How the hell can I mix my wool coat?

[CoolCarrie]

I have a lovely colourful wool coat which my “dear “ mil has washed, in the washing machine and now it’s a jacket! It was slightly big on me, but now I can’t even button it, it’s miss shaped, but not felted I am raging , it wasn’it dirty, I’ve only worn it twice! How can I fix it ?

That’s not really true. Wool protein is keratinised, which means it has undergone a process of hardening that makes it very difficult to break down. You have to apply a chemical that breaks the disulphide bonds between the protein chains (this is what happens when you perm your hair!). You won’t find those chemicals in domestic laundry products.

Nevertheless, protease enzymes in bio detergents that are designed to remove protein-based stains WILL damage wool and other protein-based fabrics such as silk.

It is bizarre that people avoid bio detergents because they think that they cause skin irritation, which they will not (because of very strict EU detergent rinsing standards) unless a washing machine is overloaded and cannot rinse properly, but will happily stick wool items in on a cool wash with bio detergent.

If it hasn’t felted you can try blocking it. Basically, get it wet and then lay it out in the shape you want. If you are stretching, you may need to use pins. There are special
Blocking pins that make it easier, but they aren’t mandatory.

@Haffiana

They can cause some damage to wool and other protein fibres. What they don’t do is “destroy the protein structure of the wool”. Wool is insoluble in all solvents except, as I posted upthread, those that break the disulphide binds.