more on linen shrinkage

Some weeks ago I did a series on 38 count linen and whether it was evenweave or not. At the time, Lilian from the Netherlands had been corresponding with me about this issue. After my post on prewashing, Lilian posed the question:

“Is it true that after you’ve washed the linen, it’s hard to take out threads as you do for drawn thread work? Has someone tried this? If not, I might give the method described by Mary Corbet a try and report on what happens.”

Lilian did try it out, and did report back. She’s given me permission to share her findings with you. Thank you Lilian!

As promised, here are my findings after shrinking the linen.

I used Sotema 15 threads per cm linen. It’s purple (don’t ask! I have a friend whom I stitch birthday and Christmas gifts for and everything has to be purple!) but I don’t think that confuses the matter, does it? 🙂

I tacked the outline for the little hand towel, and the embroidery would have been 25 cm x 6.1 cm. After the bath of boiling, cold, boiling and cold and once more boiling water as described by Mary Corbet, and flat drying on top of my marble counter, the dimensions had shrunk to 24.1 x 5.8 cm.

If I remember correctly, the long side of the fabric is the length of the fabric, and the short sides the width (it was an off cut of a piece used for a table runner).

I have so far pulled threads on 3 seams, the 1A-2A, the 2A-2B and the 2B-1B open work. If anything, I would say pulling the threads is easier now than before washing.

I am adding some pictures of the other embroidery I did, on the same fabric, using the same dimensions. (shown above) Also, the little doily/tablecloth also for the same purple loving friend, as it is being damp-stretched. Your tip on bending and pulling the bullions in shape is such a bonus! My “leaves” all look so nice and curved now they have dried.

I hope to hear from others what their experiences are after shrinking/wetting the pristine linen.

Now I am worried that when the fabric does not shrink after embroidering it, will the pulling together on the threads of the bars, scrunching the fabric up a little, come out after damp stretching? Oh dear, it keeps on posing new questions for us. How tight to pull? Do you pull the threads of the bars tight? In this particular case, it will not be very important, as the embroidery will become panels on a bath towel, so will get laundered a lot, and I daresay never ironed, but there are ‘heirloom type’ projects that you might want to know the answer to this question for, before undertaking the project!

I look forward to learning more on the subject of pre-washing, evenweave and whatever else this all may lead to. Thank you for your time and attention.