The Linen Doctor

When my father died in 1982, I was suddenly in charge of the store. I was really scared. Even though I had worked at the store for 11 years at that point, I really didn’t know exactly what to do. I could sell, do basic bookkeeping, and do shipping and receiving. I always seemed to have lots of ideas to suggest to my father, but when I assumed control, I was not so sure I could successfully implement those ideas. There was no training program, no manual or written guidelines for buying, and there were things my father (pictured on the right, with his parents, Rosel and Fred, and his wife, Leonore, at the store’s opening in 1953) did that I had never done, like going to Madeira, Portugal on a buying trip.

I decided to call George Matouk, Sr., another second generation owner of a respected wholesale company in our industry. He gave me advice that I have never forgotten. He told me not to worry, that I would make lots of mistakes the first year, would correct them in my second year, and start seeing success in my third year. I listened to him and believed him. He ultimately was right and his words of wisdom got me through some challenging times when I had lots of doubts about what I was doing.

I am the third generation of my family to run Scheuer Linens and George Matouk, Jr. (pictured on the left, with his father, George Sr.), is the third generation of his family to run Matouk. In 1929, John Matouk founded a company whose “mission was to give American homemakers ready access to the world’s finest, most luxurious linens.” My grandparents started in 1937 by selling fine linens in customers’ homes. There was no Scheuer Linens store in those days. As both companies evolved and grew, both stayed committed to having the very finest quality linens and never compromised on quality or service.

As the years went on, both Matouk and Scheuer Linens diversified their product lines of bed, bath, and table linens. We still offer the full line of Matouk linens. George, Jr. and I often talk on the telephone about our future plans and every so often, we reminisce about our fathers and grandfathers. It always gives me a warm feeling to know that we are successfully carrying on the traditions established by our grandfathers.

“I just opened the box this weekend.  Never have I had such a beautiful bed.  It is magnificent!  I cannot thank you enough for your creativity and instinct - bravo!  The material is gorgeous…it looks so rich on the bed.” - E.W.

New color threads are predicted every year in our industry by several established and reputable color forecasting companies.  Forecasts are made every year; sometimes they are very much the same, and sometimes they differ greatly.

At the beginning of 2008, blue got a lot of publicity.  The New York Times ran an article in December, “A New Year, A New Color: But Are We Blue.”  Pantone, the world-renouned authority on color, chose blue iris as their favorite color of 2008.  The San Francisco Chronicle ran a story in January, “Back in Blue,” and said that “now it’s time to introduce blue and yellow as the colors of 2008…”  Quite often, a collection of colors are chosen.  House Beautiful selected eleven designers to choose “13 Colors that Men Love,” including aruba blue and midnight navy.

Tough economic times typically call for neutral palettes, but bright colors and trends are being shown at home and textile trade shows and exhibitions around the world.  White and ivory have always been the best sellers in our store, Scheuer Linens, in San Francisco and for years blue was usually third.  But in recent years, chocolate, green, and variations on wheat an chamois have sold better that blue.

Will blue become popular again?  Only time and a sales history will tell.  We often look to see what the women’s fashion industry is doing with regard to color and style, since home fashions have often followed those trends.

Looking ahead, Pantone also identified seven 2009 color palettes, “that reflect individuality and make people feel good about who they are,” according to Tod Shulman, vice president of the fashions, home, and interiors division at Pantone.

The Pantone View Colour Planner for summer 2009 details seven palettes, including:  Female-ism (medium pastels with a tinge of retro glamour); Classic-ism (almost devoid of color except for one medium blue accent); Independent-ism (tart, bold, and gregarious colors); Today-ism (deep, dark shades of reddish blues, and brown); Absurd-ism (combines disproportionate color hues and values); Fetish-ism (”a carnal inspiration and desire for experimentation”); and Surreal-ism (”plays with scale, combination, and expectation to create unexpected, and even strange, creations”).  www.pantone.com.

At first, people often feel that new colors look different or strange.  Acceptance typically follows after people see a particular color palette promoted.  Finally, the customer says “I want that color.”

Related Links:

NY Times: But Are We Blue

SF Chronicle: Back in Blue

Emissions from some substances used to build furniture can provoke immediate, acute reactions in some people with chemical sensitivities, but even emissions that go unnoticed can present chronic risks from long-term exposure, according to an article by Susan Fornoff in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Here’s a partial list of chemicals in furniture that can make you sick:

Upholstery – Might use formaldehyde and perfluorooctanoic acid, considered a like human carcinogen by the EPA.

