Linen Curtains

Linen curtains in 100% flax linen at 220 gsm, stonewashed after weaving, with a 4-inch double-turned chain-weighted hem and French-seamed sides. Our linen curtains are cut 52 in. per panel in drops from 63 to 120 in., in rod pocket, pinch pleat, grommet or tab top, so a full window can be dressed from one supplier with matching cloth. Why linen behaves at a window the way nothing else does Flax is a bast fiber. It grows as the stem of the plant rather than the seed, and it is retted, scutched and hackled out of that stem rather than picked — which is why linen yarn comes off the spinner long, irregular and appreciably stronger than cotton, and why a linen curtain behaves at a window the way nothing else does. What you notice first is the fold. Polyester falls in a smooth machined column because every filament is identical; linen refuses to. The yarn thickens and thins along its own length, so the panel breaks into deep, slightly irregular folds that open under their own weight and settle differently each time you draw it. Photographers light linen from the side for precisely this reason — the slubs cast their own shadows and the cloth reads as three-dimensional rather than as a flat plane of color. The second thing is what happens at four in the afternoon. Linen is a hollow fiber with an open weave, so low sun does not stop at the surface; it passes through the thin places between slubs and leaves the thick places dark. The light in the room goes warm and textured rather than merely dimmer. It is the single reason people who have lived with linen curtains will not go back. Construction: 220 gsm flax linen, stonewashed, French-seamed This is 100% flax linen at 220 gsm — curtain weight, half again heavier than the linen used for bedding, because a panel that is too light lifts on a draft and never quite hangs plumb. Stonewashed after weaving, so the loom stiffness is already gone. Hems are 4 in. double-turned with a continuous chain weight; side seams are French-seamed so there is no raw edge visible when the light is behind the panel. Two honest things about linen curtains Two honest things. Linen creases, permanently and immediately, and if that reads to you as untidy rather than as texture then this is the wrong cloth and a cotton-linen blend is the right one. And it is expensive per meter, because flax yields roughly a fifth of what a cotton field does per acre and the retting alone takes weeks. Sizes, headings and colors 52 in. per panel in 63, 84, 96, 108 and 120 in. drops, in rod pocket, pinch pleat, grommet or tab top. Alabaster, Bone, Fog Gray, Sable, Clay, Sage, Indigo, Blush, Ochre and Moss. Cold machine wash, line dry, and do not iron it — the point of the cloth is the part an iron removes. Linen curtain size guide DropWhere it works 63 in.Sill-length window, dormer, café-style 84 in.Standard window with rod above the frame 96 in.Floor-length on a standard 8-ft ceiling 108 in.9-ft ceiling or ceiling-mounted rod 120 in.10-ft ceiling, tall Georgian window How to care for your linen curtains Cold machine wash, gentle cycle Line dry — hanging while faintly damp pulls creases out under its own weight Do not iron — the crease is the character of the cloth Skip fabric softener — dulls the stonewashed hand Frequently asked questions Are linen curtains worth the price? For anyone who cares how the light falls in a room, yes. Linen refracts low sun the way no synthetic can, holds its structure for decades and gets better with washing. Do linen curtains block light? They dim rather than block. For a genuinely dark bedroom pair with our blackout curtain liner or step up to linen blackout curtains. Do linen curtains shrink? Ours are stonewashed and pre-shrunk. Cold wash and line drying keep residual shrinkage under 3%. Can I iron linen curtains? You can, on the reverse, warm. Most owners don’t — the softened folds are what the cloth is bought for. Complete the window Layer with our sheer linen daytime layer on the inner track, add a blackout liner for a bedroom, and pair with matching linen throw pillows on the sofa.