Restoring a wool sweater is possible! Have you ever washed a wool sweater in the washing machine? Not on purpose of course, but one of those moments where you are in a hurry and the wool sweater accidently gets tossed in the wash. Perhaps it even got tossed into the dryer and came out looking like a doll sweater? did you know it is possible to restore a wool sweater?
Last year I accidentally washed my son’s favorite wool sweater. The problem was that he has two gray sweaters; one can go into the wash while the other one must be hand washed. I was in a hurry and washed the wrong sweater. What to do? It was a beautiful sweater so I set it aside hoping to find something I could do with it.
A year later my girlfriend calls me up and tells me she did the same thing, washed her favorite wool sweater. Only she spent a little time on the Internet and found a solution!
You just soak the sweater in warm water and conditioner and the yarn will relax and return to it’s original shape. Was I ever skeptical! However, I love my son and it was worth trying to see if I could restore his favorite sweater to it’s original size.
Put enough warm water in the sink to allow you to completely submerge the sweater. Add a bit of hair conditioner and mix it until it’s completely dissolved in the water.
Place your sweater in the water and make sure it is completely soaked and under the water. Let the sweater soak for 10 minutes.
Drain the sink while the sweater is still in it. Gently press the sweater to remove as much of the water as possible. Don’t squeeze the sweater or wring it out.
Remove the wet sweater and lay it on a thick, absorbent towel. Put the sweater in a cool room to air dry on the towel. The combination of the warm water, hair conditioner and cool air will unlock the wool fibers and allow you to restore the sweater.
Gradually stretch the sweater back into shape as it dries. Gently pull a bit at a time to resize it. Let the sweater air dry until it is ready to wear.
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Nancy on the Home Front 
I learned how to knit and started out making dish clothes. I finally graduated to making a beautiful pair of woolen socks. It took me a year to make the first one! My husband teased me that it would take another year for the second. To his surprise ( and Mine also) I finished in 6 months. After wearing the socks twice, I threw them into the laundry. My husband accidentally washed and DRIED them, making them a matted, shrunken mess. I’m eager to try your suggestion and hopefully be able to wear the socks again.Thank you!
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Rebecca,
Hope you have success with the socks like so many other have had!
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I can’t wait to see if this works! I spent some time in Peru and accidentally washed my favorite alpaca sweater. It’s not quite the same as wool, but they are similar. Thanks for the advice!
P.S. I think Amy has likely learned her lesson. Maybe go easy on her from here on out folks. ????
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Christina,
Let us know how it works with your alpaca sweater? I hope it works just perfectly!
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My mom always made me (her son), and my sister do most of the laundry and dishes and cleaning etc! Thus I went out into the world not looking for a woman to be a maid for me. I found a hot boyfriend however that washed all my wool sweaters in hot water and put them in the dryer. I married him anyway and we’re still together after almost 18 years (and I finally got my sweaters unshrunk thanks to this webpage!) You really gotta think these things all the way thru!
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Hi Nancy, I’m trying this now on my boyfriend’s woolly sweater I shrank, but my hair conditioner (Pantene) is not dissolving in the water – any tips ?
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Dustin,
Try dissolving the conditioner in warm water, that might help. then let it could a bit before soaking your sweater!
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Thank you so much! I purchased a sweater on eBay and unfortunately was not informed that someone had washed and shrunk it. Instead of receiving a size medium in a brand I am familiar with in terms of sizing, the sweater I received was closer to a child’s. Unfortunately for me, I had waited until the 11th hour to order a Christmas sweater for a party so I had to search the internet for ways to stretch this great sweater. Your post saved me!
Kudos to you Nancy for not only helping your son, but all of us!
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What a great tutorial! Does anyone know to what extent this method works? Will it only work for garments that have been shrunk 10-20% or is it good for more extreme cases too?!
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Will try this method hope this restore my beautiful jjill wool sweater.
My mother had a beautiful Colombian blanket with a tiger design on it. The maid tossed in the dryer, needless to say it shrunk the beautiful tiger design turned into a cat.
My beautiful mother always did the laundry for us kids while we went to school, when the blanket was shrunk my mother was 89 yrs old and disabled . She had the help of a maid when we were not able to be with her. No, not all maids shirnk wool items and yes i just shrunk my sweater.
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Cecelia,
Let me know how it works!
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Hey Nancy, do you think this will work on a sweater that’s already been put in the dryer? My mom accidentally put my favorite sweater in the washer AND dryer and although it still kinda fits, it just doesn’t fit the same as it did before.
