Help! My favourite Isabella Oliver dress has shrunk after just 1 wash - what would you do?

[PlinkertyPlonk]

I bought a gorgeous maternity tunic dress in a heavy jersey fabric from IO a few weeks ago. It fitted perfectly - not too short or tight, it just fell nicely over my bump. I washed it for the first time one evening and put it on the next day and it's slightly shrunk - it's now clingy rather than drapey, just a bit too close-fitting all over and definitely won't last me through to the end of my pregnancy.

I'm gutted - I'm really short on warm clothes and desperately need it over Christmas/New Year. I want it back in it's old size! Any suggestions - what would you do?

I rang IO and they want to send it off to a 'quality control assessor' to say whether it's faulty or not before they will consider a refund. That will take until mid-January. Do I buy a new one in the meantime, just up a size and assume it will shrink, or take the risk and get the same size and hope it doesn't shrink? Can they refuse me a refund? I followed the washing instructions to the letter.

Has it got any wool content? I would do as they say. There are loads of sales starting at the mo, perhaps pick something else?

That's such a shame - normally the IO maternity stuff is brilliant quality, to the point you couldn't really tell the difference between my new IO and borrowed/eBay purchased stuff when I was pregnant.

I suggest really harping on to the people at IO and saying you want your refund without having to wait till January, as a starting point, then ask their advice on what to do. I'd be inclined to order the original size and resign myself to hand washing, but I don't really mind hand washing (leave it to soak in something like soak and then spin - no need to rinse).

I bought one off them that did that and I phoned them up and complained about the poor quality and I got a refund. I said after 1 wash it was horrible and mis -shapen and that I would expect it to fair better after 1 wear. I got a refund without it being 'assessed'.

Thanks for the helpful replies!

It has no wool in it, it's 100% synthetic (viscose mix), which is why I'm so . All the other IO stuff I've bought has been great, I'm living in IO clothes the moment!

Think I'll take your advice; I will call them again, will demand a refund/swap and will hand-wash next time. It said delicate 30c wash which is what it went on (40 mins, hardly any spin) and I dried it flat as specified. It was in a warm kitchen, but it wasn't next to or on a radiator or the aga, so am really puzzled.

Just pretty unimpressed with their response. It's not like I'll be wearing maternity clothes for another 3 or 4 years! I only have another couple of months to enjoy them .

That is normal for high priced products . If you get refused ask to see the lab report . If they have done a test it will come back with a usually 2 page report. Sill question but did you iron it? You can claim back a fair few inches if ironed in the right way.

Iron? What's an iron? I didn't iron it.

I've never got my head around ironing man-made fabrics - if you use the low heat it doesn't do anything, use a higher heat and it just makes the fabric shiny. I'm reluctant to try now in case it damages it further. I did try wearing it to see if it would stretch back, but it hasn't.

The problem with waiting for the lab report is that I won't hear back until mid-January, plus a few days to get a replacement, then I'll only have 2 months left of wearing the thing.

Not sure what the lab report would say though, other than confirming that the fabric has shrunk?

They can tell what temperature it was washed at , what powder etc

viscose products 'shrink' on washing and then need to relax back to the correct size. I discovered this with a maxi skirt from Kaliko which 'shrank' to an ankle swinger length, it was sent back to head office and then returned to me again. If you iron your top with a coolish iron or steam it, it will restretch IYSWIM.
My skirt does this each time it is washed, but a cool iron relaxes it back to the correct length.

That's was what I was saying . You need to iron to reclaim its shape .

Ok, thanks for the tips, I'll try a gentle iron.

I've just ordered a replacement and I can see my original has 'shrunk' by 1" all around, but let's see what a bit of steam and a gentle iron will do.