How to wash something so that it shrinks: woolen, cotton, knitted, denim

What clothes will shrink after washing?

Before starting clothing resuscitation procedures, you need to decide on the type of fabric. This can be done according to the label where the composition is indicated, or experimentally. After pulling out the thread, set it on fire and watch how it burns - if it melts, it means your item contains a lot of synthetics. This means that it will either not be possible to reduce clothing, or the result will be small. The fact is that synthetic fabrics practically do not shrink.

Products made from natural fabrics shrink most easily, but they also stretch faster. Although, high-quality natural products, which contain a small addition of synthetics, are almost not deformed.

Causes of sprains

Deformation of knitted products occurs due to the habit of people to pull the hem and sleeves, and pull down the collar. Storing on hangers also causes things to pull out under their own weight. This is especially noticeable if a sweater or jumper is knitted from threads of high elasticity.

Drying using traditional methods is guaranteed to stretch them. The greatest damage to woolen products is caused by washing in a machine when choosing the wrong mode. Before washing wool to make it shrink, read our minimal educational program.

The principle of washing so that the item shrinks

The degree of reduction depends on the temperature at which you wash your clothes. To achieve the desired effect, first be sure to study the label on which the manufacturer indicates the desired washing temperature. The washing mode itself is usually indicated here: Hand, Gentle (delicate), Quick, Machine wash prohibited, No spin, etc.

To get shrinkage, you will need to convert all these values into the “do everything the other way around” category. For example, if you need to wash an item at a water temperature of 30-40 degrees, to shrink the item you will need to increase it, but not to boiling water (90-120 degrees), but to 60 degrees. You should also speed up the spin cycle a little.

Hot water softens the fibers, and due to intense rotation in the drum, they become confused and decrease in size. The hotter the water, the stronger this process occurs.

Wool

Most often people are looking for an answer to the question of how to reduce the size of clothes made from wool. Every resident probably has such things; they keep you warm in cold times, but they stretch out quickly.

Wool items are expensive, so don't throw them away. It is enough to learn a few tricks to help restore them to their previous shape and appearance.

Several ways to make knitted clothes smaller:

Using temperature mode. The maximum temperature for washing wool items is 30 degrees. If you want her to sit down, increase the degrees. Experienced housewives advise raising the temperature to 55–60. The hot liquid compresses the wool fibers and the garment shrinks.
By washing. There are cases when adult things turned into children's things. You can shrink a woolen item so much if you know how to wash it in an automatic machine. To make a dress, sweater or skirt shrink a little, first wash it in hot water, then set the rinse cycle to 10 degrees, and dry it using a dryer.
Using air conditioner. After the temperature regime, you can use fabric softener. Add 1 cap of conditioner to 5 liters of water at 40 degrees. Soak in liquid for 5-10 minutes.
Emergency. If you urgently need to shrink a woolen dress, after washing and drying it in an automatic washing machine, hang the product on a heating device (heater or radiator), just cover it with a cloth first. This way you can shrink the item evenly and avoid deformation of individual parts of the dress or sweater.

These techniques only apply to items made from 100% wool. If the composition contains synthetic fibers, these methods are not recommended. It is unknown how clothes will behave during such heat treatment.

How to wash a woolen item so that it shrinks

Woolen items can be stretched by following these instructions:

Set the temperature 20 degrees higher than indicated on the label. As a rule, it is 30-40 degrees. Therefore, in order for the wool to shrink, you need to set the temperature to 50-60 degrees.
Select the “Wool” mode, and if there is none, set the “Hand Wash” mode. The number of revolutions should not be more than 600.
Fill your washing machine with baby laundry detergent.
Place the clothes in the washing machine.
After the machine has washed, take the item out and place it in a bowl of cold water with ice cubes added. Stir the item in this solution periodically for 10 minutes. Then rinse it at room temperature. This can be repeated 2-3 more times. This is done for the reason that the wool shrinks due to sudden temperature changes.
After washing, gently wring out the item without twisting it. Wrap in a towel and squeeze out the remaining water again. Then place the item on a dry sheet or towel and straighten it carefully. Align your clothes according to size. You will see how the size of the thing has changed.

While the clothes are not dry, there is a chance to give them the desired size and shape. For example, you can cut out the shape of your sweater from old wallpaper and carefully pin it with needles to the shape of the pattern. Then, when dry, the desired size will be clearly recorded.

Do not dry woolen items on hangers or on a line. Under the weight of the water that remains on the surface of the item after washing, the product can stretch even more, and your result will be zero.

