I have no suggestions, but I have the same problem.I have the basic West Elm linen sheers. I'd love someone to give me the confidence to just throw them in the washer.

(I tried that once with some basic cotton curtains and they came out permanently wrinkled. Still not sure what THEY were treated with!).

I would hand wash the panels one at a time in the bath tub. You'll probably need a helper since they are so long. but if you blot the excess water out of them (rather than having them crammed in a washer and spun)and dry them flat on a long table you will have way less wrinkling. When they're dry put them back on the rods and use a steamer to finish off the remaining wrinkles.

I would hand wash them with a tad bit of ivory and iron them on the lowest setting when dry. Good luck!!!

I found a great e-bay tutorial on washing linen, hope this helps.
http://reviews.ebay.com/Laundering-a-White-Linen-Tablecloth-and-Napkins_W0QQugidZ10000000009846249

Measure them first. Throw them in the wash, delicate. Stretch them out to original measurement, let dry. Maybe iron them. But I wouldn't...part of the beauty of linen is the wrinkle factor.

Do those dryclean-it-yourself-in-the-dryer bags work?

Linen is not a delicate fabric. It's pretty durable - more durable than cotton. The only problem with cleaning it is higher temperatures because heat slightly melts the outer layer of the flax - which is why one dyes linen in hot water. Even that is not really a problem, but over time might help to break down the fibre. Machine wash at 30 degrees or cold wash. Shake it vigorously, give it a yank on the ends. Line dry it (if you have a sheila maid then drape it, smooth it, and hoist). Stretch-dry or cool iron if you need to.

Most dry cleaning labels are nonsense these days, I observe.

I would hand wash in cold water with a drop of castile soap and then air dry them. Add a bit of baking soda to the water to keep them from getting too crunchy as they dry.

I don't know about curtains, but with linen clothes the best is to wash them, then dry them for just a couple of minutes in the dryer to steam out the wrinkles, then hang to dry (outside in the sun if possible). I do use a dryer sheet on my linen clothes for their short time in the dryer but I am not sure you would need to with curtains. The clothes still look slightly wrinkled but it's soft enough to either iron or steam them out easily -- unlike if they stay in the dryer until dry.

I agree with lim's post. All my curtains are white linen and I wash them in the machine and line dry. They look great... although at first I thought I'd probably ruin them by putting in the machine. I iron some on lower heat just to get the wrinkles out and they have maintained
a new stiffer/more formal look. There
are some I dry in the machine and they
obviously end up with a softer look. They seem fine though- not worn out looking at all.

I have 100% linen curtains - they can definitely be washed in the machine. If you are really worried maybe use the delicate cycle but I put it on the regular cycle, line dry and then iron. They come out beautiful.