How do I clean curtains?

I have just noticed that my curtains have some nasty staining on them -from spilt water- goodness knows how long they've been that way -   They were curtains that came with the flat -
I fail at all things domestic - so could you please tell me how to clean these curtains?  Thanks!!! 

Depends on the curtains...

Some are dry clean only. I have some cotton Ikea curtains that I throw in the wash & then have been known to hang them back up still wet. 

I can't find any labels on them to see if they must be dry cleaned or not...   Maybe I'd better err on the side of caution and dry clean them? 

Ask your landlord maybe? Or take them into a cleaners & ask their advice before handing them over?

Ask your landlord maybe?

That would be good, except for then he'll really know they're stained and I'm trying to avoid that!   

Yeah, I could definitely try and ask the dry cleaners.... now if I only knew where there was one....  the one that used to be handy has gone away....  time to google... 

I should have added thank you 

It might be cheaper to replace them than clean them unless they are special in some way? My former landlord was really easygoing with stuff like curtains. He didn't care what was hanging there as long as I left something functional behind. 

Thanks all! In the course of taking down my curtains last night, I found a small tag which said "Do Not Dry Clean" - they're 50% cotton and 50% linen -  so I think I will chuck 'em in the washer with some vanish and see how they get on.  As long as they don't look as horrible as they do now, I'm sure I can get away with it... fingers crossed... 

Thanks all! In the course of taking down my curtains last night, I found a small tag which said "Do Not Dry Clean" - they're 50% cotton and 50% linen -  so I think I will chuck 'em in the washer with some vanish and see how they get on.  As long as they don't look as horrible as they do now, I'm sure I can get away with it... fingers crossed... 

Yay! They probably will get pretty wrinkly in the wash, btw. My solution is to hang them up as soon as the washer has stopped - best would be outdoors if you have a washing line, second best just hang them back up & try to smooth out the wrinkles.

I tried to iron mine once - and after wrassling them all around the ironing board & back again, by the time I was finished 'ironing' - I didn't see enough marked improvement in fewer creases to spend any more of my life doing that. 

Yay! They probably will get pretty wrinkly in the wash, btw. My solution is to hang them up as soon as the washer has stopped - best would be outdoors if you have a washing line, second best just hang them back up & try to smooth out the wrinkles.

I tried to iron mine once - and after wrassling them all around the ironing board & back again, by the time I was finished 'ironing' - I didn't see enough marked improvement in fewer creases to spend any more of my life doing that. 

Awesome- thanks! No outside line I am afraid- so I will probably just do that- hang 'em back up and hope for the best.  I suck at ironing easy stuff and I'm not sure where my iron is...so....  yeah...no hope in that......    

Awesome- thanks! No outside line I am afraid- so I will probably just do that- hang 'em back up and hope for the best.  I suck at ironing easy stuff and I'm not sure where my iron is...so....  yeah...no hope in that......    

If you can lay your hands on a handheld steamer appliance, I was wondering (in future for me) if that would help smooth out remaining wrinkles - once I'd hung them back up & let them hang until they were nearly dry.

If you can lay your hands on a handheld steamer appliance, I was wondering (in future for me) if that would help smooth out remaining wrinkles - once I'd hung them back up & let them hang until they were nearly dry.

I have one of these, so that's a good shout! 

You can also iron them while they are wet. Very steamy experience! 

Successfully managed to get the stains out! Very exciting!
However, definitley wrinkled as hell........   Gonna try and attack 'em with the steamer........