How to Care for
Coated Linen
With coated linen the answer is reassuring, as long as you resist the urge to overdo it.
The short answer. Wipe a fresh mark with a damp cloth and stop there. Wash only when wiping is no longer enough, and then take the cover off the core first: 30°C is the sensible habit, 40 is the limit the maker allows. No softener, no chlorine bleach, no spin, no dryer. Dry it hanging in the shade and iron it from the back.
Most of the Time, Do Less
The commonest mistake with coated linen is cleaning it too thoroughly.
The finish exists to buy you time between a spill and a stain, so a little coffee or a splash of sauce is not a reason to wash the whole piece. Wipe the surface gently while the spill is fresh and let the coating do the work it was built for. For something greasy, a small amount of mild soap in water helps; the aim is the least intervention that works, not harder scrubbing.
The maker's own instructions put it plainly: clean the surface promptly, because a mark left to sit is the one that stops coming out. What the coating actually does, and what it does not, is worth understanding before any of this.
The coating gives you time. Care is mostly a matter of using it.
The Embroidery Changes How You Clean
A plain coated surface tolerates a straightforward wipe. An embroidered one asks for judgment.
The motif sits above the coated cloth, so it should not be treated like the flat surface around it. If a spill reaches the stitching, blot with a clean damp cloth and work around the threads rather than across them. Repeat the light touch instead of scrubbing once, hard.
This matters most with the strongly colored things: tomato, coffee, red wine, oil. Those are beaten by speed, not by force.
Washing Is the Exception, Not the Routine
Coated linen does not need washing after every meal. If the surface is clean after wiping, you are finished.
A wash becomes useful when surface cleaning is no longer enough, and with our placemats there is a step before it: the cover comes off the rigid core, and only the textile goes in the machine. The core never gets washed or soaked, which is the whole reason the piece was built in two parts.
Temperature
The care instructions allow a maximum of 40°C on a gentle cycle. For ordinary care we suggest 30. Not because 40 is wrong, but because less heat and less agitation is the kinder habit for a cloth that carries both a surface finish and embroidery.
Detergent
A small amount of mild detergent, and no fabric softener. Softener works by leaving conditioning agents on the fiber, which is pointless on a fabric that already has a functional finish. No chlorine bleach either, for the color, the fiber and the stitching alike.
Spin
The instructions specify a soft process and no centrifuge. If your machine lets you switch the spin off, switch it off; otherwise choose the lowest setting. Do not wring it by hand afterwards. Let the water drain.
Drying and Ironing
Reshape the cover while it is damp and hang it to dry in the shade. No tumble dryer: the heat and the tumbling are unnecessary, and air drying is gentler on both the coating and the thread.
If it needs pressing, always place a clean cloth between the iron and the fabric. Use medium heat, avoid direct contact with the coated surface, and do not press hard over the embroidery, which was worked to stand slightly proud of the cloth. Working from the reverse is better still, and a light press through a cloth is fine even with the cover back on the core, which saves taking the whole thing apart before dinner.
Dry cleaning is also permitted, if a piece has had a hard season.
And if the cover looks right after drying, leave it. A little movement is what linen does.
Everyday: a damp cloth, promptly. Around embroidery, blot rather than rub.
Washing: cover off the core, 30°C recommended, 40 maximum, gentle cycle, mild detergent.
Never: softener, chlorine bleach, spin, tumble dryer.
Drying: hanging, in the shade. Ironing: always through a cloth, medium heat, from the back where you can.
Outside Is Fine. Living Outside Is Not.
A terrace lunch, a summer dinner, a table under a pergola: all of that is ordinary use, and the coating is one of the reasons these pieces suit it.
What the fabric should not become is permanent outdoor material. The maker warns that long exposure to direct sun and to weather can fade the color and damage the cloth, which is true of most good textiles and of a few bad ones too.
Use it outside. Bring it back in.
What It Will Not Do
The coating is acrylic, applied to woven linen, and it is honest about its limits even when the trade language is not.
It is not waterproof. It is not heat protection: a warm dinner plate is ordinary use, a casserole from the oven belongs on a proper trivet. And it is not stain-proof in the literal sense, whatever the category is often called. A strongly colored sauce left for hours can still mark the cloth.
What it does is slow the moment between spill and absorption. That is a smaller promise, and a much more useful one.
A Note on Size After Washing
The maker allows a dimensional variation of about three per cent either way, which is normal for a finished textile and another reason to avoid unnecessary heat.
Coated linen is still cloth. It settles, it softens a little, and the point of caring for it is not to keep it exactly as it left the workshop. It is to let it age without accidents.
Can coated linen go in the washing machine?
Our covers can, once removed from the rigid core, on a gentle cycle at a maximum of 40°C. We recommend 30 for ordinary care. Always check the care label of the specific piece, since coated fabrics differ.
Should I wash coated linen after every use?
No. Wiping the surface promptly with a damp cloth is enough most of the time. Wash only when the cloth genuinely needs more than that.
How do you clean around embroidery?
Blot gently rather than rubbing, and work around the threads rather than across them. The motif sits above the coated surface and needs a softer hand than the flat fabric around it.
Can I use fabric softener on coated linen?
No. Softener leaves conditioning agents on the fiber, which serves no purpose on a fabric that already has a surface finish, and it is not recommended for ours. Chlorine bleach should be avoided as well.
Can coated linen go in the dryer?
No. Hang it to dry in the shade instead. Avoid the spin cycle too, and do not wring it by hand.
Can I iron embroidered coated linen?
Yes. Always use a clean cloth between the iron and the fabric, with medium heat. Avoid direct heat on the coated surface and heavy pressure over the embroidery. From the reverse is better still, and a light press through a cloth also works with the cover back on the core.
Is coated linen stain-proof?
No, whatever the category is called in the trade. The coating keeps a spill on the surface long enough to be wiped, which makes everyday accidents manageable. A mark left for hours can still stay.
Can coated linen be used outdoors?
Yes, for a meal outside. It should not be left permanently exposed, since prolonged sun and weather can fade the color and damage the cloth over time.
The washing, drying and ironing instructions here are those printed on the care label supplied with our coated linen by the Italian mill that finishes it: prompt surface cleaning, exceptional washing at a maximum of 40°C on a soft process, no softener, no centrifuge, no chlorine bleach, no tumble drying, drying hung in the shade, ironing on the reverse at medium temperature, dry cleaning permitted, and an accepted dimensional variation of about three per cent.
Independent confirmation of the same routine, from a specialist in French acrylic coated table linens: French Linens Online, which advises wiping spills with a wet cloth, a gentle machine cycle with a mild detergent and no bleach, no fabric softener, air drying, and ironing from the underside through a cloth.
Made to be used. Cared for gently.