Some FAQ's about shrinking and stretching
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I hope everyone had a marvelous Christmas! I got a couple new cashmere things to add to my collection (given to me, of course, because buying more for myself would be ABSURD).
I have received a bunch of e-mails from people curious if you can shrink or stretch cashmere safely. The answer is: yes! But only to a point... You can probably go about a size up or a size down if the sweater is in good shape to start with. If it's already been felted by going in the dryer by accident, then I'm sorry to say, you're stuck. Best to cut your losses and make a pillow.
To SHRINK:
1) Hand wash your cashmere sweater as you normally would, only change the temperature of the wash water to hot (as hot as you can stand) and rinse with cold water.
2) Leave the sweater to dry, without stretching it back to it's normal size and...
3) TAH DAH!
Shrinking is easier and less risky than stretching...
To STRETCH:
1) Hand wash your cashmere sweater as you normally would, with cold wash water and cold rinse water.
2) Lay out your sweater on a flat surface and (this is where it gets tricky, so be gentle)
3) With the sweater still laying flat, put both of your arms inside the sweater with your hands in fists, with your fists where your shoulders would go and your arms following the line of the seams, with your elbows at the hem of the sweater.
4) Slowly move your arms away from each other, GENTLY, and stretch the sweater in small little bits at a time. In other words, pulse a bit so the fibers can relax and then be stretched again.
***DISCLAIMER: If you are not gentle enough, or your sweater is of poor quality, you run the risk of stretching a hole in your sweater so PLEASE BE GENTLE and don't expect miracles ;o)***
5) Gently stretch out the arm sleeves, cuffs, and hem in a similar manner.
6) Try to stretch large sections at a time. If you just grab two opposite sides of the sweater with just a couple fingers, you'll stretch smaller sections at a time, leaving the sweater rather wonky looking...
7) Once it's all stretched out, leave it to dry.
8) TAH DAH!
P.S. You can also stuff your sweater with a carefully folded towel and leave it to dry that way- I've done this with pesky sweaters that are ribbed and INSIST on going back to half their original size. But, be careful for wrinkles in the towel! For very minimal stretching, you can also use a steamer and slowly pull on the sweater in sections directly after steaming (while the sweater is still warm).
So, remember: large sections and gentle pulsing! Remember: Gentle!!!!!
Best of luck to everyone!!!
Comments
@Dale Elizabeth - You're very welcome!
My idea: Get a handy friend to cut out your shape from some Masonite with a jigsaw, OR you could find a really good crafty place and get some thick, light corrugated plastic sheets. If Masonite is used, you could hinge the middle so it would fold up. As for protecting your cashmere, how about just using another, cheap sweater between the board and the cashmere? Love this idea!
I just found this blog and love cashmere. In heaven reading all this great info! Thanks for doing it, it's sure appreciated. -Katie
I have other merino sweaters on size XL and L shrunk. They are perfect for me. And regarding texture, they are pretty soft and they also feel more strong as if they were made of strong wool. They definitely last longer.
So in general, I don't think shrunk sweaters are bad, they are soft and last longer.
By the way, to make any wool softer (especially cashmere), hand wash it with cold water and only use hair conditioner. It will be super soft.
Just be careful with those evil moths! I lost some cashmere garments due to those.
I hate those critters and evil they are. My fav sweater was also theirs : / sniff sniff.
BUT! I did find a moth trap that works exceptionally well and want to shout from the roof top about it lol. It is Dr. Killigan's and does it EVER work! It started with my organic cornmeal, that I mistakenly left in the pantry. Boy do moths LOVE organic food. Maybe we should learn from them... So, I read about Dr Killigans pantry moth trap and tried it. Standing in front of the pantry when opening the package moths came flying at me! I was so impressed by the number of moths caught in that trap, that i reasoned I should get clothes moth traps too. GLAD I DID. I've used them over a year now, and have no more moths or their pesky larvae any where that I can find. Thank the Lord!