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Whirlpool Brand U. How to shrink your clothes — on purpose. Learn how to shrink a shirt, pants or other pieces for a fashionable look. Related Articles. How to prevent shrinking clothes. Read More. Can you wash dry clean only? How to prevent pilling on clothes. Appliance IQ.
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Ever noticed your hemline getting shorter—but your clothing getting wider—the more you wash it? Corduroy clothing may shrink along the length of the fabric, the waistband may seem to get smaller, and the sleeves on wool sweaters creep shorter the longer you have them.
While washing methods do play a large role, drying temperatures are the primary cause of shrinkage. High temperatures are useful for killing bacteria on fabrics, which is why dryers can get so hot.
The solvents may strip dye from the fabric, damage embellishments, or break down bonding agents. Always follow laundering instructions to avoid mishaps. Get to know your fabrics so you can prevent shrinkage. You may want to evaluate drying temperature and washing methods the next time you start a load of laundry.
Why does the same fabric shrink differently in different parts of the same item? For example, the legs on pajamas will shrink while the distance from the waist to the crotch seam gets longer. Or sweatshirts will get wider but shorter.
As mentioned in the article, the knitting or the weaving can be different , depending on how the fabric was made and cut to form the different parts. Sometimes the stitching too, can affect the shape if it is not well selected or tensioned to match the fabric.
The warp and weft are tensioned independently, and usually differently, so that as the fabric is jostled in the wash, any extra tension in the warp or twist in the weft can transfer to the perpendicular threads. Single knit fabrics almost always have an unbalanced tension between opposite sides of the fabric, so hems and edges will curl if the stitching or design does not hold it well.
Also embroidery and appliques can also apply weight or other distorting forces to the surface they are sewn or woven in, or attached to. If you want to avoid the constant tug of too-small clothes or the need for a new wardrobe every season , consult these quick and easy tips for avoiding laundry shrinkage—plus all the reasons it may be happening in the first place. Generally, there are three different and very technical ways clothing can shrink: felting, relaxation, and consolidation.
It may take a bit of time and training to learn which type of shrinkage is impacting your favorite pieces. The first type of shrinkage, felting, occurs with clothing constructed of animal hair fibers, like wool or mohair.
These materials have microscopic scales along their surface that, when exposed to moisture and excessive heat, can compress and mesh together. This compression is the cause of the all-too-familiar shrunken sweater syndrome , which can happen easily if the sweater is not handled correctly.
This type of shrinkage is sometimes also referred to as progressive shrinkage because it will continue to happen a little more each time the animal hair fiber is washed. Relaxation shrinkage happens when an absorbent fabric like cotton, silk, or linen , or a fabric modified to be absorbent like a synthetic performance fiber , is exposed to liquids or excessive moisture. When these absorbent fibers are exposed to water, they will soak it all up and swell, causing the overall size of the garment to shrink.
Generally, relaxation shrinkage impacts less than one percent of the overall garment size and won't really influence a piece's fit. Another common shrinkage issue is consolidation shrinkage, which occurs when moisture, heat, and mechanical action like agitation during washing and drying cycles are combined.
The combination of these factors causes the fabric's fibers to release any pulling or tension put in place during the construction of the clothing item, which in turn relaxes the fibers, allowing them to return to their natural state which is almost always smaller.
Relaxation shrinkage typically occurs most dramatically during an item's first wash cycle and it can drastically reduce the size of a piece.
NOTE: Before applying any method to tighten up your clothes, it is always important to make sure that you know the makings of your garment. Many fabrics act differently and will react to the shrinking methods with differing levels of change. Oftentimes natural fabrics or blends like cotton, wool, mohair or rayon will shrink easier than synthetic options.
Once you have found the basic makeup of your garment, you can more easily decide which method of shrinking would work best for your needs. While it may seem counterintuitive, cold water is actually the best route to take for shrinking more synthetic fabrics.
While it may seem that you would shrink sweaters in the same way you would other wool or cotton products, it can actually be damaging to these fabrics to run them through very high heats.
Fabrics like cashmere will be damaged by any shrinking process and should not be attempted. However, some sweater fabrics such as cotton or wool can be safely shrunk down.
Due to this process, pre-shrunk pieces can be slightly more difficult when trying to shrink down. However, there are some ways to overcome these issues. Clothing mishaps happen and sometimes it can feel frustrating to not know the correct methods to take to change the fit of a garment.
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