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#Sewing and garment upkeep related note:
Whenever you're washing your fabrics before sewing anything of them (and you absolutely should wash them first, with the exceptions of wool and silk, more in second post) you should wash them exactly as you're likely going to be washing the garment for its entire lifetime.

If the fabric is going to be ruined by normal treatment, it's better it be a disappointing disaster before you've put the hours of work in!

#sewing

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in reply to Sini Tuulia

Sini Tuulia
Sini Tuulia
• •
Fabrics get treated with all kinds of things to make them look nice, be damage resistant and be able to withstand possibly years of storage in varying conditions. Fungicide agents, starch, softener, assorted dye residues, factory gunk in general, warehouse and transport dust - there's truly so many things on fabric you wouldn't even guess...
You don't want to be breathing that in while working on the fabric and the treatments change how the fabric feels washed versus unwashed!
Questa voce è stata modificata (1 anno fa)
in reply to Sini Tuulia

Sini Tuulia
Sini Tuulia
• •
Silk and wool need very specific and very delicate washing processes if you don't want to fundamentally alter how they look, feel and behave. Wool fabrics will probably felt, silk has all kinds of filling, smoothing and stiffening agents on it. (As far as I know, I am not a silk or wool expert, it's just what I remember from school.)
in reply to Sini Tuulia

Ailbhe
Ailbhe
• •
I wash silk as wool, using the same detergent and delicate cycles, and it was explained to me once that this works (I knew it works) because they're both animal fibres not plant fibres. But other than washing before I use them, I do it as seldom as possible.
in reply to Ailbhe

Sini Tuulia
Sini Tuulia
• •

@artbyailbhe I know people wash silk but there's also silk you're not supposed to wash unless you want it to go floppy and dull and lose some of its sheen. Something to do with starch and mica(?) bonded to the proteins of it. Can't recall.

I simply do not use silk because it's expensive and I'd be washing it all the time and probably ruining it 😅​

@Ailbhe
in reply to Sini Tuulia

Mx Amber Alex (she/it)
Mx Amber Alex (she/it)
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@artbyailbhe huh :o from my experience with neck- and bowties, I would've thought silk would have to be dry cleaned
@Ailbhe
in reply to Mx Amber Alex (she/it)

Sini Tuulia
Sini Tuulia
• •

@amberage As far as I can remember most silk fabrics are designed to be dry clean only, which means they can use dyes that would run or fade, or treatments and weaves that could shift, when washed with warm water. They're not going to be making neckties and bowties from silk that withstands washing because the expectation is already that you're going to dry clean them!

Silk meant for *some* washing, like merino and silk underwear, are presumably differently treated in the first place. Idk lol

@Mx Amber Alex (she/it)
in reply to Sini Tuulia

Elena ``of Valhalla''
Elena ``of Valhalla''
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link to a shop (informative post, but about their products)

@Sini Tuulia @amber alex, mx
I love how sartor has tested their silks by washing a sample in water and they will tell you both the recommended treatment suggested by the producers and their own test results

sartorbohemia.com/article/14/h…

@Mx Amber Alex (she/it) @Sini Tuulia
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla''

Sini Tuulia
Sini Tuulia
• •
@valhalla @amberage Yes! I've read several blog posts where people have experimented with washing silks but they never had side by side comparisons before and after.
@Elena ``of Valhalla'' @Mx Amber Alex (she/it)
in reply to Sini Tuulia

Elena ``of Valhalla''
Elena ``of Valhalla''
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@Sini Tuulia @amber alex, mx afaik most producers just label their silk and wool as dry clean only because it's the easiest thing to do, people have gotten used to it, and then it's Not Their Problem anymore.

But historically both silk and wool were washed with water, even if just sporadically, and it's not necessarily harmful.

With readymade garments it's not that easy, but with fabric I think it's often worth trying to wash a sample of the fabric to see what happens, as that can give more opportunities for the future care of the garment.

