They are probably meant to be dry clean only, so you would be taking a chance just putting them in water. They are likely to shrink and shrink unevenly. And if they would lighten with bleach, you could not count on them bleaching evenly.

My advice would be to either work with the color you have or sell them on eBay and start over.

Is there any extra fabric you can experiment with? I washed and dried my linen fabric before I made the panels with no shrinkage issues but factory made panels could have hidden materials that would require dry clean only. I would really hesitate to use bleach unless you're prepared for a total loss. I doubt the color would change evenly and without damage.

Wow, unless the manufacturer specifies they are machine washable, there is no way I'd put them in the washer. If they aren't the color you ordered, and you cna't live with off-white, send them back

Why don't you take them to a local dry cleaner? Most will dye things, and they may bleach, or lighten, also. Washing linen napkins and having to iron them is one thing, but I know I wouldn't be up for all the ironing drapes would need, plus the possibility of shrinking. ;o)

Thank you...feeling so low about this major purchasing blunder. Custom drapes can't be returned. Every time I look in the living room, I'm hit with wave of regret. I will talk to some professional cleaners in town. Thanks again for the advice.

Is the fabric significantly different than the sample you purchased from? If so, I would try to return them.

Look into sun bleaching them. I just did a quick google and it might not be an outlandish idea. Just be sure to spread out the folds, rotate, etc. so you get even exposure.

Why not post pictures of them in your living room. We might come up with some suggestions to take the focus off the color, if you know what I mean. And there is the possibility that they're not as bad as you think, you're just disappointed right now.

Well this is an old discussion but I'm adding to it because I wanted to bleach fairly expensive linen curtains I bought from Pottery Barn. I bought a natural flax color and over a short period of time on the windows they got streaks and turned almost green! They draped below the window onto the floor. They were a mess of uneven greenish color. So I researched: could I bleach them white? Everyone said no!! My curtains said Dry Clean too. I DONT dry clean anything (can't stand the smell) So as far as I was concerned they were only good enough to tear up for rags! But I decided to disregard all the warnings and bleach them! I used about a half gallon of chlorine bleach in a tub of water. Oh...I did try first washing and laying on the grass to suck up chlorophyll and in the sun. Didn't work. When I put them in the tub they turned ghastly shades of pink, warm beige, green and other yucky colors. Left it in the sun, covered with heavy plastic. Later I went to bed. In the middle of the night I imagined them disintegrating into mush but it was dark, I went back to bed. So about 12 hours later I lifted the plastic and they were a soft white!!! I thought after all about the Egyptian wrapped mummies in linen! So I'm going to do the rest! PS: I'll tell you if they fall apart on the windows!

Is that before/after on your picture?

Here is a second picture I just took. On the left is the original flax linen curtain panel I bought. The two white folded curtains on the right are tho ones I have bleached. The texture of the fabric still has that new crisp feeling of linen. I have not ironed them. I'm not sure if you can tell but there is a very slight difference in the white ones. The far right being slightly cream. Hardly noticeable. I decorate with antiques, primitives and cottage look. So I don't mind. Perfection is not something I strive for.

Nosoccermom. Yes to your question

Zwilma13, you have given me hope! I bought two custom-made sofas from out of state. I ordered them in white linen, and they arrived a flaxen color. The look like two crumpled, brown paper bags at night. No returns. I can't stand the color, and they match nothing in my apartment. I spent all weekend looking for a new rug, and just spent a fortune on this one--which I love.

Also hopeful: the man who delivered the sofas left a black smudge print on one arm of one of them. After trying to clean it with a mild soap, I ended up reaching for the Tide Stick. It did nothing. Then I went for the Tide Stick with Bleach. This immediately took out the fingerprint, as well as the ugly linen color. It left the spot seemingly the same texture as the untreated area. And so now the question is whether to go for bleach or for Rit Color Remover! BTW, I live in a major city, and so wonder if simply bleaching them would work, rather than also using the sun. I have no yard to speak of. Thank you!

I used Rit color remover on an ivory linen chair slip that accidentally got put into the wash with a pink sweatshirt. It removed all color, both pink and ivory, and left the linen slip a bright white.

I actually needed it to be ivory to match the others so I tea stained it after removing all color and now I can't even tell which one it is.

Thinking of using the Rit color remover again for an ivory linen Anthropologie shower curtain that I just bought on ebay. It's much more yellow/dark ivory than I expected and I need it to be either white or a light cream color.

tnfarmhousefixin, did you happen to notice any shrinkage? Prior to tea standing, did it have an even color? Did you wash it in hot water? I keep reading horror stories about uneven color, no change in color (due to too low of temperature), and shrinkage. Thanks so much!

Shaniam I made a major blunder yesterday. I guess I got too cockey about my first success and decided to bleach my third panel. I put it in a large tub outdoors in the sun, with a gallon of bleach (DON'T DO THIS!) and placed plastic over the top because I didn't want animals thinking it was water. It was in the 80's and it cooked my curtain panel and ate holes in it! I also let it sit all day. Linen makes beautiful rags too.
I was very mad at myself!!!
I neglected to mention in my past success story that the panels did shrink but that was ok because the new ones were too long.
So I do NOT think you should mess with your upholstery. It will probably shrink. And I don't see how you can accomplish this in the city! It is messy. Why don't you try throwing a bunch of white linen pillows on it or a linen throw that has both white and flax color in it to tie in the colors. Or sell it. Many people would like natural flax color linen sofas.
Good luck.

If I ever try this again I will experiment with the safer Rit color remover.

Thank you so much for your response, zwilma13! I am grateful! Sorry to hear about your mishap yesterday!

Shania, it was an even color and a bright white. I didn't notice shrinkage but it was just a tie on chair slip for the seat only and it had been washed and tumble dried many times before.

