Murphys Midi Dress: Caring for Khadi
The Murphys is cut from khadi — a mid-weight, hand-loomed cotton with real texture to it, as its own listing puts it — and hand-loomed cloth deserves slightly different laundry habits than mill cotton. Nothing demanding. Just a few rules that let the fabric do what khadi famously does: get better with age.
What you are taking care of
Khadi is woven by hand, and the hand is visible — slight variations in the weave give the surface its depth and the cloth its character. Those variations are also why it deserves gentleness: a hand-woven structure is best treated kindly rather than churned. The reward is real; khadi is known for softening and improving with wear and washing, so care here is an investment that pays back in hand-feel.
Washing the Murphys
Cold or cool water, gentle cycle or hand wash, mild detergent. Turn the dress inside out to protect the surface, and wash it with similar colours — standard practice for any saturated green. Skip bleach and harsh stain treatments entirely; they are hard on any cotton and disrespectful to a hand-woven one. The cotton lining inside follows the same rules, so one setting covers the whole garment.
Drying: this is the step that matters
Keep it out of a hot dryer. Hang it or lay it flat, away from direct sun, and smooth the ruffle detail at the side hems into place while damp — damp-shaping saves ironing later. Khadi's texture means small wrinkles read as character; a warm iron on the reverse handles anything beyond that.
The dress you are preserving
The Murphys itself is a midi-length pullover caftan: cut straight, with a low V-neckline, ruffle detail at the side hems, and a tie belt that comes with it — belt on for a waist, off for the clean caftan line. Pullover construction means no zips or buttons to mind in the wash, one more way the dress keeps its care simple. Lined in cotton, made in India.
Sizing and the number
It runs the full XS to XL, US 0 through 18; the straight caftan cut has ease everywhere, so fit by bust and let the belt make any day's adjustment. At $59.99 it sits at the top of our range — hand-loomed cloth is slow cloth, and the price is the loom's time. The Murphys Midi Dress in green page shows the khadi texture close enough to see the hand in the weave.
One care routine, two dresses
The Murphys has a block-printed sibling cut from the same khadi, and the routine above covers it identically — as it does the other hand-loomed pieces scattered through our midi dress collection. Learn it once; it serves every hand-woven thing you will ever own.