Surely almost every person thought about how to stretch a woolen thing if it sat down. There can be several answers to this question. For example, you can hold the product in a basin of cold water, then hang it on the heated towel rail and periodically carry out the process of stretching things in different directions.
Many of those who do not know how to stretch a shrunken woolen thing often begin to treat it with various kinds of potent chemicals like hydrogen peroxide. However, this method allows you to achieve the desired result only if everything is done carefully and with a high degree of caution. Otherwise, hydrogen peroxide will simply corrode the tissue. In order not to spoil the product, it is better not to risk it and not to conduct experiments, but to study effective ways to help solve the problem.
What needs to be done so that you do not have to stretch the woolen thing that has settled down after washing?
In order to never wonder how to stretch a woolen thing, if it has sat down, you should always pay attention to a special label, which, as a rule, is located on the wrong side of the product. On it you can find all the information regarding how to wash a thing in order to avoid its shrinkage. Indeed, as practice shows, it is the inattentive attitude to the rules of washing that is the reason that many housewives have to browse the entire Internet to find out how to stretch a shrunken woolen thing. Therefore, in a washing machine, it is better not to even try to wash such products. The best option would be gentle hand washing in cool water (the exact temperature is indicated on the label). Next, the thing is gently squeezed.
Shampoo for hard hair
It helps to stretch woolen things, washing them in warm water with the addition of shampoo for coarse hair. Not everyone knows about this property of this tool. The composition of shampoo for coarse hair includes many different kinds of herbal extracts, vitamins, as well as exotic oils and silk proteins. They, like fabric softener, give the wool fabric a special softness, due to which the material is stretched much easier. After washing, the item is wrapped in a towel and slightly wrung out. Then you need to stretch it on the board (it is better if it is cork) and fix it around the perimeter with pins.
There is also a separate way to stretch a wool hat. For this purpose, it is put on a jar and thus dried. Moreover, this method is the only possible for hats.
Special solution
Also, if after washing a wool thing has sat down, a good solution is to prepare a special solution, which includes five liters of hot water, three tablespoons of ammonia, triple cologne or vodka in the amount of one glass and turpentine in the amount of one tablespoon. The woolen thing that has settled down during washing is put into the resulting mixture, it is soaked for one and a half hours, after which you can safely proceed to the rinse in cold water.
As a result of all these operations, the wool fabric should become elastic. Well, then it’s easy to guess how to restore a shrunken woolen thing. It must be dried by periodically shaking and stretching. It is better to lay it out on a flat surface so that defects do not form.
Steaming
On women's sites, a question is often asked, which reads as follows: “The woolly thing has sat down. How to fix this? ” The most popular answer on the Internet is this: you need to take an iron with a steamer and use it to process the shrunken wool product at low temperature values, while carefully stretching the right place. In non-critical cases, you can simply iron the thing through cheesecloth.
Vinegar solution
To stretch the woolen thing, you can try a special vinegar solution, which should soak the sponge and rub it with wool in the right places. After that, you should hang the product on a coat hanger or lay it on a flat surface in order to allow it to dry thoroughly. If, after drying, a strong smell of vinegar comes from the item, then it should be washed in cold water and rinsed, adding a large amount of high-quality fabric softener.
Fabric softener
By the way, air conditioning is not only suitable for ridding the wool of the smell of vinegar. The tool itself will help to stretch the thing that has settled after washing. The conditioner makes the woolen fabric much softer and therefore more prone to stretching. This effect is achieved due to the presence of special surfactants in the composition of the product, as well as silicone, various preservatives, dyes, thickeners.
The main components of the active substance settle on the fabric and make it softer, which facilitates the process of stretching the woolen thing. Silicone, which is part of the fabric softener, can act differently. In some cases, because of it, the wool fabric can become hydrophobic, that is, it will have dirt-repellent as well as water-repellent properties.
In other cases, under the influence of silicone, the material can become conditionally hydrophilic. That is, it will begin to absorb moisture, which is especially important for terry robes, as well as for towels. The molecules of these very special surfactants have two sides. One is non-polar and, accordingly, uncharged. The other is positive (cationic). Positive molecules tend to settle on the surface of a woolen fabric and leave their non-polar particles there, with the help of which a kind of lubricant is created that facilitates the process of moving one fiber around another, as a result of which gliding is greatly facilitated.
In addition, fabric softeners have an excellent antistatistical effect, which also contributes to the stretching of woolen things, as this creates an obstacle to the formation of tension on the fabric or, in other words, an electric discharge.
Is it possible to stretch a shrunken woolen thing by putting it on yourself?
Many are also interested in whether it is possible to stretch a woolen thing if you moisten it with water first and then put it on yourself. The answer is simple: if you really love this thing very much, then you can certainly try to return it to its original form in this way. But you are unlikely to achieve the desired result. So this is not the best example of how to stretch a woolen thing if it has sat down, since it does not guarantee a result.
The most radical method
The most extreme way to stretch a shrunken woolen thing is as follows: the threads open completely, and a new product of exactly the same model, but of a larger size, is knitted from them. But this method is not suitable for everyone, because it takes a lot of time and requires special skills in the field of knitting.
Dry cleaning
If a wool thing has sat down during washing, then the surest way to restore its original appearance is to send it to dry cleaning. Because only there are the most advanced devices and technologies necessary to cope with this kind of task.
Finally
All these tips that help to understand how to stretch a woolen thing, if it has sat down, should be present in the arsenal of any housewife. After all, such unpleasant situations happen, as a rule, at the most inopportune moment. Armed with recommendations, you will always look neat and tidy in your woolen clothes, and you won’t have to feel uncomfortable because the product has become out of size for you.