Welcome to the Handmade, Washed & Worn series, where we explore how to wash, block, and store hand-knit and crochet projects. Whether you’re caring for a favorite sweater, a treasured shawl, or everyday accessories, these posts will help you keep your handmade items looking their best. In today’s installment, we’ll focus on : 5 Reasons Why Handmade Fabrics Need Different Care Than Store-Bought Clothes.
Once the last end is woven in, there are still arcane rituals to perform with our hand-knit and crochet items. We get out our basins and potions to soak life into our hand-mades. While it often feels like we’re blindly following lore passed down from one maker to another, there are reasons for every step, rooted in fiber content, fabric structure, and garment preservation.
Fiber Content
The fibers we typically use for hand knitting and crochet simply won’t withstand heat, agitation, and strong detergents. Manufactured clothing and accessories are commonly made from petroleum-based fibers like nylon and polyester. These fibers and fiber blends can handle machine washing and detergents like “Scour Hard Ultra with Bleach”.
Fabric Structure
A typical factory-made sweater averages seven to twelve stitches per inch. While its handmade counterpart has a gauge somewhere between four and five stitches per inch. Yarn used by hand makers tends to be thicker than the yarn used in factories. The combination of thinner yarn, manmade fibers, and more stitches per inch in commercial garments yields a sturdy fabric that doesn’t require any special care.
Felting
Especially after accidentally felting a project, makers develop a fear of turning weeks of work into a shrunken wreck. Wool is made up of tiny scales that, once exposed to moisture, heat, and agitation, open and interlock. This process is known as felting.
Once a fabric is felted, the fibers are permanently entangled. No matter what they said on the Discord, there is no way to undo felting.
Color Loss
Manmade fibers in garments don’t release dye the same way that natural fibers do. Nylon, Acrylic, and Polyester are high-density, non-porous plastics that don’t release color when exposed to water or strong detergents. Detergents with too many bells and whistles (brighteners, softeners, bleach) may fade the color out of your handmade garments and accessories very quickly.
Time, Energy, & Resources
Your hand-mades need special care because you put so much into them. A typical garment can take weeks of your time and energy. Besides that, crocheting or knitting garments isn’t cheap. By the time you’ve bought yarn, pattern, tools, and notions you’ve dropped a lot of money into the project.
Taking a little time to learn how to keep your handmade items looking fresh will give you the best return on the time, energy, and money invested in your project.
Part 1 of the Handmade, Washed & Worn Series
If you enjoyed this post, be sure to read the next installment: Wool Wash: What is it Good For?
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