How To Shrink Clothes - Home And Garden - HowStuffWorks

Wool is almost frighteningly easy to shrink, so it's important not to go completely wild with this one. Instead, take a slow and steady approach to shrink that wool sweater to the right size. In particular, steamy heat is the key to success in this venture.

1. First, wash the wool garment in hot water.
2. Then, put the garment in the dryer. Run the dryer on medium heat until the garment's dry. Check it periodically to ensure that it's not shrinking too much for your needs.
3. If you don't have a dryer, you could lay the garment flat after washing and use a hair dryer set at high heat to dry it.

Interestingly, the reason that wool pieces shrink so much is that these animal hair fibers get all matted when they get wet. Add in some washing machine agitation and they rub together to form a much more condensed chunk of material than they started out [source: Herdy]. This is also true of cashmere, which is why such pieces come with very strict washing instructions.

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If you overshoot the margin and shrink your wool sweater too much, it is possible to unshrink it a bit. One easy method is to use hair conditioner, which (as it does with human hair) helps wool fibers to relax away from each other. To do this:

1. Fill a bucket or sink with clean water, then add about one-third of a cup of whatever hair conditioner you have lying around. Stir it well.
2. Then, soak the affected wool piece for about 10 minutes.
3. Drain the water, then press the garment to remove excess water. Do not wring it out.
4. Get a clean, dry towel, and roll the wool piece up inside of it. This will dry it mostly out.
5. Lastly, lay the garment flat to dry on another clean towel. Stretch it out carefully as needed [source: Silver Bobbin].

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