(afaik silk and wool aren't going to shrink, so it's not critical that the washing is done before cutting (and making) the garment, but it can also be done on a leftover scrap: if it fails, then the garment will just have to be dry clean only)

(I work on wool that has been steamed, however, so maybe that's the step that takes care of any shrinking / size changes)

@Mx Amber Alex (she/it) @Sini Tuulia
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla''

Sini Tuulia
Sini Tuulia
• •
@valhalla You can absolutely felt and thus shrink wool if you wash it too warm, with the wrong detergent and with too much agitation! I have done this multiple times in my life and regretted every time. 😅​ Funnily enough this was something that was purposefully done to freshly woven woollen fabrics, to make them denser, warmer and more durable... And if you shrink wool fabric, you can kind of pull and steam it to a less crumpled up mass, it will just be much denser and smaller.
@Elena ``of Valhalla''
in reply to Sini Tuulia

Elena ``of Valhalla''
Elena ``of Valhalla''
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@Sini Tuulia definitely, if you felt it will shrink (but it also changes texture and behavior and everything else)

I was thinking more “safe washing of wool” :) (cold water, wool-specific detergent, hand washing with care or the wool-specific washing machine program)

@Sini Tuulia
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla''

Lauma Pret 🕸️
Lauma Pret 🕸️
• •
@valhalla
As a knitter and person of limited spoons (mental energy) I have done lot of dumb things with wool garments. Going from 30°C to 40°C once reduced my adult vest to a kid vest. Accidentally throwing merino shawl in cotton cycle instead of wool felted ir rather small... But in general I do find that washing my selfmade wool knits in correct settings with correctly functioning washing machine really improves my life.
@Elena ``of Valhalla''
in reply to Lauma Pret 🕸️

Lauma Pret 🕸️
Lauma Pret 🕸️
• •
@valhalla
Also, where I live there is a certain kind of moths that can eat wool. They find clean wool less appealing than worn. That also motivates me to wash my favorite cardigans in spring.
@Elena ``of Valhalla''
in reply to Sini Tuulia

Jón Fairbairn
Jón Fairbairn
• •
Quite a lot of silk is happy to be washed as wool, but years ago I made myself a cravat out of a silvery grey silk (IIRC woven with two different colours of yarn), but I avoid dry cleaning as much as possible so washed it. It went purple😞
Still, it wasn't a terrible colour, so wore it for years, washing it every now and then until it fell apart.
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in reply to Sini Tuulia

Elena ``of Valhalla''
Elena ``of Valhalla''
•

@Sini Tuulia @Ailbhe FTR, I have a few silk camisoles that are nice to wear in winter but were my mother's (and no longer fit her), aren't exactly my size, have been around for a lot of time and, well, I don't really care if they get ruined, so I've been washing them in the regular cotton cycle at 30°C with all of the rest of the dark laundry including jeans and stuff, with probably alkaline detergent.

They are still perfectly fine :D

(that's a borderline criminal treatment and I would never do that to something *new* or that I care about :D )

@Ailbhe @Sini Tuulia
in reply to Sini Tuulia

Sibylle
Sibylle
• •
wool is a protein fiber. Proteins have the ability to contract and relax depending on the environment. Like our hair, wool has scales on the outside of each single fiber. Alcalic environment will make the scales stick out. Sour will make them go back in place. If you want your wool to remain shiny and soft, add a splash of vinegar to the washing water. Never use softener (?) or detergents with enzymes.
in reply to Sibylle

Sibylle
Sibylle
• •

you can literally boil wool. but the moment you add cold water, the fibers will contract at once. and you will never be able to relax them again. If you wash with an alcalic detergent you just made a piece of felt.

No temperature shocks. Keep it sour. If you do not have wool detergent, just use hair shampoo. It's the same material. Treat it gently when wet. No wringing, no kneading. Dry on a flat surface.

Silk is similar. It is a similar material.

in reply to Sibylle

Cavyherd
Cavyherd
• •
@sibylle
Heh. I remember the time I independently discovered this. Was washing a yarn pom pom (because I was enjoying the feel of the suds on my hands)—and then all of a sudden it wasn't a pom pom anymore. Just a fuzzy wad, like a nekkid tennis ball.... oops....
@Sibylle
in reply to Sibylle

Cavyherd
Cavyherd
• •
@sibylle
Years later, in a conversation with one of my fibre-arts friends. "Huh. So that's actually a thing! Who knew?" 😂
@Sibylle
in reply to Sini Tuulia

Cavyherd
Cavyherd
• •
And then there are those of us who are allergic to the crap they put on them before sale, so they have to be washed to even be worn at all....
in reply to Cavyherd

Sini Tuulia
Sini Tuulia
• •
@cavyherd Same! My sinuses hate a great deal of unwashed fabrics so I take care to thoroughly wash everything I'll be working with. These days I also try to only get Öko-Tex and/or organic certified fabric because they seem to reliably anger my body much less, and are presumably much better not only for the environment but all the textile workers
@Cavyherd
in reply to Sini Tuulia

Cavyherd
Cavyherd
• •
Good to know. They are also probably correspondingly spendy, though? 😢
in reply to Cavyherd

Sini Tuulia
Sini Tuulia
• •

There's much less of them and they cost more. Shops are often really bad at telling where the fabric was made and if it has any certifications: usually they just want you to buy the cheap shit at as big a markup as possible and never ask any questions!

