Linen pants?

[Brisen]

Help... I'm clueless.

I have a pair of linen pants, actually they are 95% linen and 5%, uh, something artificial, I can't recall off the top of my head. They are dry clean only. The seam on the backside has come apart. It's a loose weave, I've tried to just sew it up before with a needle and cotton thread, but it comes undone again. Can I fix this myself? Do I need professional help?

And does it have to be dry clean only, or can I get away with hand washing?

[tboroson]

I've become convinced that "dry-clean only" is a conspiracy. I think the dry cleaning industry buys those tags and provides them to the clothing industry for free

No, something that is 95% linen shouldn't have to be dry cleaned... unless the other 5% is gold thread, maybe Personally, I'd throw them into the washer, but that's just me. Hand washing should be fine.

As for repairing them, well, I'd have to see the seam to really be able to tell. If the split is on the underside well enough to be barely visible, you could resew it by hand, or zigzag it on your sewing machine, then sew a patch around it on the inside, using tiny stitches by hand. The stitches on the patch would absorb most of the stress from wear, hopefully preventing the seam from pulling out again. But, since your linen is a loose weave, those stitches could distort the fabric when they pull on it, so that's why this is really only a good option if it won't be very visible.

[rubelin]

You might try using some very light fusible interfacing (a woven would be best over Pellon) and fuse a thin strip on the seam allowances, then restitch the seam. The trouble with loose weaves is that the threads pull apart from each other and makes them easier to fall apart.

Oh, and handwashing should be fine. The dry clean only label is mostly to cover the manufacturers butt