It’s summer in the United States and that means bringing out all those summer clothes & if you sew then you’ll be looking for spring fabrics and linen just may be one of those fabrics you LOVE.

Well, I have to say that I have a love/hate relationship with it. It drapes beautifully and is lightweight for those hot summer days (and nights depending on where you live!), however, it does love to wrinkle! Press it, sit down and those pesky wrinkles instantly appear don’t they? However, there are ways to make linen less wrinkly and that is by blending the fibers with another fiber. Below are several blends that keep the beauty of linen, but make it more manageable to use both in clothing and also in home decor. Fabric.com has some interesting information about linen which I have included below:

“When blended with other fibers, characteristics of linen are transformed to acquire some characteristics of the joining fiber:

• Linen/Rayon – Rayon blended with linen creates a substantially softer fabric with a more fluid drape and a subtle sheen from the rayon.
• Linen/Cotton – Cotton softens linen but keeps the fullness of linen and reduces the wrinkles drastically while keeping a crisp look.
• Linen/Polyester – Polyester helps linen to wash better, wrinkle less, and retain color-fastness. Depending on the type of fabric, polyester usually softens the feel of linen as well, but in a synthetic way.

If you’re looking for a fabric that is gorgeous, lightweight, and very classic for the summer months you don’t need to look any further than linen. The Linen/Cotton or Linen/Polyester blends will be your best bet to make wearability easier. Here are some lightweights blended with cotton at Fabric.com

Did you know there are also different weights of linen? Also from Fabrics.com

• Very lightweight linen fabrics can be used for window sheers, a summer blouse, or a handkerchief.
• Light to medium weight linens can be made into a classic linen suit, bedding, draperies or tablecloths.
•  Lightweight linen blended with cotton can even be used for quilting.
• Heavyweight linen is perfect for pillows or upholstery projects.

And lastly, there is a short but very informative video on Fabric.com to help you with your decision on using linen. I hope you enjoy this blog post on Linen and if you would like to get notified when we add a new post just click to join!