Woolen items are very beautiful and comfortable to wear, but they are capricious and finicky to care for. During the next washing in the machine, the item may shrink, change size or shape, then it will no longer be possible to wear it. Experienced housewives have long discovered several ways to return things to their former size and shape.
Reasons why woolen items shrink after washing?
A number of factors tend to change the characteristics of a woolen item after machine washing. Housewives should definitely study them to avoid an unpleasant situation:
- unsuitable care product (most gels and powders change the structure of the fiber and deform the item; before putting it into the machine, you should carefully study the manufacturers’ recommendations and choose a suitable powder that can carefully care for delicate wardrobe items);
- sudden temperature change (when washing by machine, it is not recommended to set the temperature above 30°C, this will definitely cause the fibers to react, and you should also not use intensive spinning and rinsing of the product);
- incorrectly selected mode (for high-quality care and preservation of the characteristics of the product, you should choose either a specially selected mode for washing wool, or simply a delicate mode);
- poor quality material (in this case, it is almost impossible to avoid the sweater losing its shape during care).
The possibility of a delicate care regime and the right detergent are the key to safe washing. If this is not possible, then the sweater is washed by hand with the addition of mild detergents.
Only regular careful care will help keep a woolen product in its original form for a long time.
What to do if a wool sweater shrinks after washing?
If the product does shrink during machine washing, there are several simple ways to return it to its former shape. To do this, the jacket is again immersed in cold water and allowed to absorb a little liquid. There is no need to use powders or detergents. The sweater is then wrung out using a terry towel and laid out on a flat surface.
As it dries, you need to very carefully stretch the shrunken areas. You can also immediately attach the product to the base with a large number of pins, stretching it according to the desired size. It will take a lot of pins to ensure that all the parts are stretched and do not lose their original shape.
If the sweater becomes short after washing. It can be hung to dry on hangers. First, a towel folded several times is placed in the area of the shoulder seam. In this way, the housewife will avoid deformation of the jacket at the shoulders.The product will stretch under its own weight.
Particular attention should be paid to the cuffs and hem; they need to be stretched very carefully so as not to lose their shape. Otherwise, the sweater can be thrown out for being unpresentable.
9 ways to stretch a shrunken wool sweater
Housewives have long come up with many ways using improvised means that help effectively stretch a jacket that has shrunk during washing. For this you can use:
- table vinegar and iron;
- steam generator;
- hydrogen peroxide;
- a mixture of ammonia, alcohol and turpentine;
- try re-washing;
- water;
- recut;
- hair conditioner;
- professional dry cleaning.
All these methods are available and will certainly help avoid complete damage to the product. However, it is better to use them only as a last resort, so as not to harm the delicate material.
Vinegar and iron. The product must be wetted so that the collar and shoulder seam remain completely dry. Then the item is wrapped in a terry towel to remove excess moisture. Mix table vinegar with a glass of water and place the mixture in a spray bottle. The jacket is hung on a hanger and slowly stretched to the desired size. Periodically you need to spray it with vinegar solution. Finally, you need to go over the sweater with an iron or steam generator.
Touching the wool itself with a hot iron is strictly prohibited!
Steam. The iron needs to be heated to a temperature of 120°C and the item should be ironed with a towel, and then steamed in a special mode. The procedure will be much simpler if the housewife has a steam generator.
Hydrogen peroxide. A couple of tablespoons of peroxide are thoroughly diluted in 10 liters of cool water.Then the woolen product is lowered there for 3 hours. Subsequently, the jacket is dried on a horizontal surface as usual.
Mix: turpentine + alcohol + ammonia. This method is called the express method for stretching a wool sweater. In a 5-liter bucket of ordinary cool water, dilute 2 tablespoons of turpentine and vodka, as well as 6 tablespoons of ammonia. After appropriate preparation, the woolen item is immersed in the solution for 1 hour. After the time has passed, all that remains is to rinse thoroughly and dry the product on a horizontal stand. The sweater will become elastic and beautiful, taking on its usual dimensions.
Re-wash. In some cases, repeated washing on a more delicate cycle may help. The spin cycle should be set to minimum speed and a special detergent for washing woolen items should be added to the machine. After the process is completed, the jacket is dried on a hanger.
Moisture. After moistening the jacket, you can put it on a mannequin of a suitable size or on your body and do not take it off until it dries completely. The method is not very convenient and pleasant, but still very effective.
Shut it down. A more radical and complex method of stretching involves partially cutting the wool product. The sweater is ripped out at the seams, each of the resulting parts is moistened, and then basted to special dry blanks. Parts of the sweater need to be dried and sewn at the seams.
Hair conditioner. The product is soaked in cool water mixed with regular hair conditioner, and the wool is allowed to get thoroughly wet. Then blot the product with a terry towel and lay it out to dry. Using a high-quality conditioner will make wool fabric more elastic and allow you to stretch the sweater to the desired size.
Dry cleaning. If the housewife is afraid to use such radical methods or for some reason cannot, perhaps professional dry cleaning can help her. You need to go to this establishment as soon as you notice changes with a woolen item.
You need to take measures to stretch the sweater immediately after washing, as a change in the size of the product has been noticed. Otherwise, after complete drying, the item will be practically impossible to stretch or the process will be very difficult.
Preventing shrinkage of woolen items
In order not to look for answers to the question of how to stretch woolen items if they have shrunk immediately after washing, you need to properly and properly care for such sweaters and cardigans. The rules are very simple and easy to remember:
- washing must be done manually or in a washing machine on “manual” or “delicate” mode with a minimum number of spin speeds;
- as detergents it is better to use regular shampoo or special gels, the packaging of which contains a note that it is recommended for the care of woolen items;
- dry wool sweaters need to be in a horizontal position on a towel.
By remembering these simple rules, the housewife will be able to preserve the beautiful original appearance of the jacket for a long time. If the rules are violated and it is impossible to stretch a woolen product, the sweater will have to be sent to a landfill due to loss of external qualities.
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