We also recommend that you study the article about the rules for washing woolen items.

Wool clothing

Whether a wool sweater was initially baggy due to the wrong size, or whether the sleeves and edges have stretched out over time, it can all be corrected. You can make your clothes shrink by performing a few simple manipulations with them:

Wash woolen items in hot water at a maximum temperature of 20 °C higher than the recommended temperature. Baby laundry detergent is best used as a laundry detergent. It will help maintain the structure of the fibers. The spin speed should not be more than 500-600 rpm.
After washing, the product should be rinsed in water at a temperature of 40 °C mixed with a capful of fabric softener.
Then rinse it again in water at a temperature of 50 °C, but without additives.
For woolen products, contrast rinsing is also relevant, in which immersion in hot water can be alternated with soaking in ice water.

Washed wool items should be placed in the dryer. It needs to be turned on at medium power and left to work until the clothes are dry.

How to wash a cotton item so that it shrinks?

Cotton fabrics shrink the easiest. It is enough to wash the item at a temperature of at least 60 degrees, and it will become smaller. You can make washing water and hot water, but this is only permissible if your item is not colored or patterned. For a white item, it may only be a plus if you wash it in boiling water, but a colorful item may lose its brightness.

After washing in the machine and spinning (preferably at medium speed), you can try testing using the “contrast” method. After placing the item in a bowl of boiling water, after five minutes, lower it into cold water. At the same time, for cotton it is not necessary to add ice to the water (the water can be from the tap). As a rule, this causes the fabric to shrink by 1-2 sizes.

Be sure to check if your item has also shrunk in length. It often happens that a thing becomes shorter after shrinking. If you find such a discrepancy, stretch the wet item to the desired length. While the item is wet, it can still be pulled out with an iron - by pulling it out while ironing.

Additional ways to shrink things

There are also these options:

To shrink cotton, you don’t need to use washing - a good ironing with steam is enough. Wet clothes should be ironed using steam constantly.
The easiest and surest way is to take your purchase to a studio, where they will accurately measure the required dimensions and do everything quickly, without ruining the fabric or stretching it even more.
You can sew up your purchase yourself by carefully ripping the fabric along the seams and removing excess material. To do this, there must be a sewing machine and all the tools necessary for such work at home. The easiest way to sew in skirts, where you often need to open only 1 of all seams, measure the required dimensions and cut off excess fabric.

How to wash a knitted item so that it shrinks

Knitted items, especially hand-knitted ones, can stretch quite quickly and strongly. It is very difficult to bring them into their original form, since almost every yarn contains a synthetic additive. And the more acrylic, the stronger the thing stretches, but it does not always return to its size.

In addition, the pattern in which it is knitted affects the shrinkage of the item. Loose knits stretch more than tight machine knits.

Most often, machine washing is contraindicated for knitted items, but if shrinkage is necessary, follow these instructions:

Buy a laundry bag. As a last resort, you can take an old tulle curtain and sew a pillowcase out of it, in which you will put the item. Don't forget to tie it. This is done to prevent your clothes from being scattered throughout the drum of the machine.
Wash at a temperature no higher than 60 degrees. It is better to take liquid detergent or baby laundry detergent.
Turn on spin mode. But here a single recipe cannot be given. Logically, stronger rotation will knock the yarn a little, and it will decrease in size. But in reality, the results can be completely unpredictable. Much depends on the twist of the yarn and the composition. Therefore, spin your item at medium speed, take it out, and look. If there are changes towards a decrease, but not strong, you can increase the speed of the machine and repeat the procedure. But all this is done under constant control.

If the item is very dear to you, it is better to try washing it by hand:

Soak the item briefly in hot water with conditioner.
After rinsing, transfer the item to ice water.
Leave for 5-10 minutes and remove.

Twisting a knitted product is prohibited. It must be carefully squeezed out, and you can first wrap it in a terry towel.

It is necessary to dry a knitted item on a horizontal surface, since it can stretch when suspended. Drying takes place away from radiators and other heating devices.

Shrinking cotton

Need to shrink a cotton cardigan? This will work if it is sewn correctly. If the threads do not go as required, then nothing will work.

How to shrink a large cotton dress or suit? Experts recommend setting the machine to the hottest water possible with a strong spin. But you can only wash white clothes this way.

It is better to wash colored clothes by hand. Moreover, you need to remember the rule: when kept in boiling water for 5 minutes, the item decreases by 1 size. Accordingly, if you keep it in boiling water for 15 minutes, it will decrease by about 2-3 sizes.

