Help "repair" my scarf...

First off, im a college student thats clueless... so i figured this
would be a place to find some answers.

I have a 100% wool scarf that my mom gave me a few years ago. I left
it at home for a year or so, and finally brought it back to school
with me.

It is now stiff, fuzzy, and has shrunken. I searched a little bit and
apparently it has felted, due to someone washing it.

Can someone help me restore my scarf to its soft, long, unfelted
state? or atleast as much as possible. thank you.

Koonuy wrote:

First off, im a college student thats clueless... so i figured this
would be a place to find some answers.

I have a 100% wool scarf that my mom gave me a few years ago. I left
it at home for a year or so, and finally brought it back to school
with me.

It is now stiff, fuzzy, and has shrunken. I searched a little bit and
apparently it has felted, due to someone washing it.

Can someone help me restore my scarf to its soft, long, unfelted
state? or atleast as much as possible. thank you.

Once it's been felted, you can't unfelt it.

You may be able to wash in cold water and air dry it, but this will only
remove some of the stiffness.

Time for a new scarf.

-georg

I have already seen one reply, noting the scarf is beyond repair. A
couple of other points. If you get a new wool scarf, make sure it is only
washed in cold water, and never put in a drier. To keep wool nice, it
needs to be kept cold. You can get synthetic yarns, which have many of
the properties of wool - acrylic for example. If you use these, then you
can wash things in hot water, and use a drier as well. You may be
clueless, but if you taught yourself to knit, of all things, a scarf is
one of the easiest things to make. And the acrylic yarns sold in "five
and dime" stores make quite good things like scarves.


Koonuy ) writes:
First off, im a college student thats clueless... so i figured this
would be a place to find some answers.

I have a 100% wool scarf that my mom gave me a few years ago. I left
it at home for a year or so, and finally brought it back to school
with me.

It is now stiff, fuzzy, and has shrunken. I searched a little bit and
apparently it has felted, due to someone washing it.

Can someone help me restore my scarf to its soft, long, unfelted
state? or atleast as much as possible. thank you.


--
Jim Cripwell.
The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of one's life, any
time that is spent in stitching.
Adapted from a sign on The Cobb, Lyme Regis, England.

As the other replies say, there is probably nothing you can do. Items that have
shrunk, though, can sometimes be lengthened a bit by rinsing them in water with
a fabric softener such as Downey. Use cold water, soak them for a while, then
gently stretch as you hang it up /lay it out to dry.
Cheryl M

And steam pressing, stretching as you go, can sometimes help.
There's really nothing to do for a wool object that has "felted".
Dianne

CM28015 wrote:

As the other replies say, there is probably nothing you can do. Items that have
shrunk, though, can sometimes be lengthened a bit by rinsing them in water with
a fabric softener such as Downey. Use cold water, soak them for a while, then
gently stretch as you hang it up /lay it out to dry.
Cheryl M

To my knowledge, as a weaver, stitcher, and reluctant knitter, this
cannot be done. Once felted, you cannot undo the process. Which is
why wools should be dry-cleaned only.


(Koonuy) wrote in message om...
First off, im a college student thats clueless... so i figured this
would be a place to find some answers.

I have a 100% wool scarf that my mom gave me a few years ago. I left
it at home for a year or so, and finally brought it back to school
with me.

It is now stiff, fuzzy, and has shrunken. I searched a little bit and
apparently it has felted, due to someone washing it.

Can someone help me restore my scarf to its soft, long, unfelted
state? or atleast as much as possible. thank you.

fran wrote:
To my knowledge, as a weaver, stitcher, and reluctant knitter, this
cannot be done. Once felted, you cannot undo the process. Which is
why wools should be dry-cleaned only.

I wash wool successfully. The wool aran sweater I own made in Ireland
regales you to NOT dry clean. And the wool aran one I made for myself,
which I dutifully dry cleaned, was permanently ruined.

There are wools and there are wools. In today's world, you can't rely
on manufacturer's labels, either, because they are trying to keep
themselves out of lawsuits, so they put "dry clean only" on practically
everything.

I often pre-wash wool before making a garment. It depends upon the
wool, and I'll do a test swatch. What wool doesn't want to be is
"agitated". And of course, rebels at "heat". Some wool felts readily,
others do not. Sometimes wool responds well to steam
drying/ironing/pressing.

Dianne

There is NO way to unfelt wool ,,, but there MIGHT be a way to soften
it ,,,,
soak it in very luke water with Baby Shampoo ....
SOAK DO NOT AGITATE .....
take out and put clean water in Empty bowl , add shawl to water ,,,,
soak some minutes take out ,, do it again ,,, drain water roll in soft
towel ,,,, let dry for day or two , hang in aired place .
mirjam
First off, im a college student thats clueless... so i figured this
would be a place to find some answers.

I have a 100% wool scarf that my mom gave me a few years ago. I left
it at home for a year or so, and finally brought it back to school
with me.

It is now stiff, fuzzy, and has shrunken. I searched a little bit and
apparently it has felted, due to someone washing it.

Can someone help me restore my scarf to its soft, long, unfelted
state? or atleast as much as possible. thank you.