by: Aldo Ciarrocchi
Sometimes it happens to us all, in a careless moment we throw our brand new wool sweaters in the washing machine or dryer, shrinking them down about eight sizes and rendering it un-wearable to all but our children’s action man or Barbie Doll.
Luckily I have a contact with some inside knowledge on this matter so I asked my friend Mark Shenton owner of www.woolovers.com if there was a way to un-shrink a wool sweater, he started laughing even before I could finish my question.
Well people today’s your lucky day, I have used the information this Shenton character gave me and mastered the black art of wool un-shrinking and am here to share it with you.
Here we go….
When wool gets wet and warm, the fibres in the wool lock themselves together and don't want to let go, resulting in shrinkage (you can get wool warm or wet, but not both), which kind of makes washing wool garments a dangerous business.
To un-shrink the wool, soak the garment in warm water with a mild soap for about 10 minutes. This unlocks the fibres in the wool. Then lay the garment out on some towels in a cool place. Stretch the garment out to its original dimensions. The stretching pulls the unlocked wool fibres away from each other. Allow it to dry. The absence of heat from the drying process allows the wool fibres to set in place without locking together and shrinking the garment again.
That it, long story short: you will have a brand new, fully functional sweater again.
Take Care,
Al