After hand washing, it is advisable to use an electric dryer. If even after these actions the item has not decreased significantly, repeating the procedures is useless.

Nothing can be done. The clothes will remain the same size, but the structure of the fabric, especially colored ones, can be damaged by hot water.

What should I do to make my jeans fit?

Jeans are prone to stretching, so after just a few wears they begin to slip off the hips and form unattractive folds. If the jeans are natural and not stretch, they can be stretched by washing them in the machine at a temperature of 60-70 degrees and spinning at 600-900 rpm. After washing, the item can be dried on a clothesline.

If you frequently wash jeans at high temperatures, their shade will most likely change and become duller.

Knitwear

Knitted products are inexpensive, so they sell out quickly. Only over time, they also require replacement, because clothes after prolonged wear become stretched and lose their attractiveness.

You can make something made from such textile material smaller at home without any problems. When performing a special method, she can shrink down to 1 size.

Let's start reducing knitwear:

Pour hot water into a bathtub, basin or bucket. Its temperature should be 40–50 degrees, that is, 10–20 degrees more than indicated on the clothing label.
The product is placed in hot liquid for 20–30 minutes. After 20 minutes, check whether the item is the right size or is still stretched. If the result is not satisfactory, add boiling water and continue soaking.
Squeeze out excess moisture. Do not twist the water out as this will stretch the fabric again. Place the product along the bottom of the bathtub and press down to the bottom. This way you can remove excess moisture without damaging the material.
Dry knitted items on a terry towel, which should be periodically replaced with a dry one so that the clothes do not stink.

If you can’t reduce knitwear at home, the second and final option is to take it to a tailor. But the work of a craftswoman will cost a little less than buying new clothes.

Silk items should not be machine washed, just as you should not try to reduce clothing sizes in this way.

Machine wash is not suitable for such items. They will not only lose their shape, but also their presentable appearance.

Silk is the most delicate, thin fiber, so clothing can only be reduced in size by hand.

Natural material is afraid of high temperatures, so this method will not work.

To shrink clothes, wash them in hot water. The temperature of the liquid should be 10 degrees higher than indicated on the label.

You will also have to forget about drying in an automatic machine. Dry silk items in a well-ventilated area on a clothesline in the sun or in a horizontal position.

Arranging things yourself is not difficult. The main thing is to know how to do it correctly. Therefore, it is worth familiarizing yourself with the materials on shrinkage, obtaining all the necessary information, and only then proceeding with the procedure.

The slightest mistake, especially when working with delicate fabrics, can lead to damage.

If you are afraid to tempt the fate of your favorite item, it is better to take it to a seamstress. And the last option is to give it to relatives and friends. You can also take your clothes to a homeless shelter.

It happens that a knitted item ends up stretched. But you should not send the product for scrap. There are ways to return it to the desired shape and size.

Washing synthetics to make clothes shrink

As noted earlier, synthetics do not shrink at all or slightly. In any case, if you do not have the opportunity to go to dry cleaning, you can try the following methods:

Wash the item in the washing machine, increasing the temperature setting by 10 degrees from the one indicated on the tag. The number of spin revolutions is from 800 to 1000. When washing, do not use rinse aid, since it prevents nylon and polyester from shrinking.
Prepare ice water and place the item in it for 3-5 hours. After this, take a terry towel and collect the water with blotting movements. Clothes are dried under direct ultraviolet light. If this method works, the item will shrink 1-1.5 sizes.

If the clothes are made of spandex or lycra, then manipulations to shrink them will be in vain.

If you approach the procedure of “shrinking” clothes correctly, then this will not be difficult. Cotton, wool and natural denim fabrics usually lend themselves easily to the procedure, which cannot be said about synthetics. In any case, in order not to spoil the item, it is necessary to maintain the correct temperature conditions for washing and spinning. To do this, follow all the instructions given in the article.

Are there special means for shrinking fabric?

There are no special media for shrinking fabric, so you should not believe advertisements on the Internet that claim that there is a means for shrinking things. Only 2 methods are suitable for this: washing and sewing. Both options are not entirely effective at home, unless you do this every day and are confident in your capabilities and strengths.

If an old item shrinks, it will be easier to buy a new one. It is better to try on purchased clothes immediately in a store, where there are always fitting rooms, or keep a receipt, which will give you the opportunity to return or exchange the purchase. When choosing clothes, you should be extremely careful and avoid making such mistakes. If you need help choosing a size, you can always ask for help from a store consultant who will explain everything and help with the choice. You should also immediately check in the store that the purchase is intact and the quality of the material from which it is made.