Linen Teatowels disappointment

jackyann

I have got a couple of linen tea towels, and they do feel different to the 100% cotton that I usually get. They are nice, but I think the good cotton ones better value. I save the linen ones for washing the best glasses by hand.
Some manufacturers add a sort of starchy product to fabric, and that can feel a bit odd at first, it needs washing out. One reason that I like good cotton tea cloths is that I like to boil them (well, 95 degrees in my machine) so unless you want to return them, I would boil them.

I'm not sure what you think of as a reasonable price, but I have bought from here:
http://www.laredoute.co.uk/psrch/psrch.aspx?kwrd=tea+towels&virtualsite=100

and they last for years.

I bought a pack of cheap tea towels for camping and whilst they were fine for what I got them for, I did think that they were nothing like the really good cotton ones I usually use - and yea, the lint did come off!

coffeehound

pollyanna_26 wrote: »

Coffee hound i know a number of people who own some of the pre war linen items , still going strong now .

Brilliant; I'm definitely going to be on the lookout for linen in antiques shops and chazzers now.

pollyanna_26 wrote: »

I think it highlights how quality in manufacture , the loss of our own mills and shifting things abroad has impacted on previous long life goods . I'd prefer to have one of something lasting than a dozen cheaper items any day .
It has been nice to talk textiles , nowadays I use thick decent cotton tea towels which if needed can be washed on a high temperature . I haven't needed to do so so far but I've had a large amount for years some were also given to family .
How I got them was odd . I ordered some thick white cotton towelling cloths from Scr*wf*x of all places . I received a massive amount of the tea towels instead and when I rang them they said they no longer had the other cloths . I decided to give the subs a try as tea towels and they are so good but no longer available .
polly

Well that was serendipitous (sp?)

Floss

I have wedding present linen tea towels from my first marriage in 1984 - still going strong. I also acquired ones from my mum and my in-laws when house clearing which are all old soft ones that me & DH remember using as kids.

jackyann

I do think that some confusion arises from us using the terms 'bed linen' and 'table linen'.
Also, some people say 'linen weave' for what I would call 'plain weave' ie: the basic weave that you learn as a child, over one,under one etc. I can't help feeling that this is done deliberately to confuse.
My basic very good tea towels have been acquired over the years - mostly from French markets (and La Redoute) are 100% cotton - Jojo, they do get misused as I never cook without a teatowel over my shoulder, and they have been flung on the floor, mopped up all sorts, then boiled, and they last for years.

Pollycat

pollyanna_26 wrote: »

I agree with jojo about the hot iron when damp . My blouses and shirts from many different eras have lasted well and I don't follow trends . However I was a lot younger when I began the collection and now with arthritic fingers I have wept over the ironing board at times .
How did I buy ones with pintucks , awkward sleeves and lace inserts . Trick for those younger is to consider the future but of course we never do .
Now I limit the ironing to a max of three . Washed and hung for a short time so still pretty damp . Then I grit my teeth and tackle them and rehang to dry properly .
So they are never all washed together just a few at a time . As for the skirts and trousers they only get worn every now and then as the minute you put them on you know within a short time they will crease .
There are a few linen suppliers still in the UK but not many of them are to be relied on .
polly

I have a fab pair of 100% linen trousers from Boden, they are wonderful quality.

I think people either love linen or hate it (clothes).
I wear these trousers for travelling in.
5 minutes after I've put them on, they are wrinkled.
I can travel for 24 hours and at the end of my journey they still look like they did 5 minutes after putting them on.
A very hot iron with lots of steam is necessary to iron linen.

Re the OP - I would be miffed if I'd bought what I thought was 100% linen tea towels and got 100% cotton.

firebubble

I've tried linen tea towels for exactly the same reasons as the OP, and also gave up with them, because they were rubbish - I just couldn't get the 'dress' out of the fabric (eventually even boiling them with no joy), so they were never as absorbent as my beloved cheapie brightly coloured waffle cotton I kea (and other cheap shops) ones.

I assume it's how they're processed to make them 'feel' like linen, rather than actually being properly woven linen. I'd try them again if I could get old second hand ones, as that seems to be the trick. They'd have to be cheap though, as I can't justify spending money on a tea towel that needs to be fussed over, rather than a workhorse - life's just too short!

VfM4meplse

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

1. Don't use fabric softener in the wash, as that coats the fibres and makes them resistant to moisture.

I never use it for this reason. I live in a v hard water area and was always careful to use Calgon (generic equivalent) to stop my WM from furring up. When it died after 15 years, it was the drum that went.

When I replaced the machine I had a water softener fitted. Not only is Calgon no longer required, but I also now use a fraction of the dose of soap (allowing me to make the transition from tablets to Formil liquid), because anywhere near the standard dose of soap leaves my laundry with a slightly slippery residue, most noticeable on synthetics - my winter fleeces being a case in point.

Farway

Real linen is made from Flax plant, botanical name is Linum. Also used to make linseed oil and it is the source of flax seed, obviously

You may have seen it growing in fields, it is the one with brilliant blue flowers

In the 19th century Flax was the sole source of fibre, apart from wool, for clothing. The advent of cheap cotton killed the Flax trade

I know this because one of my ancestors was a Flax worker in Dorset, where it was grown. It was very hard work bashing the flax stalks to make the fibre for weaving

Thus real linen cannot be cotton, as it is sourced from a completely different plant

PS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flax
PPS. the emblem on coins for Northern Ireland is Flax, not as commonly though a Shamrock

jackyann

Quite right Farway, but as I said, confusing. For the reasons you give, 'linen' is used as generic term for textiles in a domestic setting, as well as giving its name to the type of weave (I presume as wool was often woven differently). A bit like 'hoover' being a common term for 'vacuum cleaner' (can you hoover with a Dyson?)

It would be quite correct to say 'I am going to buy some domestic linen, and I shall get cotton teatowels with a linen weave'.
I think most people would wonder what you had bought!

wondercollie

Thrift stores/charity shops.

I love hunting for old tea towels. Here in Canada, we find mostly linen souvenir tea towels from the UK. I've got over 150 stockpiled away. OK, I'm a collector.

I got my first set back in 1981, 100% linen from an Auntie in Australia. Typical tourist/souvenir scenes. Three are still in rotation.

I've got 100% linen and then I guess toward the end of the 80s there appeared to be a blending of linen and cotton.

It thrills my heart to see 100% linen or "made in Britain" peaking out of the row of towels.