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LINENS | French laundry
Awash
in luxury
At Blanc Plume in KC, sheets
and table cloths get special, hands-on treatment.
By STACY DOWNS
The Kansas City Star
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Blanc Plume employee Susana Martinez uses a 7-foot press to smooth
a damp bedsheet in one step. Some laundry services instead use
a mangle, a heated-roller machine that smoothes fabric. A mangle
can leave slight creases around the edges.
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The large "stretching frame" assures that coverlets
are returned to the customer at their original size and do not
shrink. Shrinkage is a large problems when hi-end bedding is
processed by a dry cleaner who does not specialize in the work.
Photos by John Mutrux | The
Kansas City Star
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There are only a handful of
French laundries in the United States, and Kansas City can boast
having one of them - Blanc Plume in North Kansas City.
Richard Triggs of Kansas City
takes his Egyptian cotton sheets to Blanc Plume ("white
feather") to be laundered a few times a month. "It's
kind of a treat," he said. "It feels like you're sleeping
on brand-new sheets again."
French laundries specialize
in luxury linens such as bedding made of Egyptian cotton, merino
wool, pure linen, cashmere or silk.
They also clean intricately
decorated pieces such as pillows beaded with crystals. These
laundries are where you'd take heirloom pieces (Grandma's embroidered
tablecloth) but not necessarily bedding from a discount retailer.
At a French laundry, stains
are individually pretreated with a mild solution before being
washed. Linens are pressed damp to ensure a crisp finish.
Special attention is paid to
details. For example, tassels and fringe are bundled or braided
before laundering to prevent balling or knotting, says Connie
Mosier, general manager of Blanc Plume, a division of Arrow Fabricare.
After laundering, the fringe is finger combed.
Luxury linen companies such
as Anichini, DeWoolfson, Duxiana, Peacock Alley and Yves Delorme
recommend that their products be laundered at Blanc Plume. "They're
the best," said Alan Jesseman, creative director for Anichini,
a Vermont company that uses handcrafted fabrics from Lithuania
and Italy to make bedding for boutiques and hotels.
Blanc Plume employees have
expertise that goes beyond a traditional dry cleaner or laundry
service, Jesseman said.
Anichini customers receive
a packet of information about Blanc Plume and a shipping label.
Blanc Plume receives linens for laundering from across the country.
Linen store owners also recommend
Blanc Plume for restoration. Ursula Terrasi, owner of Scandia
Down on the Country Club Plaza, said a customer once brought
in a matelasse coverlet that had been machine laundered at home.
It shrunk, was wrinkled and no longer fit the bed. "They
took it to Blanc Plume and when it was returned, it was like
nothing had happened," Terrasi said.
Matelasse is a triple-woven
cotton jacquard fabric with raised patterning that requires professional
laundering. It naturally shrinks up to 10 percent when it's washed.
Blanc Plume measures the coverlet and uses a blocking process
to retain the original size.
The blocking process also is
used to stretch lace tablecloths and bedskirts that have high-quality
skirting fabric but inexpensive decking material that makes them
hang improperly.
Blanc Plume also specializes
in down comforter and pillow restoration. Down products should
be professionally cleaned every other year to help redistribute
the down. The company can add additional down and replace the
ticking, or outer shell, if needed. The "down room"
is enclosed with a screened door so the lightweight fluffy stuff
doesn't float throughout the facility at 1534 Burlington Ave.
Patsy Thomas of Kansas City
takes her down products, needlepoint chair cushions and tablecloths
to Blanc Plume. She likes how comforters come back wrapped in
heavy plastic zippered bags. Tablecloths are returned rolled
or folded precisely with acid-free tissue paper.
"When I take my tablecloths
out for the next holiday, they look done up to perfection,"
Thomas said. "It (Blanc Plume) is a great secret source
to have in town."
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