But if you're getting a generic nice quilting cotton for 18€/m, the Öko-Tex one might be 20€/m, so not that much more. I've often picked a basic nice cotton by feel and sight and only then discovered it to be organic cotton, and only slightly more expensive. Certified linen is often *much* more expensive but so worth it!

Questa voce è stata modificata (1 anno fa)
in reply to Sini Tuulia

Cavyherd
Cavyherd
• •
We used to have a Really Fancy Fabric Store in town that would almost certainly have hit most of those notes, but I think the owner finally retired. (Getting old sucks, not least because all those providers you've been depending on for the last 30-40 years are *also* getting old.) But also her stuff was *waaaaay* above my price range, so it's all hypothetical anyway....
in reply to Cavyherd

Sini Tuulia
Sini Tuulia
• •
@cavyherd I almost never actually got anything at the Fancy fabric shop in my city, but all kinds of fabrics are sprinkled across all the different fabric stores. It makes me think the world of buying in fabric has to be pretty chaotic, because there's rarely any rhyme or reason to what you can find in them, apart from the like ten staples the shops always carry 😄​ Online shopping and getting swatches lets me find exactly the things I want if it's not in my local stores!
@Cavyherd
in reply to Sini Tuulia

Cavyherd
Cavyherd
• •

Where I live, we have one (1) not-niche fabric store, which is one of those crafty-quilty places. To have anything even remotely resembling the options I saw as a kid, you have to travel to the next Big City over, and even then I wouldn't bet on having anything like a reasonable selection.

I mostly don't sew anymore, so this is a class of issue I've mostly been able to ignore, but it's nice to know that online shopping is viable!

in reply to Cavyherd

Sini Tuulia
Sini Tuulia
• •
@cavyherd As long as you're pretty good at reading fabrics from the photos and description, and get the occasional sample swatch, it's actually pretty viable! Sometimes the postage is a lot, but if it's something you actually like and can't get locally, it can be worth it.
@Cavyherd
in reply to Sini Tuulia

Cavyherd
Cavyherd
• •

Hah! "Reading fabrics from the photos" yar har.

Yeah, sounds like maybe a non-trivial amount of spin-up. Oh well. Unlikely to come up; I just unloaded a bunch of unused fabric on my local artsy-crafty coop charity.

in reply to Sini Tuulia

Naomi P
Naomi P
• •
and better it should shrink first! I once had cotton flannel shrink immensely into this wondrously plush flannel, and it made a great nightgown, but if I’d sewn it and then washed it, I’d have had to send it to a kid cousin, if it had even remained wearable.
in reply to Naomi P

Sini Tuulia
Sini Tuulia
• •
@gannet Yes! Cotton and linen will almost certainly shrink a bit, it's better it get preshrunk. Not a health hazard, but quite important!
@Naomi P
in reply to Naomi P

Her_Doing
Her_Doing
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@gannet
That's my thought too! With flannel I might even wash it a couple of times first.'

I always buy mine extra large - and wash them carefully! - but I still have photos of one when new brushing the floor, and later only reaching mid-shin. 😳

@Naomi P
in reply to Her_Doing

Sini Tuulia
Sini Tuulia
• •
@Her_Doing @gannet Cheaper and lesser quality flannels are more loosely woven, I'd say off the top of my head and based on vibes and experience. Which means they shrink more. You can make the cheaper cotton feel much nicer, softer and fuller than it actually is, with the brushing of the fibres, but the looser weave will absolutely shrink more! I've also often gotten flannel that loses the nice nap almost immediately, and goes hard and unpleasant.
Washing it first really pays off.
@Naomi P @Her_Doing
in reply to Sini Tuulia

DriftlessRoots
DriftlessRoots
• •
My thought, possibly even plan, for when I’m sewing well enough for “real” fabrics is to wash twice before using. This is just based on garments I’ve had that seemed to continue to shrink after the initial wash. (lots of great info in this thread)
in reply to DriftlessRoots

Sini Tuulia
Sini Tuulia
• •

@DriftlessRoots Some fabrics would definitely benefit from it! Anything more loosely woven will shrink more when washed. I tend to wash them alone with a short program, to get most of the manufacturing gunk out, and then put them in the wash with whatever else I'm laundering on the cotton program that day, to get the rest of it.

I am pleased that my random sewing thoughts and other people's knowledge has been helpful!

@DriftlessRoots

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