Sugar... !! I've shrunk the jumper !!!

clutterydrawer

I have just shrunk my favourite jumper - literally the only garment I have that I think looks half decent on me :(

I suppose there's no way of redeeming it? I tried putting it on to stretch it but it's too small

SunnyGirl

The only thing that I've ever done is to rewash the garment in question and stretch it while its wet. It may not work with wool/wool mixes but I've had reasonable success with t-shirts, sweatshirts, trackie bottoms and the like. Good luck HTH

Gingernutmeg

There was a thread on here a while back and I think they suggest that wool garments can sometimes be stretched if you soak them in a solution of fabric conditioner. I'd have a search to find the thread first, but it might be worth a go if it is wool.

Icey77

I've managed to shrink my lovely merino wool jumper from GAP :mad:

I think I washed it on a 40 degree instead of a 30 degree and now it's a darn sight smaller than it used to be.

Is there any way I can unshrink / stretch it back out?

Thanks Icey xx

floss2

You can try soaking it for a couple of hours or even overnight in COLD water with a good dollop of hair conditioner in, then rinse thoroughly in cold water and gently stretch out to the size it should be, and dry it flat...sounds wierd, but I've tried it & it works!

ariarnia

I don't think there's anyway to reliably stretch it to fit, so you might want to make it a gift to some smaller/younger person, but if you want to try and don't mind that you might ruin it then there are a couple of options.

wool jumpers distort (stretch) under their own weight when wet. It's why you're supposed to be careful of them when hanging them to dry.

You can use this fact to try and controllably distort your jumper till it fits.

Try the arms first and see if you think you can do it.

Soak the area you want to focus on in cold water until saturated then hang it with this area completely unsupported.

Support and weigh down the rest of the jumper.

Hook a weight (preferably one or more of these - - called a claw weight and used with knitting machines)

Leave with weights attached until stretched sufficiently (guess I'm afraid)

Dry supported.

Penelope_Penguin

As this has fallen from the front page of OS, I'll add it to the existing thread which might give you more suggestions

Penny. x

tod123

A friend of mine has a very important garment that has shrunk, its his beret.

Basically , it was his dads , who was an onion johnny .

The beret was handed down to him and he lost it in the sea , he put it on a radiator and it shrunk .

Does anyone have any advise how one can unshrink a beret?

SUESMITH_2

don't know if you can, i'm sure someone will come along and hopefully tell you how to do it

ChocClare

I'm surprised it's shrunk as it would be felt to start with, I would have thought and it's usually a combination of heat and agitation which felts wool (rather like myself tbh).

The best way to try and unshrink felted wool is to run some LUKEWARM water into a washbasin and squirt in a LARGE quantity of hair conditioner. Herbal Essences is good. Don't bother with anything too expensive. Let the beret soak in it for 10 minutes or so (do not agitate) and then GENTLY lift it out and place on a towel. Pat out most of the water and then gently pull it back into shape. The conditioner should make the fibres relax and this MAY be enough to restore it. Do not rinse the conditioner out. Once you have it back to size, it needs to dry on a flat surface - don't use any heat at all.

Good luck!