! Lastly, no high-speed spinning. A high-speed spin, like a tumble dryer, can shrink the products.

Ironing

You can iron with a hot iron (on the "cotton"/"linen" setting) but never over the embroidery, as that risks damaging and scorching the embroidery threads.

Stains

Your table linen is going to live a life, meal after meal, so it will get stained and that is perfectly normal! Dark colours show stains less, so choose those if the thought worries you. Otherwise, here are a few tips to rescue you from the most common stains.
- Wine stains : rub the stain with sparkling water or white wine and put the linen in the machine, straight away!
- Grease stains : work washing-up liquid and water into a good lather on the stained area and leave it overnight before putting your linen in the machine.
- Candle wax stains : lift off what wax you can by hand, then absorb the rest with kitchen paper (well, you shouldn't have much of that left at home, since we have all moved over to fabric napkins) and a hot iron. Wax is greasy: if any residue remains, lather washing-up liquid over it and wash after leaving it to sit.
- Tomato sauce stains : dampen the stain with a little warm water, sprinkle it with bicarbonate of soda, then brush gently without rubbing. Rinse in hot water.