Is your sweater pilling on your shirt, in the closet or when washing? Discover some simple and common ways to remove lint from your favorite clothes here!
Even if you have enough time to remove the individual lumps by hand, it would be a tedious task. The lint roller is often used, but there are also alternative ways to get rid of lint on knitted sweaters. This saves you the cost of special tools and you can protect your wool tops or other fabrics from lint. The following methods and tricks will help you breathe new life into otherwise unsightly knitwear in the winter season.
Why a sweater pills and what factors need to be taken into account
Winter sweaters are timeless pieces of clothing that you pull out and wear often, especially during the Christmas season. However, many of them are due to various factorsFormation of fluffvulnerable, which makes them appear worn. Using lint shavers can solve the problem for a while, but it involves constantly replacing batteries. But how does so-called pilling occur in textiles? Here are some of the most common causes for this:
- A kind of wear and tear occurs due to the friction of the clothing materials when worn or stored incorrectly in the closet. This is particularly true for knitted sweaters, where the inside of a sweater also fluffs when washed or tumble dried.
- However, pilling can also occur due to poor quality textiles. Synthetic fabrics such as fleece, polyester, nylon and spandex are particularly prone to this as they are not as abrasion resistant as wool.
- Another reason for this is wearing tight-fitting clothing, which in turn leads to abrasion. In this way, knots quickly form on shorter or broken textile fibers.
- Frequent use of harsh chemicals in detergents or fabric softeners, as well as overloaded loads of laundry, can also speed up the process.
Although all of this is difficult to prevent, there are a few steps you can take to get your sweaters looking new again.
How can nodule formation be prevented?
Above all, proper clothing care can help if a knitted item of clothing such as a sweater is pilling. For this purpose, it is best to first read the washing instructions on the label and store the item properly. To prevent or at least reduce the formation of lint, you should proceed as follows:
- If your sweater sheds when washed, it is advisable to use a low temperature cycle and mild detergents or wool detergent. These are suitable for sensitive textiles and protect the fibers.
- Since fabric softeners also promote the formation of pills, you should avoid using such products.
- Instead of using a dryer, try to dry such clothes on a clothesline or flat as drying processes also damage the textile fibers.
- Do not hang your sweaters on coat hooks as this will cause them to stretch out over time and begin to pill when worn. Instead, you can simply store them folded in closet compartments or drawers. These should not be overloaded, otherwise there will be friction between the individual pieces.
- Also make sure that all surfaces in your closet are free of sharp edges or other sharp objects.
Otherwise, if nodules form, you can try the life hacks described below and with existing household items.
Which aids should I use if my sweater is linting?
At first glance, removing lint from sweaters seems like a tedious task. However, by using some effective techniques, this can be done without special instruments and with items from your household. Just try it using the following methods:
- Use a disposable razor or safety razor and lightly run it over the lint on the garment. Then begin to gradually increase the pressure, being careful not to scratch the sweater with the razor. Use quick and even movements to effectively remove the nodules.
- Use scissors and pumice stone to make the linting garment look new again. However, use a high quality one as cheap versions are crumbly. First cut the larger pieces of fluff with the scissors and then go over the areas where there is pilling with the pumice stone. You can also use a lint brush afterwards to remove the residue.
- There are special anti-lint combs, but you can achieve the same effect with a finer hair comb. This can be used to remove the knots that have formed, although you should be careful not to damage the sweater.
- You can also remove lint from knitwear by using Velcro curlers. It's a gentle trick that you can easily use at home on textiles such as wool or cashmere.
- You can also perform a type of epilation on your sweater using simple tape. This makes it easy and quick to remove lint if your sweater is linting and bothering you.
- Last but not least, a popular hack is to freeze various items of clothing even if there are moths in the closet. The sub-zero temperatures not only help eliminate clothes moth larvae, but also contract textile fibers. The freezer is particularly useful for wool and cashmere to prevent pilling.
Also interesting:Tricks with fabric softener: What you can do with fabric softener at home - cleaning, deodorizing, etc.
