The $12 linen tablecloth that looked perfect but never stopped shedding lint

I bought a cheap linen tablecloth for our kitchen table about 3 months back. It was on clearance for 12 bucks and had that perfect wrinkled, old-timey look I wanted for Sunday dinners. Problem is, every time I wash it, it leaves lint all over the place. Like little blue fuzz balls stuck to everything. I have to pick them off the butter dish and my glasses. It looks nice in photos but I'm sweeping up lint twice a week. Has anyone else found a linen that doesn't shed like a golden retriever in summer?

2 comments

2 Comments

eva_garcia565d ago

Oh, I actually have to disagree a bit here. That shedding is part of what makes cheap linen feel like real linen instead of that stiff, processed stuff. My first linen tablecloth did the same thing for about 6 washes before it settled down. The fuzz is just the fibers breaking in, kind of like how new jeans leave blue marks on your couch. If you toss it in the dryer on low with a couple of dryer balls, it helps pull off the loose lint before it ends up on your butter dish. Once it calms down, that same $12 cloth will soften up and get that vintage look without the mess. You just have to push through the first month or two of it acting like a shedding animal.

brooke4845d ago

Wait, have you ever tried putting the cloth in the freezer for a day before the first wash? I read that somewhere and it honestly helped with my cheap linen napkins. They shed like crazy at first, but freezing them seemed to tighten up the loose fibers or something. I just pulled them out, shook them off in the yard, and then ran them through a cold wash with a little vinegar. Not sure if it actually did anything or if it was just in my head, but the shedding was way less than the tablecloth I didn't freeze. Might be worth a shot if you want to skip some of that fuzzy phase.