Of course, many of you are well aware of this. You buy a new jumper, t-shirt, or sweatshirt at the store, take it home, and wash it a few times, and your new piece can suddenly look years old. Frequent laundering can create countless unsightly lint balls on your clothes, turning an elegant fashion item into an ordinary piece of clothing at best.
Why Does Fabric Pilling Occur?
Fabric Pilling is most likely to occur in places where clothes are often worn or rubbed. The first places you will probably notice them are on the sides where the bag will be hitting your body, around the pockets, and under the sleeves. Unfortunately, there is no way to completely avoid this wear and tear but there are some tips to help you avoid it as much as possible!
1) Proper Washing
Frequent improper washing can also lead to the formation of fabric pilling. However, this can be prevented. Make sure that your laundry is properly categorized, turned inside out, and above all, washed in a proper washing program. Washing jumpers, sweatshirts, underwear, and jeans together in the universal washing machine is not always a happy solution. At the same time, it is also important to always divide your laundry into smaller portions when washing, instead of unnecessarily stuffing a large amount of laundry into the drum of the washing machine. This way you can easily avoid a lot of lumps and bumps.
2) Simply Cut Out the Pilling
You can easily cut out large lint balls, such as the ends of sleeves or raised seams. A pair of common scissors that everyone has at home will suffice. The important thing is to make sure they are sharp enough to really cut the lump, not just tickle it but be careful not to cut your clothing instead of the lump. That would be unfortunate.
3) Use a Pumice Stone
You can also use a pumice stone, a tool that everyone has at home. Pumice stones are perfect for removing lumps because they have an uneven surface. These can perfectly remove fuzz balls from fleece and wool coats that have a coarse structure. So, from now on, use the pumice stone not only to remove hardened skin on the feet but for your clothing lumps as well!
4) Shaving a Large Area of Fabric Pilling
Everyone has a razor at home. However, if you don’t want to break yours, buy the cheapest and most common ones at the pharmacy. That should be enough. Then, place the piece of clothing you want to remove the lumps from on a hard surface. Tighten the clothing area enough and do it carefully with gentle, short strokes. This method is not the fastest, but it is very effective. If you have a lumpy jumper at home, see for yourself!
5) Test the Strength of Sellotape
For delicate fabrics, a thick Sellotape may do the trick. Just wrap it around your fingers with the sticky side up and apply it gradually to tear off small lumps of fabric. If there are still fine fibers of the Sellotape on your cloth after removing the fuzz balls using this method, take a damp sponge and rub gently. This may not be the best method, but it’s worth a try.
6) Get a Standard Lint Remover
If the above methods seem too difficult, time-consuming, or don’t work for you, get a classic lint remover or a so-called potato peeler. There are various brands of lint removers to choose from, with different shapes, colors, and qualities. However, even the most inexpensive lint removers work quite reliably and will do most of the work for you. Just run the machine over the prepared material and it will absorb all the clumps without any problem.
How do you deal with fabric pilling? Share your tips with us in the comments below!