How to Prevent and Treat Sweater Pilling

Do you find yourself unwilling to wear your favorite and most expensive sweaters because of pilling problems? Sweater pilling is unavoidable regardless of the quality or the cost of your sweater. With natural wool, this problem can turn out to be all the more challenging when compared to artificial fibers and acrylics. Here are some tips on sweater pilling that will help you prevent and treat this problem.

Pilling is caused when the surface of the fabric rubs on other objects or with the fabric itself like it happens with the fabric under your armpits, sleeves, front portion and the back portion of the sweater. Sweater pills emerge with use and also with washing.

Before washing your sweaters at home, make sure that they don’t have a ‘No Hand Wash’ tag. If the garment care tag says ‘dry clean only’ and you hand wash it then pilling will occur. This does not mean that sweaters that come with hand wash tags won’t have pilling problems, but rather the pilling will be less serious.

When you wash your sweater, make sure that it is turned inside out. Select the shortest washing cycle or select the washing option for wool if there is one on your washing machine. Do not leave your sweater in your dryer for too long. Remove it from the dryer as soon as the dryer cycle is completed.

To treat the sweater that has already pilled, stretch your sweater on a flat surface and use a razor to shave off the pills carefully. It is important that the sweater is spread on a flat, hard surface to prevent any further damage to your sweater.

Another easy way to treat your sweater pills is to use electric pill removers available in the market. This is a battery operated device that will help you get rid of the pills from your sweater. However, the pills are likely to reappear with use.

Another treatment for sweater pilling is to treat or to de-pill your sweater using a rotary brush. Pumice stones also work wonders with sweater pills.

If you are too busy to be bothered with a rotary brush, pumice stone or an electric pill remover, then the best and the last resort is to take your sweaters to a dry cleaner near you where you will not only get your sweaters dry cleaned safely but we will also treat any pilling problems we can find. When you have an expensive sweater to be washed, it is always better to bring it to us because razors, snipping tools or other methods could potentially damage your sweater.

About Utopia Cleaners

Utopia Cleaners offers dry cleaning and laundry services to the communities in Boston, Cambridge, Newton, Arlington, Woburn, Brookline, Everett, Chelsea, Medford, Belmont, Winchester, and Lexington via dry cleaning delivery service and laundry pickup service. Other services include alterations, wedding gown preservation and shirt laundry.