For the parent in a hurry
The five things, in fifteen secondsCold wash
30°C max
Gentle cycle
Wool or hand-wash
Plant-based soap
No bleach, no softener
Lay flat to dry
In shade, not sun
Iron on cool
Only if you must
The care library
How to keep it soft
for the next small one.
Cared for gently, a Little Paddock blanket gets softer with every wash, never shorter. Here is everything we’ve learned from washing, mending, and folding our own — at 3am, with a tired hand.
Chapter one
The first wash
Run a wash before the first night. Cold water, a teaspoon of mild plant soap, gentle cycle. The cloth has been folded in linen since it left our atelier — a wash settles the fibres and brings out the softness we promised.
Expect a faint pigment bloom in the rinse — our dyes are plant-derived, never set with formaldehyde, so a little colour wanders the first time. The blanket will look slightly fuller out of the wash than out of the box. That’s the weave breathing.
Chapter two
Everyday washing
Cool water, gentle cycle, plant soap. That is almost the whole instruction. The blanket will tell you when it needs a wash — and usually less often than you think.
If the baby is unwell, pre-rinse in cool water before the wash. Hot water sets stains and shrinks bamboo. Always cold first, hot never.
A small comparison
Do
Don’t
Cold water, 30°C max
Hot water — ever
Gentle / wool cycle
Heavy-duty cycle
Plant-based soap
Enzyme detergents
A teaspoon of soap
A capful — too much
Wash inside out
Bleach, even oxygen-based
Air-dry in shade
Tumble dryer, fabric softener
Chapter three
Drying, slowly
Lay the blanket flat on a clean towel, in shade. Direct sun bleaches plant pigments. Tumble dryers shrink bamboo and tire out the cotton — heat is the only thing the cloth truly cannot take.
In winter, when nothing dries: a clothes horse near (not on) a radiator, turned every few hours. Or hang it draped over the bath edge with a fan blowing past. It will take a day. That’s alright. Slow drying is part of the softness.
Chapter four
Notes for each cloth.
Each fibre has a small character. A few words for each — what it forgives, what it doesn’t.
Bamboo Viscose
Cools and warms with the room. Heat is its only enemy — never tumble dry, never iron above 100°C. Softens dramatically over the first three washes.
GOTS Organic Cotton
The more forgiving of the two. Will shrink ~3% on the first cold wash; this is intentional. Do not soak overnight — long-staple cotton stretches and goes limp.
Chapter five
Stains, repairs, and the dog.
Specific is more useful than general. Here is what we do, in our own house, with our own dog.
Poo, milk, all of the above
Rinse cold first — always. Hot water sets protein stains. Then a normal cold wash with plant soap. Repeat once if it’s stubborn; the second wash usually wins.
Wax or crayon
Pop the blanket in the freezer for an hour. The wax goes brittle and cracks off with a fingernail. Wash cold afterwards.
A snagged thread
Don’t pull. Tease it gently to the back of the cloth with the blunt end of a needle. The weave is dense enough that it usually disappears.
A tear, a bite, a ghost stain
Send it to us. We will repair any Little Paddock blanket — torn, chewed, ghost-stained beyond rescue — for as long as we are still making them. Free, forever.
Read our forever-repair promiseChapter six
Storing,
between seasons.
Folded, in linen — never in plastic. Plastic traps moisture and the cloth goes musty. The linen sleeve we send each blanket in is made for this; reuse it.
Air the blanket every change of season. A morning on the line in shade is enough. A small linen sachet of dried lavender or eucalyptus tucked beside it keeps moths politely uninterested.
The forever promise
We will repair any Little Paddock blanket — torn, stained, chewed by the dog — for as long as we are still making them. Free. Just send it back, and we’ll send it on to the next small person in the family.
Send us a blanket to repairTools for slow laundry
Order a care kit —
plant soap, a linen storage bag, repair stitches.
Everything we use ourselves, packed in a re-usable linen pouch. Enough for a full year of small washes.