Caring for embroidery

Turn the piece inside out, wash cold on a gentle cycle, and use a mild detergent. Cold water is the single most important part. Hot water is what makes thread colours bleed and cotton shrink around the stitching.

Skip fabric softener. It coats the thread and dulls the sheen over time. Never use bleach, including the “colour-safe” kind.

Lay flat to dry whenever you can. If you tumble dry, use low heat and take the piece out slightly damp. High heat is what puckers the fabric around a design.

Never iron directly over embroidery. It flattens the stitches permanently and can scorch the thread. Turn the piece inside out and press from the reverse with a pressing cloth or a thin towel between the iron and the fabric.

Scarves and merino pieces should be dry cleaned, or hand washed cold with a wool-specific detergent and laid flat. Never wring them. Press the water out between towels.

Remove the insert and wash the cover cold on a gentle cycle. Line dry. Linen relaxes and softens with every wash, and a few wrinkles are the material behaving correctly, not a defect.

Fold rather than hang heavy knits, so the shoulders don’t stretch around the weight of the embroidery. For long storage, keep pieces somewhere dry and out of direct sunlight. Thread fades the same way fabric does.