Cashmere help

[covetingthepreciousthings]

Is there any cashmere gurus on here who can help me (gently!) stretch out a cashmere jumper please?!

It's 100% cashmere (Brora if that makes a difference), bought second hand but slightly shrunken. Hoping I can stretch it out but want tried and tested methods before I ruin it..

I've heard if you handwash or machine hand wash cycle with just conditioner it relaxes the fibres and stretches out again.

You can 'block' things bigger but only to a certain extent. Soak in plenty of tepid water with some no-rinse wool wash (Eucalan, Soak etc.) make sure it's thoroughly saturated and leave for at least an hour. Then squeeze (don't wring) out the water and roll it in between towels to get even more water until it's just damp. Pin it out onto a dry thick towel* to your desired size and let dry completely to set.

*I'm guessing you're not a knitter so don't have a blocking mat, but if you have kids' foam playmats they work too.

A yoga/pilates mat will do instead of a blocking mat.

Google Nancy Birtwhistle op, she has a short video on what to use, and how to stretch back a sweater.

The important thing is to properly soak, in her video she lays the jumper into soak but doesn't plunge it underwater, it soaks slowly by itself.

Generally for washing I use the Soak liquid from Rigby and Peller on my cashmere, lay in a towel and roll it up, then lay flat on another towel on a rack and continually stretch to shape.

How mad I’m doing exactly this right now after doing everything right handwashing my cashmere crew necks the only one to shrink was my Uniqlo one so it’s got 30 mins left of the 2 hour soak then I’ll be pinning to an exercise mat, I was surprised how shrunk its was it’s nearly 3” narrower than my M &s one and they had been a similar fit

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx8zcfoJYTU

I actually made myself a frame for stretching jumpers. I taped together a couple of lightweight baking cooling racks 20" across each, so got a big rectangle which would stretch out the main body of the jumper to my preferred chest size of 40". I had the frame padded with towels so as not to leave crinkly marks. The sleeves I made big towel sausages and stuffed them in. It is useful to check with a tape measure, too, and copy dimensions from an un shrunk jumper.

All the advice above re Eucalan etc is spot on. Stretch your damp garment over the frame to dry. Every so often pull on the hem and cuffs to get the length.

This has worked for me many times...I even rescued a mohair jumper which had shrunk to child size but it took many attempts.

Just seen posts above...yes, soak really well.

I’ve just done this - it works. Thanks.

The key is not to use hot water (barely warm) and dry flat - keep stretching it if you remember eg every couple of hours.

No cardboardy feeling when dry, but wool is a bit stiff & will soften further as washed and worn.