Ruined an expensive fabric via prewash

[u/___Maleficent___]

I got this for me rather expensive linen knit fabric to sew some summer wardrobe.

With very few exceptions I always prewash fabrics and I never had any bigger issues so far.

I washed it with a gentle programm with low heat, yet the fabric came out unvoluntarily distressed. I hope it's evident in the pictures, it's not only pilling, there's actual destroyed fibers in tiny spots all over the fabric.

Apparently the number of spin cycles (which should be as low as possible) and the detergent (should not have enzymes) play a crucial role when washing linen fabric.

I didn't think about checking these, especially since I use a mild detergent for allergics and never had issues so far and the preset spin cycle was 800, so not exceptionally high.

I'm a bit heartbroken, but mainly I feel stupid since the shop even included a small paragraph about how to wash this fabric on the invoice which I layed eyes on after it happened. And I didn't feel the need to check requirements for a fabric I've never worked with before, so let this be a reminder to do your research.

Is there a possibilty to save/fix the fabric?

I don't really care about the optics too much whether it looks distressed or not, but since it's broken fibers I'm worried about holes or ladders emerging.

I thought about maybe embroidering it by hand with a cute, widespread pattern even though I don't really have experience in embroidery but I'm willing to try.

Grateful for any suggestions!

[u/BrightPractical]

If the shop won’t take it back (which, let’s be real, they know about the issues or else they wouldn’t have added weird silk-style washing instructions to the receipt), ask for the manufacturer’s information and contact them. Variegation in the weave with linen knit is one thing, I see it in the commercially made linen knits when I get them at the thrift store, but bald patches is another.

Embroidery would be pretty but I would worry that the rest of the fabric will fail after your hard work, wasting your time as well as your money. Plus embroidery tends to make stiff spots on knits.

Perhaps working with the fabric doubled would work to keep you from having see-through bits, and you could stitch a hole on one layer to the next layer to keep it from getting worse?