Couch legs or arms – Could be finished in a lacquer that releases volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, that the American Lung Association reports can irritate eyes, skin, and lungs and cause headaches, nausea, and even liver or kidney damage.

Corners of the couch – Could be glued with a product containing ethylene oxide, a probable carcinogen that can also cause brain and nerve malfunctions.

Upholstery dye – Might contain chemicals including benzidine, a known carcinogen, or hydrazine, a probably carcinogen with a range of adverse health effect.

Couch cushions – Might be filled with polyurethane foam made before 2006 that contains flame-retardant polybrominated diphenyl ethers, which are now banned in California for their potential health effects. Scheuer Linens uses latex in their Royal-Pedic mattress sets but polyurethane is still used in most mattresses being sold today.

Couch frame – Could be made pressed wood emitting formaldehyde fumes. These can cause cancer “and other adverse health effects,” according to the California Air Resources Board.

Check Greenguard and Green Seal, two independent and impartial nonprofit testers, for lists of the kind of furniture you’re looking for. You can also learn more at: Sustainable Furniture Council, and Royal-Pedic.

“Dear Linen Doctor, how are fine linens hand embroidered? 

Hand embroidery is not as popular as it used to be, but it is still being done and customers still request it, particularly for table linens.  The first step in the process is to draw the pattern onto tracing paper.  A hand-held stitch counter is then dragged over the pattern lines to determine the number of stitches required to embroider it.  The embroiderer is paid by the stitch.

A picote machine driven via foot pedal perforates the paper along the lines of the pattern.  An inkpad-like “doll” saturated with ink is swiped over the paper to transfer the pattern onto the fabric below it.  In Maderia, Portugal, for example, the printed fabrics, a sheet specifying colors and stitches to be used, and the embroidery threads are given to a delivery agent who farms them out to embroiderers.  The embroidered pieces are returned to the factory, washed to remove the ink, and smoothed by hand using heavy, flat-faced irons.

One fancy cutwork tablecloth may take as long as eight months to complete, since only one person can work on the tablecloth at a time to ensure consistency in stitching and to eliminate puckering near the embroidery. One way to tell great embroidery work is to turn the embroidered fabric over to check the neatness and tightness of the embroidery by making sure that the back side embroidery is relatively flat compared to the top side, where it will typically be raised.

Almost all of the great hand embroidery used to be done in Madeira, but now much of it is being done in Vietnam  In my opinion, that work is comparable to the European work we’ve seen for centuries.  This wasn’t true of Chinese embroidery years ago, but the Vietnamese seem to have mastered the embroidery techniques required to produce quality work.

So Many Options

The number of choices and manufacturers in mattresses available today is overwhelming. There are new constructions and materials:  natural latex foam (like the Royal-Pedic we carry at the Scheuer Linens store), air chamber mattresses (such as Select Comfort), and visco-elastic foam (commonly called memory foam). Add to that the various thicknesses and pillow tops that are available and it’s no wonder it’s so tough to decide.

Try Before you Buy

There really is no substitute for actually physically trying a mattress. Most sleep experts say that you should test a mattress for 15-20 minutes each.  If you experience any uncomfortable pressure points, consider another mattress. 

Keep in mind that older bodies tolerate less pressure as they age. Try to use the same position that you normally sleep in and use a pillow that is similar to the one you use. You might even consider bringing your own pillow. If you are a side sleeper, like most of us are, be sure to spend time on each side. We might also recommend testing mattresses when the store opens so you won’t feel as self-conscious about testing a bed in a store for 15-20 minutes. Read the rest of this entry »

In 1878, John Wanamaker of Philadelphia department store fame decreed January to be the time for a white sale where bed linen, which were available in white only, were sold at a discount. It is believed he might have done so to keep linen makers in business during a slow time of the year.

Today, white sales usually revolve around household items. However, they no longer only involve items that are white in color and they are not restricted to take place in the month of January.

Most linen stores and department stores have many white sales during the year.  The best way to comparison shop is by paying attention to the actual final sale price and not worry about the percentage off, or the amount saved. One store may sell something at 25% off and another may not have the same item on sale at all, yet the prices may be exactly the same.

So compare by checking the final price and also by making sure that the items being compared are the same.

I have tested various brands of high thread count sheets and there are big differences in quality and cost for items with the same thread count. For more on thread count, see The Truth About Thread Count.  

Stumped for gift ideas for the hard to buy for name on your list? Don’t know what to buy your Aunt, boss, child’s teacher, mother-in-law? Scheuer Linens carries a wide range of gifts perfect for those people that are a challenge to buy gifts for.  

