General laundering

After many (many) years of working with beautiful fabrics, we’ve learnt the best way to care for them. We wash test all our new collections to make sure we can share the best caring advice with our customers. Each fabric type will have laundering recommendations specifically designed for the fabric, so it’s important to carefully read the care label on each Wallace Cotton item.

Discover our general washing tips, how to keep your whites bright white and understand what we mean by shrinkage allowance.

CARING TIPS BY FABRIC TYPE

Our washing tips

Wash special/delicate pieces of bed linen separately on a gentle cold wash with a reduced spin.
Turning your duvet covers and pillowcases inside-out before washing will help protect embroidery and delicate fabrics.
Line dry in the shade when possible as too much direct sunlight will ‘cook’ your bed linen, making it difficult to iron and will fade your coloured prints.
Avoid using fabric softener on any of our products, as the gradual build-up of fabric softener residue encourages pilling and your items will lose that ‘fresh cotton feel’.
When washing large bulky items, choose a slow spin cycle as this will be kinder on the fabric and your washing machine.

SHOP DUVET COVERS

Keeping whites white
Add 2 teaspoons of baking soda to your wash to keep your whites pristine. Leaving your white bed linen in the sun too long will cause discolouration. Avoid using bleach on your white linen as it is very harsh and will damage the fabric.

Washing powders
Contrary to popular belief using more laundry powder does not make your linen cleaner. A lot of washing powders contain fillers that can be very harsh on your clothes and linen. If you can still smell the washing powder after washing and drying, you’ve used too much. Use a little less powder than the packet states and your linen and the environment will thank you.

SHOP SHEETS

Shrinkage allowance

We ensure that most of our bed linen has been made 3% larger than our measurements, to allow for shrinkage after customer washing. After the first wash following the instructions on the care label, all items should fit perfectly and measure to our sizes. This does not apply to Loft Linen bedding, as this has been pre-washed.
Our quilts are all pre-washed so there should not be any extra shrinkage.
Our sleepwear and daywear have been pre-washed during production so shrinkage should be minimal on most garments.

SHOP SLEEPWEAR