I’m gonna give it a try anyways, but I’m hoping it won’t damage the sweater any further.
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Sarah,
Try the process on your weather and let us know how it works. It certainly wouldn’t damage the sweater any more!
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This makes so much sense!!! Wool is hair, so why wouldn’t a luxurious hair conditioner restore it to its original softness!?! Why didn’t I think of this sooner!!!
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I heard about this solution a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, for me, the process didn’t work. Perhaps the sweater was too heavy a knit. My son started doing his laundry when he was in second grade. I got tired of washing, folding, and putting his clothes on this bed, only to find the clean clothes in the hamper. When he finally ran out of school uniform shirts and pants, I told him that I wasn’t doing his laundry anymore. I showed him how to use the washer and dryer. I didn’t even charge him for detergent. haha. Later that year he learned how to iron his dress uniform shirt. That was over thirty years ago.
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Leslee,
Sorry this technique did not work for you. So many, including me, have had great luck with it!
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Dear helpful one, have you ever tried or heard of using baby oil to restore the lanolin. My sweater was made easily 40 years ago. It has been stored due to an allergy to pure wool, so I have inherited and most grateful. Thank you for your wonderful service, sincerely, Sally L
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Sally,
I have never heard of using baby oil to restore the lanolin! If you try it please let me know how it works! You can buy liquid lanolin as well.
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Tried this on a large wool scarf! I hand washed it and made the mistake of putting it in the dryer to speed up the dry time. It came out the size of a small mat….this scarf is the size of a BLANKET. I screamed and immediately started googling….
So the conditioner method really worked! Even though for the most part my scarf is pretty felted and thicker than it was before, the conditioner really loosened it up and has brought back a lot of the original size! It won’t ever be as large again but I’m really satisfied considering how small it shrunk. My situation is a lot more severe than most people’s here I think. It took my dad and I pulling really hard to get it to resemble a scarf again. We’re gonna keep repeating the process but this time with Borax as I read it naturally relaxes wool.
Thank You, Nancy! You’ve saved the day! And as you probably already know that first comment is just pure nonsense. Such a moronic thing to say.
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Ellie,
Yeah! another success story ! thanks so much for sharing.
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I wonder if clear and fragrance-free fabric softener will work as well as hair conditioner?
My beautiful Irish knit vest is waiting to be rescued.
Thank you in advance for your help.
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Janet,
The hair conditioner relaxes the wool, not sure if fabric softener would do the same thing.
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Nancy,
My roommate accidentally washed and dried the alpaca wool cowl my mom knitted for me. I was about ready to strangle him when I read this… and now I feel so much better! I’m going to give this a try tomorrow, wish me luck!
And Amy, you are either a troll, or the biggest jerk on the internet. Anthony’s comment made me laugh out loud.
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Zach,
Hope it works for you, let us know!
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Can not wait to go home and try this!
My mom just called and told me my husband had thrown my favorite wool sweater in the wash and dryer. I was in tears when i found your post. I’m really hoping this works. Otherwise my sister just inherited a great sweater.
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Dominque,
I hope to hear another success story! Please let us know how it turns out!
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Rather than risk shrinking my very heavy-weight merino submariner sweater I took it to a professional cleaner for hand washing… and they shrunk it!
I’ve just followed your method and it’s currently drying on a flat rack over the bathtub looking a lot like the size and shape it used to be. Thanks a lot! Jim.
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Jim,
Thanks for sharing! Another success story!
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You saved my sweater! I have a VERY heavy fisherman’s sweater from Ireland. It is one of the warmest sweaters I’ve ever owned, and was very large and roomy – until I washed it. I’ve had these sweaters before, and always blocked them after washing with no problem. This time, my landlady tried to help, and hung it up. It shrunk down to a child’s size, and I was afraid it was gone for good. I had used fabric softener in the past to stretch out sweaters, but it didn’t work very well.
Hair conditioner (I used lots) and warm water did the trick! The sweater is so big and heavy that it takes about a week to dry. I followed your advice and periodically stretched it instead of blocking it, and my sweater is again roomy and warm. Once again, I’ll be warm enough when we march in our St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
Thank you for taking the time to share your advice!
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Jeanie,
I love hearing success stories! Sounds like you had a beautiful sweater and I’m so glad it was restored! 🙂
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Just tried this on an 80% lambswool/20% nylon sweater and it worked great!!!
I’m just waiting for my 100% irish wool sweater to dry (I just bought it used online and it was a bit small).
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Paula,
LOVE hearing the success stories! Thanks for sharing!
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