Anyone who likes to wear wool clothing often knows that knitted clothing requires a certain amount of care. Wool is naturally dirt- and moisture-repellent, regulates both cold and heat very well, and hardly smells. Genuine wool sweaters are not only beautiful but also cozy and warm. To avoid damaging all these properties of wool, knitted clothing should ideally not be dry-cleaned. Nevertheless, a wool sweater or knitted dress also needs to be cleaned from time to time – we have collected lots of tips to help your woolen items keep their shape:
Remove odors
Wool is and remains a natural product – so there are environmental odors that cling to the clothing, especially at first, but eventually fade. If you want to speed up this process, simply hang the garment out in the fresh air in damp weather or in the bathroom (preferably over the clothesline). The water vapor that forms in the bathroom after a hot shower, for example, penetrates the wool fibers and carries away the environmental odors. This makes these odors a thing of the past, and the moisture also helps wrinkles smooth out.
Washing wool sweaters properly
Hand washing
For woolen items, hand washing is the best cleaning method. All you need for this is
- lukewarm water and
- a little liquid wool detergent.
To clean, mix the water with the wool detergent and briefly wash the wool clothing in it. Soaking for hours is less advisable. The knitted clothing should also not be treated roughly. After cleaning, simply rinse the clothing with a little cold or lukewarm water.
Washing machine
If you do not want to wash wool sweaters by hand, make sure you choose the right setting on the washing program. Select a wool program or a cycle at a low temperature. It is very important that there are no major temperature differences here, otherwise the wool will felt or shrink.
Most washing machines include an excellent wool wash program, which you should definitely use. As a rule, temperatures up to 30° Celsius are allowed. Also note the following tips:
- Turn the garment inside out
- It is best to put clothing in a laundry bag
- Use liquid wool detergent
- Set the spin speed to the lowest level
No fabric softener for wool sweaters
Use little or no fabric softener for wool sweaters. Why? Fabric softener makes wool sweaters smell nice and also makes the wool softer, but it also has a negative effect on the elastane content.
Wool stays soft
To keep woolen items soft, the rinse water must have the same temperature as the wash water. Excessive temperature differences make the wool fabric hard. A dash of vinegar in the final rinse water provides an additional softening effect.
No shrinking of wool sweaters
To prevent woolen items from shrinking all the time, add glycerin to the wash water (1 tbsp per 10 liters of water). This prevents the beautiful wool sweater from becoming one size smaller.
No shampoo for wool
Shampoo is often recommended as a care product for wool sweaters. However, this is a wrong tip! Wool is an animal product and needs fat – shampoos remove fats from the material during washing. Shampoo can therefore definitely cause felting in wool sweaters. It is better to use a mild detergent specifically for wool.
Prevent wool sweaters from stretching out
To prevent the wool sweater from stretching out, it should not be dried hanging up – neither on the clothesline nor on a hanger. The best method is to let the still-wet sweater dry lying flat on a towel. After that, it can be carefully pulled into shape.
Do not put wool sweaters in the dryer
It is better not to put knitted clothing in a dryer, as this process could deform and damage the clothing. It is better to pull the garment into shape and let it dry lying flat.
Bring stretched-out wool sweaters back into shape
Hair dryer
After washing, blow-dry the unattractive areas with a hair dryer on the highest setting (hold the hair dryer a hand's width away from the fabric!). The heat makes the fibers contract again and the bulging areas disappear.
Hot & cold water
After washing, first place the wool sweater in hot water, then in ice-cold water. Now gently pull the sweater into shape and let it dry on a towel.
Hot steam
If only the sleeves or collar are stretched out, you do not need to soak the entire wool sweater in water; instead, you can hold the affected areas over hot steam. Even the hot steam from a kettle is helpful here. Simply hold the affected areas over the steam for a short time – the fibers will contract again quickly.
Proper storage of wool sweaters
Never store the dried sweater on a hanger. This type of storage causes the sweater to lose elasticity. Better: fold it loosely. It is also important that wool sweaters are not stored too tightly, otherwise they will be crushed too much. It is also best not to stack too much other clothing on top of the wool sweaters.
What exactly is pilling?
Pilling is the formation of small knots, as can often be seen on wool clothing. Since wool is indisputably a natural product, this process is difficult to avoid on its scaly surface. Pilling is therefore not a sign of inferior goods, but a natural process caused by washing and wearing.
If pilling becomes too much, you can counteract it very easily: with an anti-pilling comb carefully remove the knots.
Read also: Knitting – wool becomes smooth again
Photo by Janine, meinhaushalt.at
