Some words from Linda about fabric care...
The issue of how to care for fabric can result in a lot of confusion and misunderstanding. For instance, as you look through the EOS website, you may become discouraged by seeing so many fabrics that say "dry cleaning recommended" or "hand wash and lay flat to dry". Well, I'm here to reassure and educate you, and to give you the confidence to care for your fabrics in a way that works best for you, and the fabric!
First, you need to know that when I purchase fabrics they often arrive without fiber content information. It's fairly easy to test these fabrics to determine the fiber content, most of the time, but occasionally a fabric can have multiple fibers, making it more difficult to analyze completely. Therefore, I list exact fiber contents only when I am sure (which is most of the time), and in other cases I enter something like "wool blend" or rayon blend", as long as I've determined the primary fiber.
To further complicate matters, care instructions from the manufacturer are rarely available. Therefore, my practice is to list the MOST CONSERVATIVE method of care for each fabric, based on what I'm able to determine about the fiber content. I always list the method of care that I believe the manufacturer would endorse. That is why I recommend dry cleaning in so many cases.
But there is more than one way to launder a fabric! Shannon Gifford has put together a set of guides which will assist you in navigating through this very confusing world of fabric care. They will give you the confidence to try various methods of caring for your fabric, other than the very conservative recommendations given on this website. Please take a moment to review these guides, which are full of very valuable information, and feel free to print them out, or refer back to them as often as you would like!
Note: In order to access these guides you need to have installed Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer. Click here to find out about downloading this free software.
