cuidado de prendas tejidas

How to Wash and Take Care of your Crocheted and Knitted Garments

I tell you how to take care and wash your crocheted or knitted garments.

Our crocheted or knitted garments are a kind of trophy that makes us feel truly happy. They represent hours of work, unraveling many times because something went wrong or because we did not like it.

We are really proud of ourselves when someone ask us who did the beautiful garment we are wearing and we can say that we did it.

But after finishing our garments or when someone gave us something crocheted or knitted as a gift it is really important: how to wash them and how to take care of them.

After many years crocheting my own clothes and now that I started designing new ones I realized how important is to take care of them while storing them or washing them too.

I will give some good advices for you to take care of your crocheted or knitted garments and also how to store them too.

How to wash them

Things to keep in mind:

  • Depending on the fiber you have used in your project it must be your care. Not all fibers behave the same way and that is something you need to know.
  • Just see in the label of the fiber you used. It clearly states its composition and often tells you how to wash and care the garment.
  • Some fibers are superwash, which means they can be machine washed and others can only be hand washed. Of course, if you are in doubt whether it can be machine washed or not just wash them by hand. I personally wash all of mine by hand, even if they are made with a superwash fiber. I do not like taking risks.
  • Crocheted or knitted garments tend to deform easily when washed. That is why you must do it carefully. I will explain you step by step how to wash them and drying them so that the process is not to aggressive.

Washing

  • Do not wash them under the tap, do it in a container or basin with enough space to cover them with water.
  • Use cold water( or as indicated by the manufacturer, which is often on the label).
  • Use a liquid soap that is good for wool garments or a soap for delicate garments.
  • Put a small amount os soap on water and stir it. Then put the garment inside and leave t for a while to absorb water.
  • Wash it as carefully as possible without squeezing it.

Rinsing

• Rinse them with plenty of water so that no soap remains.

 • Do not squeeze the garment to remove all the water, this will distort it.

• If it is made of wool or a material that is rough or itchy on the skin, make a final rinse by putting fabric softener in the water.

Drying

 • To remove excess water from the garment before putting it to dry, put it on a towel and roll it up and squeeze a little so that the towel absorbs the water, but always without distorting the garment.

 • It is time to put it to dry and we will do it horizontally. You will never hang your woven garments on the grocery store.

• Put them on a horizontal surface, on a table or somewhere where it will lie flat and will dry without being damaged.

 

What to do if my garment is not dirty but I get itchy when wearing it

I have a sweater that I received a s a presentand is very beautifull but makes me very itchy when wearing it. After doing a research I have found a solution and I want to share it with you.

What I do is putting some fabric softener in a container with cold water. Then I put my garment inside and let it soak for 20 minutes.

After that just take it out and let it dry as when you wash it, very carefully. Your garment will be really soft and comfortable when wearing it.

How to store my knitwear

Crocheted or knitted garments are delicate wheather they are made with natural or artificial fibers. That is you must take care of them more than you do with your other clothes.

When storing them just fold them, never hang them on a hanger. When hanging them they will get deformed over time.

You should look for drawers or shelves where to put them well folded, but in small groups of 4 or 5 garments.

How to keep them smelling good

Yiu should not wash your garments every time you use them if it is not necessary, this causes deterioration and color fading. Of course, if you are going to put them aside until next season you must do it after wash them.

So that your garments always smell good you can put some lavender bag near them or some other bags with different kind of smell.

Another thing you can do between washes is to spray them with a mixture of water and fabric softener. At a 50 cm distance spray your garment with this mixture and it dry. This keep them smelling really well.

I hope all this tips help you while taking care of your garments, even If you made them or received as a gift.

To finish, I want to give you an extra TIP: If you make a garment to give it as a presents to someone that does not know nothing about it, it is better to make them in acrylic or fibers that do not need too much care as the superwash ones.

Of course you can give them good recomendations on how to take care of them. You do not want to spend many hours making a garment to get it felted because someone washed with hot water.





woven gift
crocheted gift

Tell me about your experiences and tips while taking care of your crocheted or knitted garments. All I know is because I saw it in other peoples blogs and I tried it, what about you?



		
		
			

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Shopping Cart
error: Content is protected !!