How to remove pilling

I was somewhat unsure of the necessity of this post; I assume most others have their lives far more under control than I, but after seeing a much reblogged tumblr post bemoaning this issue I realised that I should never really overestimate the human race, particularly when someone like me can not only write a blog and actually get followers, but can also get into medical school.

I suffer from the unfortunate curse of loving wool, cottons and jersey fabrics, which have the bad luck of looking like this after a couple of wears –

This is known as pilling, or bobbling. It’s my personal hell. The day I finally learned how to get rid of them was a jump in my quality of life the size of which hasn't been seen in Glasgow since the city introduced a proper plumbing system in the 19th century. It’s for this reason that I’m posting my solution here, lest anyone still be suffering.

A bic razor, drawn lightly across the fabric, is your knight in shining armour. Be careful you don’t press too hard and damage your fabric, and if you want to be fancy you can get one of these things, but it’s relatively idiot proof. There’s various other pieces of advice floating about on the internet regarding how to remove them, such as Velcro rollers, duct tape and scissors (eek!), but this is my favourite.

A word about pilling –

Pilling happens when loose fibres work their way out of fabric as a result of wearing and form balls on the surface. Some fabrics are more likely to do so than others, and certain sites (such as cuffs, under the arms or where it rubs other items of clothing) are more susceptible than others.


As ever, prevention is better than having to deal with it, and there are effective measures that you can take; turning fabrics inside out when washing is the best known one, but the process of washing itself can produce pills, so treat fabrics delicately, wash by hand where you can and avoid dryers.

Hoping this helps!





Fee