Linen is one of the natural fabrics obtained from the flax plant. Linen is one of the expensive, breathable, and lightweight fabrics around. Among linen clothes, linen shirts are very popular among men. Die to lightweight and its breathability physical property linen is more worn during summers because it will let the air pass through the fabric. Besides its undefeatable physical properties, there is only a problem that may be a headache for some people after buying linen and that is, it wrinkles fast. Though wrinkles are not considered as bad in linen because unlike with other fabrics wrinkles in clothes make you look sloppy, but with linen, it’s totally different because wrinkles in linen add more charm and character to the overall look. Linen is considered good as it gets old. But does that mean you should go out by putting a wrinkled shirt on? No, this is also wrong because you don’t want to look tired or sloppy in the morning. So, you should always take care of big wrinkles on your shirt or pant before putting them on. This also brings us to today’s topic which is, “how to keep linen from wrinkling?”
How to keep linen from wrinkling?
You can keep linen from wrinkling by washing them instead of wrinkling, by drying it properly, and lastly by using the best temperature for ironing.
One thing you should accept is that linen wrinkles and you can’t stop it, but you can limit it by taking care of your linen. Before following the instructions you should also know that not all types of linen wrinkle so much. Clothes made of 100 percent linen are likely to get more wrinkles than clothes made of linen blend. So, if you want fewer wrinkles on your shirt then go with linen blend options. There are several types of linen blend options from which you can choose. I will discuss all linen blend options below which are better options than 100 percent linen.
Wash linen carefully
As linen clothes get dirty easily so, it is recommended to wash them instead of dry cleaning your linen clothes. Linen needs to be put in the washing machine because they are capable of serving the machine cycles.
The first thing you should do is to separate your white linen shirts or pants from other clothes, else it will soak up the color of other clothes. Wash your all-white linen clothes at the same time.
Now put your linen clothes in a washing machine and add a mild detergent for cleaning the dirt. Don’t use any detergent with high chemicals because that will ruin the fabric or fade off the color of the shirt. Also, avoid using bleach as a cleansing agent. After adding the detergent, let the machine fill up the water. Make sure the water is set to cold or mild like warm water. Keep the temp below 40 °c to avoid any tearing, fading, or wrinkles.
Set the machine cycles to gentle, and after that take out the clothes from the machine quickly. If the line is left inside the machine for a long period after washing then it’s likely to attract wrinkles.
Dry linen properly
Drying a linen cloth is super easy because linen is super fast in drying. The fibers of linen are loosely packed which lets the air pass through them, thus make the water evaporate quickly with air.
To dry linen clothes you just need to put your linen shirt or garment on the table and let it breathe there for a bit. Put a towel under the shirt, so that it can easily soak up the water.
Avoid, hanging your shirt over or clothes on a hanger because it will stretch out the cloth and may lead to wrinkles.
Iron properly
Ironing is important if you want the big wrinkles in your shirt to settle down. Well, if you have followed the above step you already limited the wrinkles. If you are a person who loves crease in pants or top-notch standing collars then you have to do the ironing process.
But before you should always keep one thing in your mind that linen has its own identity and it loves to wrinkle, linen without wrinkles is not linen. Ironing is important for big wrinkles, but you should also know that you can not limit the wrinkles totally even ironing. If your shirt doesn’t have any big wrinkles then there is no need to iron your shirt, after all, iron will reduce the longevity of the fabric because of excess heat.
You can spritz on your linen shirt or pant with lukewarm water in summers to get rid of wrinkles. This is an effective way to remove wrinkles to some extent if you are in hurry.
For ironing follow these steps
Before iron, Spartz your linen shirt with water. And then start ironing the shirt.
While doing the ironing, make sure to set the temp to medium heat, if your iron has a linen setting then set it to linen. Linen requires more heat than many other fabrics, to get rid off of wrinkles.
If you don’t want your linen shirt to fade off, then make sure to iron it inside out. I personally do this, because this way you protect the color of your shirt to fade away. The darker color is likely to fade away quickly.
To make your linen look crisper, add starch at the high wrinkle areas such as knees, elbows, and collars.
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Choose linen blends
Linen/Rayon – Linen blended with rayon creates a softer fabric and reduces wrinkles to some extent. Rayon is a good fabric but because it is a natural fabric so it losses its longevity when washed in water. Dry clean is the best option if you go with linen and rayon blend.
Linen/Cotton – Linen and cotton blend is one of the best options out there, not only it reduces wrinkles but also it becomes easy to hand wash linen garments or cloth items.
Linen/Polyester- Polyester is a widely used synthetic fabric in blends. The linen and polyester blend is helpful in retaining colorfast, it also helps in reducing the wrinkles mostly, it becomes easy to handwash clothes.
