Greetings!
I have been sewing soakers, leggings and pants out of reclaimed secondhand sweaters for about 5 years now, and I thought you might like to know about my discoveries...(I realize I could be wrong, but here goes...)
I ALWAYS prepare ALL my sweaters before sewing by felting each wooly sweater as much as possible, regardless of the stated fiber content. I consider it an experiment and feel the need to wash secondhand sweaters really well. To do this I wash the sweaters in the hottest, heavy duty cycle, and dry it in the dryer on the hottest setting. My old dryer, admittedly, does not get exceptionally hot, but I have used commercial dryers on hot settings and had no adverse reactions. I usually do this process twice because I have noticed that some sweaters still shrink considerably on subsequent washings. I purposefully try to felt the wool to increase it's durability and to prevent leakage as much as possible. If the wool acts really shrinky, I may only do it once to prevent it from getting too thick which makes it more difficult to sew.
I have noticed, after washing hundreds of sweaters this way, that some fibers don't tend to shrink much. Alpaca, cashmere, mohair (actually I am editing this to say that some mohair shrinks a LOT!), and silk are some of these. I think that most wools are breathable, repel soils, wick moisture and repel odors as lamb's wool does, which were my key considerations in making a practical and natural soaker. If you want a nice felting wool, you may want to get one of the above wools mixed with lamb's wool, if you have the choice.
For some reason merino (not superwash) and gap sweaters shrink like crazy, probably my one and only plug for gap. And most "New Wool" sweaters shrink pretty well, though they have a wide range of softness, some being as soft as cashmere, and some as itchy as p.o. (poison oak). What I have done with the itchier sweaters is lined them with the softer ones. Yes, especially cashmere. It still proves to be a cost effective way to make a diaper cover or long pant, which by the way you don't need to use a diaper cover with, if you buy from your local Sally Anns. Plus you can usually get 2 pairs out of one sweater, one from the body and one from the sleeves. It beats the cost of any new wool covers I found in my now 7 year old son's diapering days.
After reading some of the forums on lanolizing I am now aware of the benefits of doing this and would suggest that after felting that one lanolizes to increase the amazing benefits of wooly coverings.
Good luck and have lots if fun!
Elly brrrr! oh baby its cold out there!
I have been sewing soakers, leggings and pants out of reclaimed secondhand sweaters for about 5 years now, and I thought you might like to know about my discoveries...(I realize I could be wrong, but here goes...)
I ALWAYS prepare ALL my sweaters before sewing by felting each wooly sweater as much as possible, regardless of the stated fiber content. I consider it an experiment and feel the need to wash secondhand sweaters really well. To do this I wash the sweaters in the hottest, heavy duty cycle, and dry it in the dryer on the hottest setting. My old dryer, admittedly, does not get exceptionally hot, but I have used commercial dryers on hot settings and had no adverse reactions. I usually do this process twice because I have noticed that some sweaters still shrink considerably on subsequent washings. I purposefully try to felt the wool to increase it's durability and to prevent leakage as much as possible. If the wool acts really shrinky, I may only do it once to prevent it from getting too thick which makes it more difficult to sew.
I have noticed, after washing hundreds of sweaters this way, that some fibers don't tend to shrink much. Alpaca, cashmere, mohair (actually I am editing this to say that some mohair shrinks a LOT!), and silk are some of these. I think that most wools are breathable, repel soils, wick moisture and repel odors as lamb's wool does, which were my key considerations in making a practical and natural soaker. If you want a nice felting wool, you may want to get one of the above wools mixed with lamb's wool, if you have the choice.
For some reason merino (not superwash) and gap sweaters shrink like crazy, probably my one and only plug for gap. And most "New Wool" sweaters shrink pretty well, though they have a wide range of softness, some being as soft as cashmere, and some as itchy as p.o. (poison oak). What I have done with the itchier sweaters is lined them with the softer ones. Yes, especially cashmere. It still proves to be a cost effective way to make a diaper cover or long pant, which by the way you don't need to use a diaper cover with, if you buy from your local Sally Anns. Plus you can usually get 2 pairs out of one sweater, one from the body and one from the sleeves. It beats the cost of any new wool covers I found in my now 7 year old son's diapering days.
After reading some of the forums on lanolizing I am now aware of the benefits of doing this and would suggest that after felting that one lanolizes to increase the amazing benefits of wooly coverings.
Good luck and have lots if fun!
Elly brrrr! oh baby its cold out there!
