Pages

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • POLICIES / DISCLOSURES
  • CONTACT ME
STYLE ART LIFE

Wednesday 9 July 2014

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

9 comments:

  1. You are a genius. Thanks for sharing this! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hardly - I had a fair few years of frustration before working this one out, and a quick google could have saved me the need for an epiphany. Thank you for being kind, however!

      Delete
  2. Thanks for this information! I heard that pilling only affects low quality fabric because they use shorter fibers to weave. Maybe one could keep and eye on that before buying?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not a problem! Low quality fabrics are certainly more susceptible to pilling, but some fabric types just have more of a problem than others. It's worth considering when shopping, but unfortunately my love of jersey cotton is rather overpowering!

      Delete
  3. Great tip! I wash lot of my clothes by hand to avoid piling and to keep them alive longer but the razor trick is excellent.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I put all of my clothes on the most delicate wash setting, but I really should do more hand washes. Razors are certainly helpful where pilling is near inevitable.

      Delete
  4. useful! I used to just use scissors...this seems much better

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I used scissors too, until I got a little too snip happy with them; they're still useful for fabrics like wool (on which this trick doesn't work as well), but only if you're very careful.

      Delete
  5. Thanks! I did not know this and I tend to love this type of fabric as well.

    ReplyDelete

I love interacting with readers, and promise to reply all comments. Spam and advertising will be deleted.