The Ikea website says they are 100% cotton and that they will shrink 4%. Try following the instructions to hang to dry. Cold water and hang drying will minimize shrinkage, but not prevent it entirely.

thanks. I think I'll wash in cold water and put in the dryer for a few minutes, then finish drying on the line. Big questions will be will the shrink very unevenly.

I washed mine and put in the dryer on low. Usually that is the same as line drying.

* They don't shrink unevenly, but they shrink about 7% in lenght and some in width.

* THE FABRIC becomes denser and frumpy looking. IRONING doesn't improve it much. Actually, hanging them right out of the dryer gives better results.

mine shrunk more than that but I wanted them to shrink. Good idea hanging them right out of the dryer but our washer and dryer are in a different house from where the curtains are going so if I wanted to do that I'd have to wait until we move.

I guess it depends how much you want them to shrink. I find with cotton items, just hanging them to dry is the best way. The only thing about putting them in the dryer and shrinking them, sometimes the seams buckle because the thread (where there is a seam) doesn't shrink, but the material does. (hopefully that makes sense).

How about having them hemmed to the proper length and then when they need to be cleaned take them to the dry cleaners? They will keep their shape and last a lot longer that way :)
If you vacuum your drapes once a month or so,how often will they need to be washed? I have never washed drapes for fear of shrinkage and ruining the material.

Not all shrinkage is completed with one wash/dry cycle. Some less expensive fabrics like those sold by IKEA may continue to shrink for some time.

SandyC. - I like your out of the box thinking. I never thought about vacuuming my drapes. Instead of dry cleaning, you could then probably just buy another set of curtains considering the price. Forget all of that if you have pets, you will most likely have to wash them regularly.

These were so much less expensive than what I had planned to spend. That's why I'm willing to do this shrinking. If I'd paid what I planned to and gotten preshrunk drapes, I'd treat them more gently - wash on gentle and take out of the dryer after a short time. To pay to have these dry cleaned would probably cost as much as or more than the curtains cost.

I was always told to vacuum my custom drapes and to never wash or dry clean. Just use a gentle suction with the brush attachment.

Why don't you just get them hemmed then :)

I was planning to get them hemmed. But when I washed them they shrunk enough that I could hang them higher (which is often recommended anyway) and I wouldn't have to worry about finding someone to hem them.

Sounds like a good idea.

I did wash them twice and dried in the dryer. The shrunk a lot and unevenly. I brought them to the seamstress for a straight hem.

Eww...I might have to find different curtains, or make them, since they shrink unevenly. Thanks.

They do shrink unevenly. I have several sets of these. I normally wash them a few times and hang to dry. Then I hang them up and hem them while they are hanging with the iron on tape that comes with them. I just go around the room with my ironing board and the iron. Works great!

I dried them in the dryer the first two times. After this I'm thinking I'll just put them in the dryer for a few minutes and hang to dry and hopefully they won't shrink more.

So how much did they shrink?

They shrunk at least 4 inches. But bear in mind I didn't follow the washing instructions. They were way longer than I wanted them to be so I dried them totally in the dryer. They did shrink again the second time I washed them though. Could be a case of you get what you pay for but they look nice IMO after the alterations.

When ever I have had draperies made, the fabricator tells me never to dry clean, just vacuum with my brush attachment. I can't imagine washing drapery fabric.
If you do buy ready made drapery panels, you can use a hand held steamer on most fabrics to take out the wrinkles.

these drapes are washable per the instructions on the tag. I don't know how long you could go with white drapes and not wash or dry clean

Ready made drapes are usually replaceable.

true, esp inexpensive ones

Dry cleaned mine... lost 6 inches. Face palm.

Heather, January 2016 post.

the shrinkage is a real issue. I purchased 8 pairs of curtains. I washed them before hemming to allow for shrinkage.

They are now all completely different lengths. The image shows the difference in lengths from the same wash (as per care instructions) The tag stated to allow for 4% shrinkage. I have differences in length up to 30 cm. $5 would be no more than 8 cm.

That's what happens when anything is 100% cotton and is washed - shrinkage.

so now that my curtains have shrunk and been altered to be all the right length, do you think dry cleaning would best best option when they need cleaning? no shrinkage with dry cleaning?

