I know, for some of you who are experienced wool users, this post will probably seem a bit elementary. That's okay-you can skip it. ;-) For those who are new to wool, there are a few things that you should know which will make your life easier and hopefully prevent any harm from coming to your gorgeous new woolies! As always, if any of this is unclear. let me know and I will clarify!
Heat will make wool shrink/felt. The higher the heat, the worse the shrinkage. Therefore, do NOT put your wool in the dryer (unless your goal is to felt it), and it is also not a good idea to lay your wool garment over a heat register to dry. While this won't cause as drastic of changes, it will do damage over time. If you are in a hurry for your wool to dry, you can put a fan on it, and the moving air should help.
Water/liquid makes wool heavy! I know you have all seen photos of woolies hanging adorably on clotheslines, but this is really not a great idea either. The reason is that the weight of the water will pull down against the clothespins and cause your garments to stretch. Wool does have good "memory" (meaning it will tend to return to its original shape and size unless you interfere with it), but over time this will stress the fibers and cause wear and tear (and holes!) to happen more quickly. The best way to dry wool is to lay it flat, preferably on an aerated surface, with as much support as possible. Ways you can do this are: use the top "row" of a drying rack (this is generally what I do), string cheesecloth or another aerated but supportive fabric (with lots of holes) out and lay it on top of that, or just lay it flat and go flip it every once in a while.
Making your wool dry faster: The more surfaces exposed, the faster it dries (so it will be slower if you have it flat on a countertop, etc. versus something that is aerated). You can use the sun, but watch for signs of fading (depending on the person who dyed the wool-some dye jobs hold up to the sun very well, others do not, so this is going to be an experimental thing). You can blow a regular fan on them; no hair dryer (unless you use the no heat setting) or heat register though! Really, the best way to make your wool dry as quickly as possible is to squeeze as much water out as possible (using the towel squeeze or towel roll method-more than once if necessary!) prior to laying it out to dry.
What if I accidentally shrunk my wool?
All is not lost, as long as the shrinkage and felting are minimal. Get your garment completely wet (soaked), then gently stretch it out to its previous size and either pin it there or use something heavy to hold it there. Hopefully, when it is dry, it will retain this size and shape.
Can I stretch my wool?
All wool has some inherent stretch to it! Hopefully your garment will stretch as much as you need it to just with normal wear. If you want to try to increase the size of the overall garment, you can try-just be aware, there will be some limitations and you may end up damaging your wool. It's up to you whether that is a chance you want to take! You can either use the method above to stretch it, or you can stretch your garment out and then block it (blocking is when you use a steam iron which is hovering just BARELY above the surface of the garment-this will help the fibers relax).
No comments:
Post a Comment