Cleaning lined and blockout curtains without ruining them

Why lined curtains are harder to clean than they look

A made-to-measure curtain is usually two or three fabrics sewn together: a face fabric you see from the room, a lining on the back, and sometimes an interlining sandwiched between them. Each layer can be a different fibre. A linen-look polyester face might be sewn to a cotton sateen lining, or a velvet face to a foam-coated blockout. Those fibres react differently to water, heat and agitation. When one layer shrinks and the other does not, the curtain puckers along the side hems, the lining drops below the face at the hem, or the whole panel pulls into a slight curve that never hangs straight again.

The heading adds another complication. Pinch pleats are held up by stiff buckram tape, S-fold curtains rely on a tape with carrier loops at fixed spacing, and eyelet curtains have rings pressed into the fabric. A heading that has been soaked and tumbled can lose its stiffness or distort, which changes how the curtain stacks and how well it closes. With lined curtains the real question is rarely whether the dirt will come out. It is whether the curtain will still fit the window afterwards.

Start with the label, then look at the lining

Ready-made curtains normally carry a sewn-in care label, often on the back near a side hem or under the heading. Made-to-measure curtains may not, because the workroom builds them from roll fabric. If you had curtains made, the fabric supplier's care instructions usually exist even if nobody passed them on, and the business that made the curtains may still have the fabric name on file. Ask before you do anything. A fabric name tells a cleaner far more than a guess based on how the curtain feels.

Then turn a panel over and look at the back. A plain woven lining feels like a light cotton or poly-cotton sheet. A foam-coated blockout lining has a rubbery or chalky feel on one side and usually looks white or cream. A thermal lining may have a brushed or milky coated surface. Triple-weave blockout fabric looks like ordinary cloth on both sides but is dense and heavy, because the blocking layer is woven in rather than coated on. An interlined curtain feels thick and soft, and you can often pinch the flannel layer between your fingers through the lining. Knowing which one you have matters because coated linings are the construction most easily damaged by the wrong cleaning method.

Routine care between cleans

Dust settles along the heading, in the folds and along the hem. Start with the curtain's care instructions before choosing a dust-removal method. Where vacuuming is permitted, use the specified attachment and gentle suction without pulling the fabric or carriers. Delicate weaves, coatings and pile fabrics need particular care. Warwick's velvet guidance warns that stiff brushing or strong vacuuming on the reverse can disturb the pile. Stop if threads lift, the finish changes or the fabric pulls against the track, and ask the supplier about a suitable method.

Airing helps as well. Opening the curtains fully during the day lets fabric dry out if it has been close to cold, damp glass overnight, and it moves the folds so dust does not settle in the same creases every week. In homes where winter condensation runs down the glass, the bottom of the lining is where marks usually start. If you see grey or black spotting there, read what mould on curtains usually means first, because routine cleaning does not fix the moisture that causes it.

Smoke film from a wood heater, cooking vapour in open-plan kitchens and pet contact are the other common sources of soiling. Curtains near a combustion heater collect a fine grey film that brushing only partly removes, and kitchen grease can travel further across an open living area than people expect. A room with one of these sources will need a proper clean more often than a bedroom does, which is worth remembering the next time you choose fabric for that room.

Shrinkage is the problem that shows up after rehanging

The most common complaint after cleaning is that curtains which used to brush the floor now finish above it. A small amount of shrinkage across a full-height drop is enough to open a visible gap at the floor, and in winter that gap lets cold air roll out under the curtain. Width shrinkage is less obvious, but it can stop a pair from overlapping in the centre or pull a curtain off its return at the wall.

Before any clean, measure the finished drop of each panel from the top of the heading to the hem, and the flat width of each panel with the heading gently stretched out. Write the numbers down against the room name and the side of the window. If the curtains come back shorter, you have a measurement to discuss with the cleaner rather than a feeling. Ask the cleaner before the job whether they allow for shrinkage and what they do if a panel comes back out of shape. Some cleaners will decline certain lined constructions altogether, and that answer is useful in itself.

If a curtain does come back slightly short, it can sometimes be let down, provided the original hem had spare fabric turned up inside it. Many made-to-measure curtains have a double-turned hem with some allowance, and a workroom can check this while the curtain is off the track. A curtain that was cut close has nothing to let down, and a coated lining that has shrunk cannot be stretched back to size.

Coated blockout and thermal linings need extra care

Foam-backed and acrylic-coated linings work by adding a layer to the fabric. That layer can crack, peel or go stiff if it is washed hot, tumbled, ironed directly or put through a process it was not designed for. Once the coating cracks, pinholes of light show through whenever the sun is behind the curtain, which defeats the point of a blockout lining in a bedroom. Heat is the usual cause, but folding along the same line for months in storage can also crease a coating permanently.

