Caring for Wool Articles

Earlier this week we made a Wool Wash Bar and a Wool Conditioner to take better care of our wool items. Today I will show you how to properly wash your wool items to avoid felting them (causing them to shrink), stretching, or otherwise distorting their shape.

USING WOOL WASH

To start, fill a sink with tepid water. We don’t want hot water, but we do want it a little warm so we can make sure the garment or article gets clean. Use your wool wash bar to soap your water, agitating gently to get some suds going. Once your water is slightly soapy, then it’s time to add your wool item.

Wool vest ready to be washed.

Filling sink with tepid water.

Soaping the water.

Place the wool garment in the sink and press it under the water.

Once you have added your wool article to the sink of soapy water, gently press it under the surface of the water. Continue to press the wool item under the water for a few minutes. Doing this helps make sure that the item is not agitated. Agitation will cause the wool to felt. You want to be super gentle with wool once it gets wet.

When you are finished with the wash, drain the water. Do not lift the wool item out of the sink. Now that the wool is wet, it is very easy to distort the garment.

Refill the sink with fresh water to rinse all the soap off the fibers. Again, gently press the garment under the water, then drain the sink.

Wool vest sitting in soapy water.

Rinsing the soap from the vest after draining the soapy water.

USING WOOL CONDITIONER

Carefully transfer the item to a different sink or a colander. Rinse the empty sink and fill with water again. Take about a lima bean-sized amount of the wool conditioner and mix it into the water. I find rubbing the conditioner into my hands prior to adding to the water prevents large particles of conditioner from not mixing into the water.

Filling sink for conditioner.

Adding a SMALL amount of wool conditioner.

The conditioning treatment water is ready for the wool vest.

Pressing the vest under water with wool conditioner.

Place the wool item into the water. Gently press under the water. Continue to press for a few minutes. You will be able to feel the texture change under your finger tips. It is similar to using conditioner in your own hair.

Drain the sink again without disturbing your wool article. Fill the sink again with tepid water. We want to rinse any excess conditioner from the fibers. Press the garment under the water to insure it is rinsed well. Drain the sink for the final time.

DRYING WOOL ITEM

Gently fold up your item and transfer it to a bowl or colander. Lay a large bath towel out on the floor. Place your wool garment on it and lay it out. Starting from the bottom of the garment, roll upwards towards the top.

Once it is rolled up in the towel, press the water out of the wool garment. You can even kneel on the towel if you need to. Remember to just press. We are not wringing it out. Just pressing.

Rolling up the vest in the towel.

Pressing out excess water.

Unroll the towel. Gently transfer your wool garment to a flat surface where it can dry. Do not hang it or hold it up. This can stretch and distort the shape of the item. Allow the garment to dry. Placing the wet garment in an area that has a lot of air circulation speeds up the drying time.

Once your garment or wool article is dry, you can now wear and use it like normal. It just has the added bonus of being clean and soft! How wonderful is that?