By Yarn and Needlework Contributor Stephanie from the blog Twilly 23
Do you have a favorite sweater that has seen better days? Don’t let pilling keep you from wearing it. A sweater stone can easily take fabric pills off and make your old sweater look like new.
CRAFT:
Miscellaneous Craft
DIFFICULTY:
Beginner
MATERIALS:
- Sweater Comb
- Or Clothes Shaver
- Or a Sweater Stone
- Sweater
INSTRUCTIONS:
One of my favorite sweaters is a baby alpaca cardigan that I found at a thrift store. It’s super warm so I wear it a lot. Not surprisingly, it gradually became covered in pills. Pilling is a normal occurrence with natural fibers. Over time the fibers will break down and clump together forming little balls. They especially do this where the fabric rubs up against skin such as a collar.
The cuffs of my sweater also had pills which made the beautiful colorwork look blurred.
There are multiple types of pill removers. I prefer the old fashioned sweater stone.
Alternatively, you can use scissors to cut away pills.
But you have to be careful not to accidentally cut your sweater!
If you have a sweater stone, or sweater comb, gently brush your sweater. Start at the top and slowly work your way down.
As you brush the stone against the fabric, the stone cuts off the pills.
After moving from top to bottom, clean off the stone. Then repeat this process over the entire sweater. So much fuzz comes off each time.
For sleeves, I start at the shoulders and move down towards the cuffs. My collar and cuffs were particularly covered in pills so I did several passes of the stone over these areas.
The stone is fragile so don’t drop it. Some shedding of the stone is natural though. As I worked on my sweater some stone dust came off.
I brushed my entire sweater twice with the sweater stone. The collar looks so much better and the colorwork is less fuzzy now.
The back of the sweater looks so much smoother.
How many pills and fuzz came off? A lot!
Sweater stones and shavers are an easy way to revamp your wardrobe.
Craft on!