For this reason coated linings are often limited to gentle methods, and some are recommended for brushing and spot cleaning only. If the label or the supplier says a curtain with a coated lining should not be washed, a full clean may not be possible without risking the lining. The realistic choices then are spot cleaning, replacing the lining, or replacing the curtain. The curtain lining guide explains how coated, triple-weave and interlined constructions differ if you are choosing what to put back.

Taking curtains down: make a record first

Before taking curtains down, check the weight and whether the heading is safely within reach. Count the hooks or carriers on each panel and note which glider each one sat on. Photograph the heading from the front and back while it is hanging. Note which panel went on which side, which end sat on the return arm and whether the pair crossed in the centre. Keep a separate labelled record or ask the cleaner how to identify panels without marking or puncturing the fabric. An ink mark or pinhole can remain visible after cleaning.

On S-fold tracks the carriers clip into the heading tape at fixed spacing, and the curtain only makes an even wave if the number of carriers matches the tape. Being out by one or two produces a wave that bunches at one end. On pinch pleat curtains the hooks are often set at a particular height in the tape to position the curtain against the track, and moving them changes where the curtain sits and can open a gap at the top. The photographs you take now are what let you put all of this back exactly as it was.

Interlined curtains on tall windows can be much heavier than they look once they are off the track and bunched in your arms. Take them down with a second person, standing on a stable step platform on a level floor, never on a chair or the arm of a sofa. If the track is above a stairwell, over a double-height void or behind furniture that cannot be moved safely, leave the take-down to someone with proper access equipment.

Washing, dry cleaning or on-site cleaning

Which method suits depends on the label, the lining and the heading, not on how dirty the curtain looks. Unlined polyester sheers are usually the simplest because there is one fabric and no buckram to distort, although they snag easily and need gentle handling. Lined curtains made from mixed fibres are the ones most often sent to a specialist, because a specialist can treat each construction differently instead of putting everything through one process.

On-site cleaning, where curtains stay on the track and are steam or extraction cleaned in place, avoids the take-down and rehang entirely. It suits panels that are awkward to remove, such as very tall or very heavy curtains. The trade-off is that moisture goes into the fabric while it hangs, so the room needs airflow while it dries, and a coated lining still has to be checked for suitability first. Ask any provider which method they plan to use for each construction in the house rather than accepting one method for every window.

When comparing providers, ask the same questions each time: do they take down and rehang, how do they label panels, do they measure before and after, what will they not clean, and what happens if a curtain comes back damaged or shorter. Those answers tell you more about the risk to your curtains than the headline price does.

Check for sun damage before you pay to clean

North and west facing windows around Pakenham get strong sun for much of the year, and the fabric closest to the glass takes most of it. Lining on these windows can become weak long before the face fabric looks worn. A weakened lining may look fine while it hangs and then split during cleaning, because water and handling put load on fibres that sunlight has already broken down.

Look along the leading edges, where the curtains meet in the middle, and at the part of the lining that sits against the glass when the curtain is closed. Faded stripes along the folds, a papery or brittle feel, and fine splits along the stitching lines are signs the lining is near the end of its life. If the lining is weak but the face fabric is sound, cleaning the curtain as it is spends money on a layer that will fail soon anyway. Replacing the lining instead of cleaning it can be the more sensible order.

Storing curtains between uses

Some households swap heavy winter curtains for lighter ones over summer, and renovations often mean curtains spend a few weeks in a cupboard. Clean them before storing rather than after, because marks set with time. Roll curtains with coated linings around a cardboard tube or loosely in a sheet, instead of folding them into a tight square, so the coating is not creased along the same line for months. Keep them somewhere dry and away from the floor of a garage or shed where damp can build up, and avoid sealing them in plastic, which can trap moisture against the fabric. Keep your measurements and heading photographs with the curtains so the rehang is straightforward.

When cleaning is the wrong spend

Cleaning does not change how a curtain performs. If a curtain never closed properly, leaves a gap at the top or sides, or finishes above the floor, it will do the same after cleaning. If the lining is sun-rotted, the coating is cracked, or mould staining keeps coming back after previous cleans, the money may be better spent on a new lining or new curtains. The thermal relining guide covers when keeping the face fabric and replacing only the lining makes sense, and the pricing guide covers full replacement.

A practical way to decide is to sort the house into three groups: curtains that are sound and just dirty, curtains that are sound but no longer fit or perform, and curtains with a failing lining or fabric. Only the first group is a pure cleaning job. The second is a fitting problem, which may be solved with a new track position, returns or a pelmet. The third is a relining or replacement decision, and cleaning those curtains first adds cost without changing the outcome.

If you are choosing new curtains partly because the old ones were hard to keep clean, the guide to winter curtain fabrics compares how fleece, velvet and textured weaves hold dust and handle cleaning, and the heading styles guide explains which headings are easiest to take down and rehang.