Here are some of our most popular Christmas gifts, each less than $35.

1. Christmas guest towels, 14”x22”, $10 each.

These cute 50% ramie linen/50% cotton guest towels are offered in 15 different embroidery patterns, all on white. Guaranteed to bring a smile to the recipient’s face (and yours as well).

2. Wine Towels, 12”x28”, $12 each. 

This is one of our most popular gifts, especially for anyone who likes wine (and who doesn’t like wine).  Available with one of the three sayings shown. 100% cotton, white pique with black printing.

3. Carpetbagger Purse Accessories, $9-$29.

A variety of accessories for the purse, all based on Turkish carpet designs. Coin purse 4”x4”, $9. Glasses case 3”x6”, $11. Jewelry rolls 7”x10”, $19. Wallet 7.5”x4.25”, $29. Mix and match the patterns for a fun, colorful gift that is also very practical and always appreciated. 

4. Lafco Soaps, Box of 3, $28.

These are the soaps that were recently featured on Oprah. Available in 14 different scents. Not only are these Portuguese soaps really great, but the packaging is very colorful and very gifty looking.
 

5. Vintage Door Knob Wine Stoppers, $31.

15 different knobs in stock. All one-of-a-kind in a variety of finishes and colors, including glass and distressed metal. This is really a great gift to give with a bottle of wine.

If you are interested in any of these items, just give us a call toll free at: 

1-800-762-3050.

We offer free gift wrapping and free shipping in the continental United States on any of these items through Christmas.

And don’t hesitate to call us if you are looking for something In particular. One of our friendly and knowledgeable sales staff will check our stock and if we don’t have it, we’ll call and try to get it for you.

“Dear Linen Doctor, what do I do about all those Thanksgiving Day stains on my good tablecloth?”

Dinner was wonderful and the guests were charming, but your linen tablecloth has all the evidence of a Thanksgiving dinner. There are spots from gravy, wine, cranberry sauce, coffee, and candle wax. Where do you start? Do you treat all of these stains the same?

If you are lucky enough to have a reliable laundry nearby, you can always take your tablecloth and napkins to them.  Ask the laundry to use dry cleaning fluids to remove specific stains and then to wash and iron the cloth.

But what if you want to clean the tablecloth and napkins yourself? There is no better cleaning agent than Linen Wash, a specialty cleanser formulated to safely and effectively remove difficult stains on fine linens. You can use Linen Wash to treat spots or simply as a soap for machine washing. Remember that linen can be washed in hot water whereas warm water is best for cotton fabrics.  

Here are some suggestions for removing some of those Thanksgiving Day stains:

Gravy
Saturate the stain with a prewash spray. Wait several minutes for the product to penetrate. For tough stains, rub with a heavy-duty liquid detergent. Launder.

Wine, Cranberry Sauce
Soak or sponge fresh stains as soon as possible. Launder with detergent in the hottest water safe for the fabric. Do not use soap (bar, flake, or detergents containing natural soap), since soap could make the stain permanent or at least more difficult to remove. Soak tough stains for 30 minutes in one quart of warm water and one teaspoon of enzyme presoak product, such as Spray ‘n Wash or Zout.

Coffee, Tea
Same as suggestions for gravy.  Remember that hot water will set coffee and tea stains.

Candle Wax
Harden wax by rubbing with ice or put in your refrigerator for a few hours (really!). Remove surface wax by carefully scraping with the dull edge of a butter knife. Sandwich the wax stain between two pieces of brown paper (like a shopping bag) and press with a warm iron. Continue as long as the wax remains. The wax will be absorbed by the paper and you will probably have a grease spot left.  Then treat as a gravy stain (see above).

The longer a stain remains on a tablecloth or napkin, the harder it is to remove, so attending to it as soon as possible makes a huge difference. Avoid aggressive rubbing since it may cause irreparable damage to the surface color and fabric. Sponging rather than rubbing, followed by thorough flushing is best for your linens. Once your linens come back home or after you’ve cleaned them, store them in a cool, dry, dark area until the next use.

For more tips and suggestions on how to remove stains, visit Fabriclink.com.

All cotton will shrink to some extent, but quality sheet manufacturers anticipate this by cutting their items larger to allow for shrinkage.

When buying fitted sheets, look for extra-deep 15 to 17 inch pockets, which allows for the deep, pillow-top mattresses that are popular in the United States, and also ensures that the elastic will not be overstretched, leading to stress on the seams and fabric.

When it’s time to wash your sheets do so in warm water, dry them on a low setting, and remove them from the dryer promptly while they are still slightly damp, then hang or fold to smooth.