How To Prevent Fabrics From Shrinkage

We have received a good question from MARILYN HAYWARD today, which, we believe, is worth of posting here together with our answer:

Question:

I am considering buying a super-king duvet cover and pillowcases from
you as a gift for my daughter. She does not line dry her washing. Would the
linen shrink back too much if completely tumble dried?

Answer:

I personally tumble dry my pure linen bedding sheets until they are 100% dry. I have not noticed any significant shrinkage. Some years ago I went to
the dry cleaners’ seminar which was held by the producer of fabric dyes. All attendants had the same question – how to dye fabrics without any shrinkage? The manufacturer
taught us then, that any fabric shrinks when, after being washed in hot water, it gets
rinsed with the cold water – by changing temperatures so dramatically the fabric gets a temperature shock and shrinks. Therefore, the trick for keeping your linens in their original size is not to wash them in the temperature higher than 30-40C. If, for some reasons, you have to wash them in a hot water (i.e. to get rid of some stains), then let
them cool down before rinsing (or rinse with the use of hot water). The same applies to wools as well.

Win a Set of Eight Damask Linen Napkins VERNISSAGE

Finest pure linen damask napkins in milky white colour with ornamented border in natural shades, perfect for special occasions. Size 56x56cm. Worth £79.

These super-quality linen napkins have been weaved at one of the oldest Russian factories, which was supplying table linens to the Russian Royal Court in the 19c.

Enter our Prize Draw by submitting your contact details before the 20th of October 2009.

Make sure you enter correct contact details.

A great chance to enhance your dining table with these high quality napkins out of range of pure linen home accessories.

Or they could be a great Christmas gift for your mum!

To increase your chance of winning please feel free to submit your details for a few times - once every new day.
Invite your friends and family to challenge their luck too!

Damask or jacquard is a figured linen fabric in which warp-satin and weft-sateen create a pattern. Such patterns are visible even in an all white cloth, woven from all white yarns. This process requires threads to be woven in contrasting directions, which creates a pattern that is visible when viewed at certain angles. Across large surfaces, damask fabrics are most extraordinary as reflect light and continually reveal new designs to your eye in a subtle and appealing way.

You can also buy these napkins from Alenska website for £9.90 each, as well as matching Vernissage tablecloths and table runners:

Vernissage Tablecloth 130x130cm            £ 69.00

Vernissage Tablecloth 140x170cm            £ 78.00

Vernissage Tablecloth 170x170cm            £ 85.00

Vernissage Table Runner 50x175cm        £ 44.00  

A Set of Two Pure Linen Tea Towels 44x70cm

A set of 2 jacquard pure linen tea towels, packed together and nicely tied with the ribbon. Natural colour, one is decorated with red geometric pattern, and another - with blue. 44x70cm.

Pure linen tea towels are not just a touch of luxury for your kitchen - they are much more absorbent than cotton and therefore ideal for drying your chrystal glasses. If your glasses and vases got some stains which are difficult to remove even in a dishwasher, then you definitely need our great linen tea towels.

They are also purchased a lot as birthday gifts or Christmas gifts for mums and wives - what a lovely way to please a woman!

These towels were woven at one of the oldest factories in Russia with love and passion to linen. Linen is a part of national heritage in Russia.

HOW TO BUY

Buy from our website. Retail price is £19.99. Subscribe to our newsletter or price alert to be informed about our special promotions and sales.

www.alenska.com

Luxury Bedding Tina

Elegant and simple bed linen decorated with double-colour embroidered line - blue and light blue. Pure 160g/m2 linen. For those who like it minimal.

HOW TO BUY TINA BEDDING

You can buy this bed linen as a set matching together duvet covers with oxford pillowcases and flat sheets. Available in single, double, king and superking size (see Size Chart).

HOW TO LOOK AFTER PURE LINEN

Wash in low temperatures, such as 30-40C, no strong detergents. No need to iron. Hang naturally. When dump put it into tumble dryer with a couple of tennis balls (the balls will hit the linen and soften it).

PRICE LIST

Single Size Duvet Cover £ 90.00
Double Size Duvet Cover £ 162.00
King Size Duvet Cover £ 174.00
Superking Size Duvet Cover £ 186.00
Oxford Pillowcase 50x75cm £ 35.00
Single White Flat Sheet £ 66.00
Double White Flat Sheet £ 84.00
King/Superking White Sheet £ 105.00

This pure linen bedding set might become a great gift idea for wedding!

How To Wear Scarves As Tops

Are you ready to buy now?

Get back and choose a great scarf for yourself!

Women's silk scarves, pashminas, and wool shawls

Pavlovsky Posad is the most famous Russian enterprise producing wool shawls, pashminas and silk scarves. Their products are widely exported to Europe, America and Middle East.

Floral Collection Pink Blossom

Nice and warm summer collection with pink floral pattern - an ideal theme for gifts for Her. An exclusive Alenska design.

Waffle Bathroom Linens

Extra quality waffle towels with linen trim.

These highly absorbent soft 100% cotton waffle towels will add a continental touch to your bathroom.

