I used to be petrified of washing my sweaters. The fear of shrinking them in the washing machine or fully messing up the hand-wash situation forced me to put it off as long as possible and quite often resort to giving them a french shower, aka drowning them in perfume to mask the times I foolishly wore them with a tank top, exposing them fully to unforgiving summery beads of sweat. An accumulation of these regretful times where I didn’t wear a long sleeve top forced me into fully adulting and tackling the washing process head on.
I’m not afraid to admit that I buy most of my sweatshirts from & Other Stories. I love them all and I can’t get enough. My addiction recently got worse when they emailed me with a promo code for 20% off for “being a loyal customer”. I believe this email landing in my inbox was the exact moment I knew I had a problem, but I allow myself to keep buying by rationalising that they are high quality sweaters that probably(?) last a life time. With quality comes tricky washing etiquette so I started researching the best ways to get them squeaky clean without that weird damp wool smell residue. What’s fab about this easy peasy routine is that it’s super cheap to do and you’ll probably be able to tackle it with what’s already in your kitchen cupboards.
Step 1 Soak Your Sweater
Fill a sink or a bucket or perhaps a bath if you’re tackling a school of sweaters with cold water. You’d think warm water would be better, but keep it cool apparently. Soak the sweater fully, let it soak up all that watery goodness.
Step 2 Soapy-Goodness
Pour in some gentle laundry detergent and let that soapyness soak right into your sweater.
Step 3 Just Add Vinegar
Vinegar is widely known as a home cleaning super hero. Who knew it would also double up as a miracle sweater cleaner too. It magically erases odour and kills off germs. Just pour 2 tablespoons of White Vinegar into the water. Once the vinegar has been mixed into the sweater, drain away the soapy, vinegar-y water and refill with clean cold water. Repeat this step until your detergent-vinegar concoction is rinsed away.
Step 4 Squeeze
Don’t be alarmed at how heavy your sweater is. It’s a good thing and means your sweater has been cleaned thoroughly. You’re going to want to squeeze as much water out as possible to avoid any damp scents lingering in the fibres. Do this by getting a clean towel and rolling the sweater up like a little pig in a blanket and squeeze to your heart’s content.
Step 5 Dry
To avoid it becoming mishapen lay it out flat on a dry towel instead of hanging it up. Then a few hours later, bob’s your uncle, you have just saved yourself a fortune on dry cleaning. A fortune which you can now put towards buying yourself more fabulous sweaters.
