Washing Your Cross Stitch

We hear so many myths, half-truths, and outright misconceptions on the subject of washing cross stitch. Here is a summary of the most frequently asked questions, and our answers to them.

Should I wash my cross stitch? Our short answer to this question? No. Unless your fabric has a visible stain, spot, or hoop marks, then just don't wash it at all. The simple solution is generally the best, and if the marks or stains are minimal, then do nothing.

Is Dry Cleaning OK? The name may include the word "dry" but dry cleaning includes the uses of fluids to clean your cross stitch, and guess what? They tend to make over-dyed flosses run. So in general terms, we don't care so much for dry cleaning. Great for suits and wool sweaters, not so good for cross stitch.

Woolite in cold water? Not a terrible idea, but be careful, again, anything wet can cause over-dyed floss to run.

A few drops of Dawn dish detergent in super cold water? One of our personal favorites if you really, really, really think you just have to wash your finished cross stitch piece. But once again, non-color fast flosses will bleed.

Is it OK to wash my linen before I start stitching? Yes, since you haven't added any of those pesky flosses to it, its fine to wash your linen before you start. Linen by its self is a very strong fiber, very resistant to damage when it gets wet. Some stitchers like to wash out some of the sizing before they start, which tends to make some linens softer to the touch and easier to work with.

Keepsakes secret recipes. Over the years we have developed some dry processes to remove spots, stains and other foreign matter from cross stitch. If you have a piece of soiled cross stitch bring it in and we will see what we can do. Sorry, the processes are secret, and we're not going to tell you how we do it, but when we say DRY we really mean DRY, these secret processes do not use water or any type of fluid.

Have we been at all helpful? Do you have any cross stitch cleaning tips you would like to pass along? If so, we're always glad to hear from you. E-mail us at feedback@yourkeepsakes.com!