How to Resize a Shrunken Sweater

So, you asked hubby to do the wash. He did. Good. Now, you sit in front of the TV with your basket of clean clothes to fold, all the while happily humming and thankful for having such a considerate partner in life. Oh no! He shrunk your favorite sweater! Wait! Don't wring his neck! Follow these easy steps and you'll be wearing that sweater again in no time.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• baby shampoo
• warm water
• 2 dry towels
• basin

1. Fill a basin with warm water and squirt in around 1/2 cup of baby shampoo. With your hands, swish water once.

2. Lay the sweater on top of the water and allow it to sink to the bottom on its own. Soak for 15 minutes.

3. Gently remove sweater out from the soap water and without wringing it, place it in another container. Rinse the used basin and fill again with clean water.

4. Lay the sweater on top of the clean water and again, allow it to sink (this time to rinse) on its own.

5. Remove sweater from the water and place it on a towel. Roll the towel to wring out most of the moisture.

6. Arrange a second dry towel on a flat surface. Lay the sweater on it and gently start to reshape it.

7. Check on the sweater regularly while it's drying and reshape a little more each time.

[jpwriter]

on 12/5/2008 What a great article. I would have just given up, but now there's hope for some of my clothes!

[MommyTeach]

on 12/3/2008 My husband washed my daughter's really expensive sweater once (gift from grandma) and it shrunk two or three sizes smaller. I tried washing it with baby shampoo as you did (before I read this) and I think the problem was I wrang it out. In fact, while it was wet, I tried asking my daughter (bribed her with a cookie) to wear it and stretch it out. This kind of worked. Gave her a bath right after though :)

[Rockney]

on 11/27/2008 Nice article!

[Susanh]

on 11/27/2008 Thank you for these steps for bringing a favorite sweater back to life.