How to Dry Linen Sheets (The Right Way)

Part of understanding how to care for linen sheets is knowing how to dry linen correctly. While drying your linen bedding is super simple, it's important to keep a few key things in mind to help your linen last as long as possible.

Tumble-drying linen sheets

Tumble-drying linen sheets is an easy way to speed up the overall washing-drying process. When using a dryer, you can wash your sheets in the morning and put them back on your bed in the evening, rain, hail, or shine.

However, machine drying can also damage your linen sheets if not done with proper care, increasing the likelihood of rips and tears or even shrinking the fabric. Here are some tips for safely and effectively tumble-drying your linen sheets.

• Always use a low heat setting: Excessive heat can cause bed linens to shrink and degrade over time. This is because heat tends to damage the natural fiber of linen, making it brittle and coarse. Drying your sheets on a “no heat” or “air only” setting can help to avoid heat damage.
• Dry sheets on their own: Similar to when you wash your linen sheets, it’s best to tumble dry them without other garments. Large items like bed sheets can easily get tangled in other garments while metal hardware like buttons, zippers, and rivets can snag or tear sheets while drying.
• Use dryer balls: Dryer balls help speed up the drying process by helping to prevent your sheets from tangling in the dryer. Dryer balls also help to soften linen sheets by speeding up the natural softening process of your linen sheets.
• Remove sheets slightly damp: Check on your sheets in the dryer and remove them while they still have a bit of moisture in them. You can then hang them on the line to air dry until they’re ready to use or put away for storage. This will help to prevent excessive drying, which can damage the linen fibres and make your sheets feel stiff. On the plus side, this also helps to prevent wrinkles so you don’t have to iron your sheets.
• Give your sheets a good shake: Giving your linen sheets a good shake out before making your bed or putting them away can also help to prevent wrinkles, ensuring they look fresh and new the next time you use them.

Air-drying linen sheets

Air drying your linen sheets is a great alternative to tumble drying them for several reasons. Air drying not only reduces household energy usage (good for the environment and your wallet), but it can also increase the longevity of your bed linens.

Whether you have a clothesline outside or use a humble drying rack in your apartment, here’s how you can ensure your linen sheets dry evenly and quickly to ensure they stay as soft as ever.

• Avoid rain: You might think avoiding rain is an obvious one, but this is especially important for linen sheets. Rain is generally acidic and often contains dirt and pollutants. This means that even light rain can harm or dirty your linen sheets, potentially leaving them with a musty smell even after they dry. If rain is on the way, it’s a good idea to hang your sheets inside.
• Avoid high winds: Windy days might seem like the perfect time for washing and line drying your linens. However, high winds can potentially harm your linen sheets, as small wind-borne debris could collide with them causing rips and tears. Windy days also tend to stir up all kinds of pollutants, from dirt to pollen to grass seeds, all of which can leave your sheets scratchy and with an unpleasant ‘windy’ smell.
• Avoid direct sunlight on colors: Sunshine is fantastic for white bed linens, helping to dry your linens quickly and leave them smelling fresh and clean. However, direct sunlight can also fade your linens over time, regardless of whether they're dark colors or light colors.
• Use a fan when drying indoors: Good ventilation is crucial when air drying your linens inside. You can help circulate air around your drying rack by using ceiling fans or freestanding fans. This will dry your linens more quickly and evaporate moisture, helping to prevent musty smells from setting in.
• Give your linens a shake: Give your sheets a good shake when they come out of the washing machine to smooth out any tangles or deep wrinkles before hanging them up on a line or drying rack. Once they’re completely dry, give them another good shake before making your bed or putting them away for smooth, crease-free bed sheets.

Ironing vs. not ironing linen sheets

Often, the final step on laundry day is to crack out the ironing board and get smoothing. For linen sheets, deciding to iron them or not ultimately comes down to your personal style preference, and whether you want clean lines or prefer that perfectly imperfect linen look for your bed. Here’s what you’ll need to consider once you’ve dried your sheets:

Ironing your linen sheets after drying

Ironing your linen sheets and pillowcases is an easy way to achieve a crisp, tidy look for your bed. But just like with machine drying, it’s important to minimize the heat that you expose your linen sheets to in the process. If you must iron your linen, always use the iron on the lowest setting.

Additionally, make sure your linen sheets and pillowcases are slightly damp when you iron them, and keep the iron moving quickly over the linen fabric to prevent damage to the linen fibers. Once the wrinkles have been ironed out, you can hang your flat sheet, fitted sheet, and pillowcases neatly back on the line to fully dry, at which point you can fold them for storage or make your bed.

Not ironing your linen sheets after drying

One of the most beloved features of linen sheets is their slightly wrinkled, relaxed look that brings an elegant vibe to your bedding. Thankfully, this look is so easy to achieve with linen that you only need to forego ironing your sheets to get it!

If you’re skipping the iron for the tousled, relaxed look, you may still need to work out major wrinkles during washing and drying. To do this, just treat your linen sheets to the "shake-on, shake-off" method. This method is as simple as it sounds. Just give your linen sheets a good shake before they go on the line (or in the tumble dryer) and give them another good shake once they come off.

This simple two-step method will help to work out any major creases or kinks, while still maintaining the small wrinkles that give linen bedding its unique charm and elegance.

For more insights like these, check out our full guide to linen sheet care care: How to Care for Linen Sheets.