KNOW YOUR FABRIC
Plan care for cotton and cotton blends: check shrinkage risks, sort colours, read the drying limit and protect prints and stretch details.
Cotton can become a soft knitted top, a crisp woven shirt or a heavy towel. Those constructions do not all behave alike in the wash. Colour, finishing, prints and other fibres also matter. Begin with the finished item’s care label, including written notes, rather than choosing the machine’s cotton program automatically.
Cotton shrinkage depends on construction and finishing as well as laundering. A preshrunk description is not a guarantee of unchanged fit under any treatment. Keep within the wash and drying limits; do not deliberately use extra heat to resize a garment.
Read the complete fibre list. Mostly cotton does not mean you can ignore elastane, a lining or decorative trim. The care label applies to the finished item, so a stretchy cotton top may need different treatment from an all-cotton towel.
Observe instructions to wash separately or with similar colours. White cotton is not automatically bleach-safe. Check the bleaching instruction and any restrictions on ironing a print; the cotton setting on an iron is not permission to press every part.
Find the actual drying instruction before starting. A cotton item may permit low-heat tumbling or require natural drying. Follow a specified flat, line or shade method. Neither a sturdy feel nor an ordinary wash symbol establishes dryer permission.
Sort colours and care requirements together. Keep an item needing a mild wash out of a load using a more vigorous process. Empty pockets and follow the maker’s preparation directions for fastenings and turning printed items inside out.
Match both temperature and washing process to the label. Confirm the final settings after selecting options. A named cotton cycle may be hotter or more vigorous than your particular item allows.
Choose a product suitable for the item’s colours and restrictions. Check whether it contains bleach before using it on a no-bleach item. Measure for the load and conditions using the detergent directions.
Remove the finished load and smooth items gently before the permitted drying method. Avoid pulling a damp knit back to an imagined original size. Check a separate ironing instruction if creases remain, and finish drying before storage.
Choose the marks actually printed on your item. Keep the complete instructions together, then copy or print your checklist.
Find the marks on my label