Ugh! I bought two pairs of these curtains in white and just put them in the washer (fresh from the package) because I read you should wash curtains before hemming them. Now I'm really worried about how they will turn out. It's November in New England (cold and rainy) so I cannot hang dry these outdoors and they are too long to hang dry in the house (our house also tends to be pretty damp so things tend to mildew if we don't run a dehumidifiers in the basement constantly). I wish I had just hemmed them straight out of the package and vacuum cleaned them when needed. I'm really worried I ruined brand new curtains.

If you don’t want to lose 4-5” on a panel don’t put them in a dryer. But I bought them in 118” inches and have washed and dried them a couple times. They have shrunk about 4 inches, and gotten all bumpy and frumpy, and look like expensive Belgian linen ( I have the beige) which I love. Very textural.

But now I have to remove the tabs ( I’m using hooks on a ceiling track ) and hem them to about 100 inches. Still a steal for the look.

I've bought several pairs of the off-white lenda curtains. We have wide windows so I was going to sew each pair together to make wider panels. I was going to preshrink a few times first and then alter and hem. Tag says no dryer and no dry cleaning. Am I totally wasting my time? I don't want to end up with a mess I can't use. Maybe should have sprung for the wood blinds.

any new updates on Lenda shinkage? Just got new ones and wonder how previous problems brought up here have been resolved. Thanks!

I'm wondering the same thing. I just bought 4 sets and can't decide whether to wash first before i hem them. I bought some for another house and had to wash one panel after a storm caused leakage in the window and dirtied it. Oh my. That panel shrunk probably 6-8 inches!!! I had to buy another set for that window. They were the right length for that window, but these new ones are puddling for the other windows I'm covering and I don't want the puddled look here. So I can't decide whether to wash and hem or just hem. It sounds like they'll shrink more on a 2nd washing anyway so the hemming will be affected either way...Hmmm...

You may want to wash and hang to dry.....unless you're in a very cold climate and hanging to dry is difficult right now

I think I will go ahead and do that. Just wash once in gentle and dry hang. I'll decide whether I'm going to hem by sewing or with iron-on hem tape once I get them washed and dried.

I found this post very helpful & sharing my experience in case it helps others. I bought 2 sets of the Lenda curtains (4 panels) and washed them on gentle warm then put them in the dryer on delicate for about 15 min to get some of the water out & reduce the wrinkles. 2 of us stretched them out to their full length then folded in half once the long way. I then used 2 drying racks spread apart to dry them (flipped them inside out after a few hours). This really minimized the wrinkles and I had very little shrinkage-less then 2" overall. (I was hoping for more). There was some variation in length but less then 1/2". I did still iron the panels to give them a more finished look.

We opted not to use the curtain tabs so we cut those off and used curtain rings & clips. Rather then hem we just folded over the top hem 2x (towards the back) to get it to the length we needed then used the curtain clips to keep that in place & hung them. We made adjustments with the clips where needed to allow for the variation in length. It was really easy and if it shrinks more on the next wash it's easy to adjust. A bit of work but I'm honestly amazed we were able to get 4 panels (over 200" width) that look this good for $50.

Not an Architectural Digest-worthy picture but... I finally got curtains up. Didn't preshrink but took tabs off and sewed two panels together for each side. Was worried they would be too full as each 100" wide panel covers 41" of window but they are just right and still pull nicely to the sides to expose much of the window. Ikea also sells yardage of this fabric which may or may not be easier than altering the pre- made panels..

I bought 2 pairs of the white Lenda curtains and they are not really white. More like an ivory. Can I wash them with bleach to whiten them?

Bleach sometimes turns things yellow. If you can, cut off a piece from the hem, - you may have to unpick the hem to get at a piece and test that.

I washed and dried some (like 3 times) on hot water because I wanted to minimize shrinkage before I hemmed them and noticed that they got more white. Wasn't what I wanted because our walls are sort of ivory but it's fine. Do know that they will also shrink up. Alot. And unevenly. I didn't use bleach but since they're all cotton, it should be okay. Like Angel said, though, you might check it first. They come with tie-backs so you might try one of those if you're not going to use them.

Just thought I would add in my further experience with the Lendas: the textured material seems to be not so much shrinking with washing and drying, but rather the fibers are “tightening” causing the weave to take up less space.

So if you wish to lengthen these panels, get them wet and stretch them out. You can gain multiple inches in length. You can even hang them damp to maintain the stretched-out position.

Some people use OxiClean White Revive to make drapery whiter. If you purchased extra long, make an 8" hem--the professional looking hem to get rid of some of the excess.

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