Wool shrinkage - solutions wanted

[Harvestman]

Help! I bought a jacket in a charity shop for a fiver. It was a nice jacket in its own right, but came with a detachable 100% Scottish wool liner. It fit perfectly, and with the liner was incredibly warm. It became an instant favourite, and kept me warm right through a camping trip on the weekend when temperatures were subzero.

Unfortunately, my wife then stuck it in the wash, and the liner came out looking like a tight fit on a 12 year old

She says it was only a 30 degree wash...

Is there any way to rescue a seriously shrunken wool jacket? SWMBO has suggested cold water and some serious stretching, but are there better solutions or things that will help?

Thanks in advance

 

[effzedess]

No solution from me I'm afraid.
By coincidence, I emptied the washing machine this morning to find my Large 42" chest merino wool jumper had shrunk and now fits my 9 year old son.
SWMBO did say sorry through her giggles!

Marc

 

[andybysea]

Dont think theres any solution my misses has done it a few times to some of my best jumpers,gosh how i did get upset!

 

[Shewie]

I think I might have asked Toddy the same question a few years ago, can't remember the answer but I don't think it was very promising.

Maybe you could soak it and then hang dry it and see if it stretches a bit, getting everything to stretch the same amount would be the challenge I reckon.

 

[Harvestman]

At the moment I am sort of going with 'Wear it anyway and stretch it each time I put it on', since I can just about squeeze into it.

Good job it is a liner though, 'cos I look a right plank until I put the jacket over it. :yikes:

 

[Toddy]

If it's really felted, no way will it go back to size

Is it an entire 'jacket' of a liner, or just a gilet sort of bodywarmer kind ?

cheers,
Toddy

p.s. For the future, wash pure wool *cold*, leave it to soak overnight in the bath or a big basin or bucket, and if you don't have woolwash liquid use shampoo. It's meant for hair, wool's just a kind of hair. Just gently sapple the suds through the fabric. Drain and rinse, rinse and let drain. Then lay it inside a huge bath towel and roll it up and squeeze to remove excess water. Dry flat.
Guarantee no shrinkage or felting
Bit of a palaver, but unless it says Washable Pure New Wool, then it's the only way of being certain not to ruin wool.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Harvestman]

Toddy - thanks. The wool bit is a jacket shaped liner (with full sleeves) that could be worn separately to the main jacket, and could be buttoned into it to connect the two. The outer jacket is still good, but the liner no longer matches it at all.

As I said, I can get it on (squeezing my arms in) and with effort I can button it up (so long as there aren't many layers underneath), but the hem is now about 4 inches higher than it was. It sort of looks like one of those ladies cropped waistcoat things that only cover the chest and not the abdomen, only with three quarter length sleeves. Not a good look.

 

[Toddy]

Ah, I had thought if it were just a gilet that you could split the side seams and fit in an extender panel to sort it.

I suppose you still could.....but you'd need to take the sleeves off and widen and lengthen them too, and add onto the hem as well by the sounds of it.
What colour is it ?

This thread brought to mind the old one I started on using a felted jumper.
I have promised a member a tutorial and some fleece to make properly felted mitts.
I can finally breathe without coughing up a lung (it's been a loooong month) and I'm contemplating finding the stuff. I guess hibernation's over

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50790
That thread needs redoing too

cheers,
Toddy

 

[silvergirl]

For future ref. its the vigourous washing action that really gets the wool felted. I do machine wash wools stuff, even the stuff that says dry clean only as that is a truly horrible process.
But it has to be a cool, gentle wash which many washing machines don't really do very well.
http://www.woolcrafting.com/shrunken-wool.html

 

[rik_uk3]

My mom taught me that the best way to wash wool was in the bath, warm water, soap flakes (only a few) and and gentle wash by hand. Rinse in water a couple of times and leave to drain in the bath then spread on a line to dry outdoors. As she said, "if its shrunk its buggered". She was also a great believer in only washing wool when really needed, the material will shake off a lot of odours on its own if left to 'air' on a line outdoors (not easy in the winter I know).

 

[EdS]

chuck it in the washing machine on wool cycle.

Never had a problem with anything shrinking - even a hand spun & kniited Herdwick jumper.

 

[MSkiba]

Easy one. Loose a coupe of stone and it will fit you fine =)

 

[Toddy]

chuck it in the washing machine on wool cycle.

Never had a problem with anything shrinking - even a hand spun & kniited Herdwick jumper.

Yeah, but Herdwick's a pain in the neck to felt; it's mostly kemp.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[treadlightly]

I handwash my wool unless it is machine washable and have had no problems so far. But recently I was on the Chocolate Fish website which recommended machine washing its stuff on the wool cycle. I think the argument was that modern machines have good wool wash programmes and it is more likely to get the water temp right than the guesswork involved when handwashing.

 

[EdS]

I've a lot of Chocolatefish stuff and it all wash in the machine with no problems inc the merino/Possum jumper. The "thermals" are OK to machine wash and the jumper label says hand wash but in a European machine on wool cycle it is fine. Alot of NZ washing machines are stil liek the big old top loaders/USA style so are not as gentle on clothes.

My machine is probably more gentle than me handwashing garments. If you really look at how you hand wash cloths it is not as gentle as you think and is certainly quiet abrasive. Modern UK machines wash gently and temperature control is very good. Heat is the biggest cause of clothes shrinking.

 

[Harvestman]

Easy one. Loose a coupe of stone and it will fit you fine =)

Yeah that'll work . If I chop about 4 inches off my arms too, the sleeves will fit as well.

Maybe I should go for a spin in the washer too

 

[Inusuit]

Just my experience, once a wool garment has shrunk, you're done. I've tried stretch wool shirts, no go. Might work on a loosely knit sweater, but woven material can't be returned to original size. Do your own laundry in future.

 

[andybysea]

Inusuit doesnt work on a sweater either once shrunk its shrunk end of story(well in my experiance.)

 

[R.Lewis]

make a new liner out of an old heavy blanket after using original scaled up as a a pattern...