Katherine my linen drapes were from pottery barn too. Although I'm not crazy about pure white as I love antiques and a more earthy look the white is much nicer on the windows.
SC sun will put streaks in anything else! That's what got me started on the bleaching.
By the way, just for fun I posted a picture of a current article my house is in. No curtains! I only use the now sheer white linen curtains in my first floor guest bedroom.

Wow... your house looks beautiful!! I love everything about it! I am going to have to look up the article!!

I also love the sheer linen curtain look and, although I still have my lined curtains in a couple of rooms, I do take them down half of the year, just to get the simple, light look:)

Thanks Katherine. You can see my place on the Houzz site of 'Bespoke' Aiken, SC. The Ridan post.

Hopefully someone is still reading comments on this post. I want to bleach my tan sheer linen curtains to make them whiter in color. Much cheaper than replacing them all. So my question is after you did the bleach soak or the Rit color remover, do you run them through a delicate wash cycle to get the bleach out of the fabric?

I had mixed results, see all my above comments. Be careful with the bleach. It worked on one pair just fine. I didn’t measure amount! The second time I tried it in the SC summer heat, it ate up my curtains!!! Nice rags now. And YES you must wash the bleach out. I just used a short wash cycle. I never tried the Rit, I will the next time.

zwilma13 The Rit Color Remover didn't work at all. My drapes are Restoration Hardware Belgian Linen in a tan color. I repeated the process several times using the boiling on the stove method Rit recommends. The water was slightly tinted with color when I drained it, but the drapes are not even close to being lightened. Plus they seemed to have shrunk too, so even if I try the bleach they will be too short. I have other panels to do, but now I think they will all shrink and I bought them longer and had them professionally hemmed.

Hi Pattie! I also have bleached a lot of my linen curtains (that were off white, custom and Pottery Barn) they turned out well. I know it's risky because of the damage bleach can do.... but, I had gotten to the point where I was either going to purchase more or try bleaching. Yesterday, I bleached some thin linen chair seat covers Natural color) by soaking them in bleach and water (i didn't measure either:)) and then hanging them in the sun to bleach some more, and then washing them. I know that I should use peroxide in the wash to deactivate the clorox, but haven't done that yet. Good luck! It's kind of addictive once you have success!!

Thanks for the comment Katherine. I love the drapes I have, but moving towards a more neutral color scheme and want more of an ivory color. I spent a lot of money on these from restoration hardware, and I really thought this would not be so hard to lighten them. I am presently soaking one panel in a bucket of water with 2 cups of bleach. Nothing is happening after 4 hrs!! Nothing happened after two tries with the Rit Color Remover. Am I using enough bleach and how long do I soak? Thank you for your input. My husband says to give up, but I am determined!!!

When I did my custom curtains, they were really bulky (each panel is 108" x 74" and double lined), I filled the tub with about five inches of hot water and poured at least half a gallon in (I really think it was a whole gallon). Sorry for the lack of exact numbers. I do remember that when I added more bleach in one of the batches, they started to lighten pretty quickly. I know that it is a big project to take on given the expense, it helped me to start with some non custom ones just to give me courage. After soaking, I did rinse mine a little and then hung them in the sun to bleach more and that is when they completely bleached... well, these actually only bleached to ivory, not white like my pottery barn ones. did. I guess thats good for you. Also, I just remembered that I bleached my Restoration Hardware belgian linen duvet cover from natural to ivory. It really should work on your curtains, especially since they are shear. Stir in more bleach and even take the bucket on the porch and stand there while the sun hits it. But, I wouldn't leave the bucket in the sun too long. Also, Read about using hydrogen peroxide to deactivate the bleach. I'm usually too lazy, but I know that it is a good idea. Hope that helps! I'd love to hear how it goes!

Thank you to you all for your advice. This is a great long running post. I have the Emory drapes from Pottery Barn in Ivory that I would like to lighten to white. They are lined in a cotton. I was wondering if anyone has lightened the linen when there is lining? The lining is already white. I guess the risk is that they will shrink unevenly and I will have to cut the lining out. But it’s either that or buy new curtains or pick a new paint scheme and I don’t want to do that either.

My linen curtains from Restoration Hardware are not lined, but I was not successful in lightening them. I used the Rit color remover twice, then soaked in bleach and water for a few days. Maybe as Katherine stated on the above post, I needed to increase the bleach concentration, but my drapes shrunk several inches, so they would be too short so I did not try the bleach method again. Perhaps it was from the hot boiling water required with the Rit color remover. Not sure, but so perplexed that these natural, tan colored linen drapes did not budge on the color even with all the processes I used.

Thanks pattie, I gave it a go. Spot bleaching seemed to have no affect. I soaked one drape overnight in a tub of 4 scoops of the oxyclean whitener. Rinsed and then hung them on a line to dry. It got whiter but also shrunk about 4 inches in the length. The width was only minimally affected. I think I am picking a new paint scheme because I don’t have time to mess around with letting the hem out of 14 drapery panels and or buying drapery rings to give them another 1.5”. Good luck to all those in the future who give it a try!!

I pulled out some linen drapes from West Elm that I bought 7 years ago and they had all yellowed in storage. I used a small amount of bleach in threw them in the washing machine as I had nothing to lose at that point, I couldn’t use them all yellowed. It worked well. One panel still has a tint of yellowing but the others are back to white. I hung them to dry and ironed them.

I actually had this exact same dilemma last summer! My solution was to work off-white into the decor scheme with pillows and a shag rug. Honestly it was a far simpler fix than redoing the curtains and possibly harming them. I also removed the backing to allow more light and let the curtains look more white. Here's a pic of the result...good luck!

My ivory semi sheer curtains look yellow when there is a lot of sun coming through them. They actually look much better and whiter open.