Most care labels say the same four things and none of them tell you what happens if you get it wrong. Here is the practical version, split by the two kinds of garment, because they are genuinely different.
Plain and striped djellabas
These are the everyday hooded pieces in cotton and cotton blends. They are hard to damage.
- Cold machine wash on a gentle cycle, or hand wash. Cold matters more than gentle.
- Hang to dry, ideally on a wide hanger so the shoulders keep their shape. Do not tumble dry. Heat is what shrinks a cotton blend and what sets a crease into the hood.
- Cool iron if you want it crisp. Steam works better than pressure.
- No bleach, even on the ivory and cream ones. Bleach yellows a cream weave rather than whitening it.
The hood is the part that dries slowest. Turn it inside out over the hanger for the last few hours or it will hold damp against the back of the neck.
Embroidered fouqiyyas
This is where people cause damage, usually in one wash. The embroidery down the placket and the sfifa braid that edges it are the whole value of the piece, and a machine drum is exactly the wrong environment for them.
- Hand wash cold, or dry clean. Do not machine wash, even on gentle.
- Do not wring it out. Twisting pulls the embroidery threads against each other and they do not go back. Press the water out between two towels instead.
- Dry flat or on a wide hanger, out of direct sun. Sun fades gold thread faster than it fades the cloth around it, which leaves you with bright fabric and dull embroidery.
- Iron on the reverse, with a cloth between the iron and the work. Ironing embroidery face up crushes it flat and it stays flat.
In practice, most people wear a fouqiyya three or four times a year. It does not need washing as often as you think. Airing it overnight after Eid does more good than a wash.
Storing them
Hang rather than fold if you have the space, especially the embroidered pieces, because a fold line across the placket is stubborn. If you must fold, fold away from the embroidery, not across it.
If something arrives and you are not sure how to treat it, email househamlouchi@gmail.com and ask before you wash it. That is a much shorter conversation than the one afterwards.
Our pieces are at hooded djellabas and embroidered fouqiyyas, and if you are new here, Start here.