Tips for Washing and Drying Coffee Sacks

Burlap coffee sacks can be used in so many DIY projects, but they can often start out feeling rather stiff and perhaps a little smelly. They're usually made of burlap, which often poses the question, can I wash these?
Well the answer is, yes, you usually can wash coffee sacks without ruining them, but then the next question is, what is the best way to wash them?
There's several ways that one can wash plain old burlap, but I have found that the best way to wash coffee sacks it to do the following four steps:


- Hand wash in a bucket with a small amount of laundry detergent and then hand rinse.


- Toss the coffee sack in your washing machine on the SPIN CYCLE ONLY (do not use the rinse cycle). This is optional, you can just go directly to the next step, but the process will take longer.


- Hang dry


- Iron the wrinkles out while the coffee sack is still slightly damp, or use the steam option on your iron with distilled water if your piece is completely dry
All irons (like ovens) have varying heat levels, so when using the iron on your coffee sack, start with a low temperature and test how well the iron is getting out the wrinkles. Turn the temperature on the iron up until the iron is successfully getting the wrinkles out of the fabric.
This is how the my coffee sack looked after it was hung dry.
This is how the coffee sacks looked once they had been ironed.


Now they're smoother, softer and less smell. Ready for your next coffee sack DIY project.
You can click on the link below for the full post. Thank you
Amy Ellis @ StowandTellU
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  1 question
  • Jill Davidson Jill Davidson on Oct 30, 2019

    Did you put them in the cold dryer and run it to get all the loose threads out first? I haven't ever tried to wash them, just some time in the drier to get the loose lint out to stop it jamming the sewing machine. You have to empty the lint catcher several times in the drier. I shall try to wash them now I know how.


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  • Julie D Julie D on Mar 01, 2015
    A little coffee shop in my town gets their coffee in these bags, and will give them away. Also, try Starbucks. You can also get used coffee grounds from coffee shops...good for your plants!
  • Dianna Blumricl Dianna Blumricl on Mar 03, 2015
    Thanks so much for your reply.
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