The edges on the tea towels in our household tend to fold around the stitches after machine washing. This prevents them from being easily folded. The edge folding gets worse after repeated washing.

You can straighten the cloth again by ironing it, but I've read that ironing diminishes the cloth's ability to absorb water. Also, I'd rather not.

What can I do to get those edges nice and flat again? (Or keep them that way.)