Mary Corbet of needlenthread.com has a very strict regime and always rinses and pre-shrinks her linen; a series of hot, boiling, and cold water baths followed by careful ironing . On the surface it seems like a good idea especially for the things we who stitch Avlea Folk Embroidery table runners and the like. It is pretty well a given that linen will shrink when it is washed. I would like to know other's opinions on this. It does seem to be a bit of a process, but pales to the time we put into the actual stitching.
top of page
bottom of page
I love Mary Corbet's work, but I have been embroidering for years and don't pre-wash linen and absolutely do not pre-wash the Traditional Groundcloth. I've never had any issues with either, however if I were doing a design with beads I would wash and iron before adding the beads because afterwards I cannot get a nice, smooth finish.