Buy from Alenska.com

Hand towel 50x90cm for £12.99

Bath towel 70x150cm for £16.99

Bath mit for £5.99

Floral Linen Apron

Pure linen apron with pink printed blossom. Pocket and straps are made of plain linen.
Approximately 70x90cm. Buy from Alenska.com for £19.99

Linen Cushion Blue Blossom

Pure linen cushion covers with small border and envelope lock. 40x40cm, pink floral pattern on natural linen.

The cushion covers may be sold without the inner pads for £19.99 from Alenska.com - a great way to refresh your old cushions.

Linen Window Curtains

Pure linen floral curtains with adjustable length. Unlined. Width of each panel is 150cm. Made of 180g/m2 pure linen. Suitable for bedroom, kitchen, hall. Height is adjustable. Iron-on hemming strip included; makes it easy to shorten the curtain to desired length without sewing. Gathering tape at the top. Dry clean recommended.

Buy from Alenska:

A pair up to 180cm for £99

A pair up to 240cm for £129

A pair up to 300cm for £159

Scarves of Pavolvsky Posad – Saga Two

Pavlovsky Posad is the most famous Russian manufacturer of scarves wraps and shawls. Tourists of Russia often return with their scarves and shawls as souvenirs together with other notable items such as Matrioshkas that are a symbol of Russian complexity and enigma.

The idea of establishing an in-house design studio at Pavlovsky Posad came alive in the 1850s. Up until the 1920s all shawls and scarfs were printed manually due to their large size, multicolour and complex patterns. Patterns were carved on large wooden boards, one for each colour. Typically it required at least three boards to complete one pattern, but sometimes there were up to 16 of them.

All designs were split into 4 to 24 fragments. The most complex designs required up to 400 applications to create one shawl wrap.

The factory also had their own colourists and compositions of dyes that were kept highly secret from competitors. The recipes remained the property of the colourists that created them.

After printing, all shawls were placed into special humid cellars to mature and fix the dyes. They were then steamed and sent to home-based workers to trim the edges. Every single wool shawl, one by one, was treated by at least 18 workers to complete the full cycle.

In the second half of 19c the annual turnover of the enterprise reached 1million roubles, which was absolutely huge for the time. The company was employing 700 workers full time and another 1000 locals were engaged on a part-time basis.

After the revolution of 1917 the enterprise was nationalised and remained as an estate property till 1990s.

The Soviet era was also reflected in the patterns of shawls and incorporated some agricultural and industrial motifs although the factory still concentrated mostly on folk crafts.

In the 1980s the manual printing had been stopped completely due to the complexity of the manual production. This has now been replaced by the most contemporary and sophisticated printing machines of Europe.

Currently the enterprise produces shawls and scarves wraps in 23 main colours. In parallel with restoring old traditional patterns, the artists create new modern designs, based on harmonic composition of close tones, predominantly in beige, ochre, brown and green colours.

A vegetative ornament has now overtaken the more traditional floral pattern. Nowadays the factory produces a range of over 200 different designs of wool shawls and silk scarves, all made of natural fibres.

Pavlovsky Posad wool shawls and pashmina scarves are exported to Europe, America and Middle East. Oriental designs are particularly popular in the Middle East. Muslim women like wearing them as a head scarf.

Apart from heads these lovely accessories can be worn as highly detailed neck scarf. Some of them are even good to be worn as tops. Natural silks used for scarfs production are also noted for allowing the body to breath in hot climates and are therefore great for use on holiday.

Alenska is now on eBay!

Alenska has set up a new shop on eBay!

See what is listed so far - some items are offered with a good bargain pricing!

Floral Collection Blue Blossom

This Collection offers a great range of home accessories combining printed pure linen floral fabric and some other plain fabrics. All these beautiful products were made in Russia exclusively for Alenska.

Linen Cushion Blue Blossom

Pure linen cushion covers with small border and envelope lock. 40x40cm, blue floral pattern.

The cushion covers may be sold without the inner pads for £19.99 from Alenska.com

Linen Window Curtains

Pure linen floral curtains with adjustable length. Unlined. Width of each panel is 150cm. Made of 180g/m2 pure linen. Suitable for bedroom, kitchen, hall. Height is adjustable. Iron-on hemming strip included; makes it easy to shorten the curtain to desired length without sewing. Gathering tape at the top. Dry clean recommended.

Buy from Alenska:

A pair up to 180cm for £99

A pair up to 240cm for £129

A pair up to 300cm for £159

Cooking Kitchen Apron

Pure linen apron with blue printed blossom. Pocket and straps are made of plain linen.
Approximately 70x90cm. Buy from Alenska.com for £19.99

Waffle Bathroom Linens

High quality waffle towels with linen trim.

These highly absorbent soft 100% cotton waffle towels will add a continental touch to your bathroom.

Buy from Alenska.com

Hand towel 50x90cm for £12.99

Bath towel 70x150cm for £16.99

Bath mit for £5.99

You can combine some of the above items out of our Blue Blossom collection and send them as birthday or Christmas gifts.