If your jean fabric has shrunk, you might want to know how to fix them before throwing them in the trash. Unshrinking your jean material (shirt or pants) involves some effective methods, these include using cold water and the gentle cycle, air drying, and avoiding the heat.
How to Unshrink Shrunken Jeans
You’ll also learn which best washing techniques for different types of jean fabrics. Listed below are some of the most effective methods for correcting shrunk jean materials.
1. Coldwater
Coldwater is the best way to prevent as well as remedy your jean fabric from shrinking, since using hot water may cause your clothes to lose their shape.
You can also use lukewarm water to make your clothing stretch again; just fill your sink with a liter of warm water and one tablespoon of baby shampoo. Soak the fabric item in the solution for around half an hour.
Bring it out, rinse it and lightly knead the fabric. Lay and spread it flat to dry, but always be careful not to wring the fabric as it may shrink back, so do not place anything heavy on it.
2. Use Borax
Synthetic fabrics are particularly sensitive to heat, so try to avoid heat when soaking them. Instead, use cold water and a tablespoon of Borax, as this will help relax the clothing fibers.
It will take you approximately 30 minutes to one hour for a synthetic type of jean material to return to its original shape, that’s depending on how tight it was before washing. For other regular jeans, an hour or two will work for most jeans.
A Side Note
If your jeans are made from fragile materials like synthetic fibers, using cold water is the best option. Using hot water can cause fading, unlike cold water can preserve its quality.
You need to always allow clothes to dry for a longer amount of time; they will help in stretching them out again.
3. Using The Gentlest Cycle
To remove the shrinkage from jeans, soak them in water for an hour or two. Try to also stretch the fabric while soaking. Lay the fabric on an absorbent towel and roll it up around it, while pressing against it simultaneously. Then, hang them to air dry.
For jeans made from textured materials, you can use a mild soap to stretch them. Follow the product label on your jean to determine the right cycle.
To avoid overstretching your synthetic jean material, you should find an item of the same type, shape, and size to unshrink the clothes.
Once the item is in the laundry machine, then make use of a similarly shaped item to stretch it.
Always Check The Label
Your product label holds valuable information, so ensure you always read and follow the guilds in it. If you can’t find any label on the fabric, then read up about your particular product online.
Any garment made from delicate fabric should be washed on a lower cycle to prevent further shrinkage. After washing, spread it on a smooth surface, dry it at a lower temperature, or air-dry it.
As the fabric dries, it becomes lighter than when it’s still wet. Don’t always Hang your jean to dry as the weight of the damp fabric will stretch or rip the shoulder seam.
4. Using Hair Conditioner Or Baby Shampoo
You can use baby shampoo or a mild hair conditioner to unshrink your jean fabrics. Just mix the shampoo or conditioner into the cold or warm water before washing, and allow the garment to soak for at least one hour.
Doing this will prevent it from shrinking back. It’s also good to try this technique with cotton garments before washing. You’ll be surprised at how fast the fabrics will be back in shape!
5. Air Drying
If you’ve ever wondered how to unshrink clothes and the best air drying techniques, then use these few simple tricks.
First, lay out the wet clothing on a clean bath towel. Next, spread the damp jean over the second bath towel. Let the fabric air dry till it is no longer wet. Afterward, hang it to dry (this will ensure the damp weight of the jean doesn’t affect the waist seam).
6. Using Vinegar
You can also make use of white vinegar to stretch the fabric to restore its initial comfortable shape. Add a bottlecap quantity of vinegar into your sink, add a liter of water and soak the affected jean in it.
This helps to stretch back your jean fabric into its original shape. The next step is to spread it on a flat surface for air dry. This technique requires no special equipment, but it is a great option if you don’t want to spend a lot of time or resources on the laundry.
Ensure you read the care label on the clothing before applying your vinegar formula. Some jean fabrics are quite sensitive to homemade formulas, so reading the care label will help you to determine what type of formula to use and what not to use.
7. Avoiding Heat
A very common question from a whole lot of people is how to dry our clothes without the possibility of shrinking them. The most common cause of shrinkage in clothes generally is heat or warm temperatures.
While it may seem tempting to dry your clothes in high heat in an attempt to keep them clean in the shortest possible time, it is best you avoid excessive heat to prevent shrinkage.
Therefore, it’s best to opt for the technique that suits the material. There are a number of ways to do this. Once you’ve chosen the right one that works best for your fabric, you will notice the difference in your clothes in no time.
What Causes Jean Shrinkage
The two major causes of jean shrinkage are heat and agitation.
• The heat from the dryer or hot water in the laundry machine is the primary suspect as to why your jeans are shrinking. Heat loosens the fabric threads and fibers, thereby relaxing its material and allowing it to shrink in size.
• Agitation occurs when your jean fabrics are pushed and pulled aggressively while in the washing machine, causing the garment fibers to bundle up and shrink.
How To Shrink Jeans Using Your Tumble Dryer And Washing Machine
Learning the tricks to unshrink your jeans in the laundry machine means you’ll know the quickest, least messy way to unshrink your jean. Chances are you may have mistakenly shrunk your jean fabric a few times in the washing machine
The procedures are pretty simple: reduce the heat settings on both your laundry machine and your dryer until you notice it starts to unshrink, repeat this process till your jeans get to the perfect size.
Word of warning – all these washing and drying actions can cause your jeans to fade. You can avoid this a bit by turning them inside out before they go into the washing machine. Plus, reduce the creasing and static cling (this will leave them smelling heavenly) by adding up Bounce Dryer Sheets into the dryer with your jeans.
How To Unshrink Jeans Waist
Step 1
Spritz the waistline and surrounding area with warm water. Spray down to the pocket area too. You want the waistband area to be evenly damped. The water will soften it and also help stretch out the fibers of the jeans.
incase you don’t have a spray bottle, you can just dip the waistline area in warm water to have this total wet feeling.
Try to stretch your jeans (especially the waistline) right after they get out of the laundry machine.
Step 2
Stretch the jean waist aggressively with your hands while it remained buttoned, and then take one side of the waistline in each hand. Pull it outward as hard as you (one part at a time) can to stretch the waistband of the jeans.
Try not to pull on the jeans when they’re buttoned, as doing this can damage the button.
You can now grab it just below the waistband and at the top of it. Stretch it hard that way too. This is done just to loosen up the fibers.
Ensure you don’t grab onto the belt loops, as you can pull them off by doing that.
You can also purchase pant stretchers, having pant stretchers will do the hard work for you. wrap the waistline around the stretchers, and finally turn the crank to stretch the pants out.
Step 3
Spread the jean fabric out flat to dry. Don’t use your dryer cause the heat from the dryer can make your jeans shrink up again. Spread your fabric flat on a towel or drying rack, and leave it in that position overnight to dry out. And in case you still want to use the dryer, then turn it on low heat.