How To Shrink Clothes

There may be a few items of clothing in your closet that are of a size that are too big for you. Whether it is the wrong-sized shirt you bought last summer or your clothes when you were overweight, ill-fitting and loose clothes are a strict no-no as they demean your personality by miles. While mostly people rush to the tailor to get them altered, a much cheaper option is to shrink the clothes at home to your desired size. Clothes can be easily shrunk at home in a washing machine. The combined effect of machine action and hot water is responsible for the shrinkage of clothes. When you want to shrink a cloth, the first and foremost thing you need to look at is what kind of fabric you are dealing with. Fabrics such as cotton, linen, jeans and canvas are the easiest to shrink, but only for the first few wash. Pre-washed cotton, polyester and nylon are resistant to the shrinking methods. Clothes made from artificial fabrics like lycra, spandex or acrylic do not shrink in the wash at all. When you try shrinking your clothes for the first time, chances are you might shrink them more than the desired size. However, fret not as after a few tries, you’ll get the hang of it and will be able to shrink your clothes to the exact size. The key to avoid too much shrinkage is to check the clothing after every step. Given below are a few ways to shrink different type of fabrics.

 

Cotton is one of the easiest fabrics to shrink. You can shrink clothing made of cotton, only when it has not been pre-washed. Wash the garment in hot water and use a color-safe detergent to preserve the colors. Adjust the setting of the drier to high and place the garment in the drier. Cotton shrinks relatively fast, so it’s a good idea to check the clothes from time to time, to ensure that it shrinks to your desired size. If you want to shrink the clothing some more, then the best would be to iron it on warm-steam setting. Steam promotes additional shrinkage.

 

Jeans is quite similar to cotton fabric and is relatively easy to shrink as compared to other fabrics. Wash the jeans in cold water and allow it to spin for a few minutes. Cold water will tighten the fabric and help in pulling the threads close together. After the wash, place the jeans in the drier and adjust the setting to low. This will allow the clothes to stay in warm air for a longer duration. Once it is completely dry, take out the jeans from the drier.

Silk garments are generally hand-washed, as washing machine damages the silk threading. So, in order to shrink your silk garment, the best would be to hand-wash it. Instead of using the drier, spread it out in the sun to air-dry. Once your silk clothing is dry, place it in drier on medium for five minutes. Keep checking to ensure that it shrinks to your desired size. 

Polyester clothing responds well to shrinking techniques. Most of the time polyester garments are air-dried, because it is known to shrink in the drier. Wash the garment in cold water. Adjust the setting of drier to high and leave the garment in drier, until it is completely dry. After removing the garment from the drier, you will notice that it has shrunk from its original size.