shrinking wool

[penfold]

I have loads of woolen sweaters, cardigans etc that would look a lot better if they were slightly smaller. I want to try and shrink them arounf 5%. Does anyone have any advice on the best way to do this?

Thanks

[mike lowrey]

regular wool should shrink easily, but be careful that you dont fuck it up. I once mistook a wool shirt for a cotton one, threw it in the washer and dryer and ended up getting something I can hang on my rearview mirror.

try soaking it in warm water and see what happens. then just doi it in warmer water untill it shrinks a bit. lay flat to dry.

[Arethusa]

Yeah, warm water and flat dry. You'll get mild to moderate progressive shrinkage this way. Don't be aggressive or you'll end up with a scrunchie.

[bigsteve101]

does this work for only 100% wool? or would wool blends work...what about cashmere? (lower quality of course)

[Arethusa]

If it's wool blended with a synthetic, probably not. With cashmere, probably would. I've never tried it, though.

[mike lowrey]

I'm pretty sure synthetic combinations will shrink too, but they might act differently. I'd still say your best bet is doing it the same way.

oh and depending on the type, it can also be stretched when wet. wool knit for example can stretch quite a bit but it depends on the garment, so just experiment with it.

[Calden]

I bought a 100% wool watch cap from banana republic that fit really loose and had about 1.5 inches I would have to fold over. I soaked it in super hot water for almost an hour and now it is an super tight beanie. It also remained very soft and is now my favorite hat. That being said, I wouldn't experiment with anything you're afraid you might ruin.

[Double D]

Reasonably hot water, keep agitating it gently. Shouldn't need to use a washer or a dryer at all.

[Double D]

oh and depending on the type, it can also be stretched when wet. wool knit for example can stretch quite a bit but it depends on the garment, so just experiment with it.

A lot of that's down to how you dry it. Trick my mum taught me with my jumpers is to roll them up really tightly in a towel to extract most of the water, and then dry them on a rack that lets you dry things horizontally.

[mike lowrey]

yea thats how I dry them too, but I meant that if you want to stretch it you can also do that.

but thats good advice anyway, that way you wont get unwanted stretch

[bigsteve101]

alright so i soak in reasonably hot water for 30 min-1 hour then roll in a towel to extract the water then dry horizontally on a rack to shrink it? how does it usually shrink (ie, i dont really want the sleeves to shrink just width and maybe length)

[yamakazi18]

i had a wool beanie i accidentally put in the dryer...ended up looking like one of those jewish caps.

[seanfromiran]

funny that you just had to look at your username for the name of those jewish caps.

[keri]

okay, wool in any form except superwash will felt (shrink). synthetic blends will not felt as much, 100% natural wool will felt like mad. Cashmere also felts. I learned the hard way.

It is very difficult to control felting without having a sample to play with and determine the rate of shrinkage first. (like 10% in the first 2 minutes, 15 % after 5 minues--you'll have to bust out your calculus to get the timing perfect). However you can get hot enough to pop your hands in for a sec but not leave em in for a while water and swish the item around in it at one-three minute intervals, letting it dry completely and measuring after each dry to see if it's shrunk enough.

[in progress]

does this work?

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Un-shrink-A-Wool-Sweater&id=9105

if you mess up... try this, i guess. not sure if it's easy to restretch wool to its original form.

[mike lowrey]

alright so i soak in reasonably hot water for 30 min-1 hour then roll in a towel to extract the water then dry horizontally on a rack to shrink it? how does it usually shrink (ie, i dont really want the sleeves to shrink just width and maybe length)

I think its enough if you toss it around in the water for a few minutes, then throw it on the towel and see how it looks. be careful when taking it out though, as its quite heavy it can easily stretch while wet.

when rolling in the towel try not to make a very tight roll out of it because that can stretch it again.

when its laid flat to dry you can stretch it by hand. for example stretch out the sleeves a bit.

[Double D]

Cosign on what Mike said. Definitely be careful when removing it from the water... you're better off draining the sink/tub/whatever and hand wringing the sweater on the base of it before you remove it. Generally I find wool sweaters tend to go long rather than wide when I wash them... they even out into a more regular shape after a few wears.

Oh, and if you're trying not to shrink your wool, use LUKEWARM water, not cold water. Cold water can put a nasty strain on your wool too. Basic idea is to have the water the same temperature as the room/wool so that there's no shift in temperature when it meets water.

Synthetic blends I find pretty bloody resilient to shrinking, as is cotton. My Religion jumper which is like 20-30% nylon I hot washed and hot tumbledried to the tune of 1-2 inches total shrinkage, and it seems to be loosening up already.