Tell me your linen ironing tricks. I have a linen shirt that I dread wearing because of the effort that goes into getting it wrinkle free after every wash.
Yeah I’m a huge fan, lots of linen and thin, fine cotton that’s not been formaldehyde treated (so, not “non-iron”) on me in hot months. I even have an open-weave linen sweater that’s comfortable into the 90s of degrees F. I’ve got a few high-twist wool pieces that are nice in the heat, but they’re more specialized, less everyday wear sorta of things.
Dedicated summer clothes in trad fabrics are a ton less durable than their winter counterparts, though, for the simple reason that they’re much lighter-constructed. Individual pieces can be had plenty cheap if you bargain-hunt and shop used, but you cycle through more of them than, say, heavy-weight denim or a hefty tweed. Still, mine usually last a few years. Cycling them out seasonally means they don’t wear as fast as some synthetic-blend shirt you wear year-round, so you may not get more wears out of them, but they last a good long while in calendar time.
But man, do they breathe better than just about any of the fancy “tech” fabrics. And feel nicer. Durability, though, is an issue, and you have to get the fit closer to correct than many shoppers may be used to, because most of them won’t have much stretch (no cheating by blending in some nylon or whatever, like a “tech” fabric would)
How is it really more complicated in the laundry? Most of my linen can do 60C washing cycle (”hot” I think it is called in USA) which is pretty much ”throw it in there with similar colours and forget about it” territory.
The wrinkles are a bit of the charm I think, might be easier to accept if you make it part of the fashion instead of fighting it.
Just a tip, most modern laundry detergents are formulated to handle washing with cold water to save you from having to use (expensive) hot water in a wash.
I have been washing for years now with tap cold water since learning that and it seems to work fine, even in winter.
I joked on Twitter 10-15 years ago that my dream use case for AR would be to easily identify wash temperature for my clothes as I prepare for laundry.
A friend replied with the news that cold would work for just about everything, and I haven’t used warm or hot water since then (maybe once with some really dirty jeans and towels). Such a great hack.
I mostly wash in 35C (expect underwear), so yes I do that. The high temp was to illustrate that linen is one of the easiest garments to wash because you never have to worry about accidentally throwing it into a batch of very dirty clothes and having it come out changed.
I'd love to try it, but I'm having trouble finding sustainable vendors. My use case is mostly gardening, hiking and just being outside as much as possible but still being somewhat protected from the sun (so a super light weave would not be ideal.) I'd be grateful for any suggestions, ideally from a source in the USA.
Some people don't like the scratchy feel of linen compared to cotton, although there are now linen-synthetic blends which ameliorate this almost entirely.
I have not come across linens that are scratchy. They can be coarse but not scratchy. Blends can be fine fibers. Coarse wool I do find scratchy, unless it’s cold then the scratchiness goes away. Seems like Belgian linen is good.