When do clothes shrink in the dryer

What is it with red socks? But perhaps the number one laundry mistake we're all too familiar with involves shrinking our most cherished cotton clothing. No matter how much of a skilled laundress you claim to be, shrunken clothes are simply unavoidable, and its a laundry gaffe that's left us with too many misshapen t-shirts to count.

Fortunately, all is not lost once you've inflicted unintentional heat-damage on even your most damaged cotton apparel. According to fabric expert Suzanne Holmes of Cotton Incorporated , because cotton is a natural, breathable fiber, it may shrink when heated.

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Skip to content Cleaning Tips. Washing Clothes in Hot Water vs. Consider Wet Cleaning Another option we recommend is wet cleaning , one of the latest innovations in garment cleaning. Darrell Frye. So be mindful of the points below to avoid the heartache of ruining another beloved item of clothing. Care labels tell you all you need to know when it comes to looking after your garment properly. As the label suggests, these items will have been shrunk before being sold, so they should stay the same size after a washing and drying cycle.

Getting into the habit of sorting your laundry according to colour as well as washing temperature will help avoid shrinkage. Remember too that your washing machine and tumble dryer might offer programmes for specific fabrics as well, like a jeans cycle.

For more laundry tips, check out our guide on how to load your washing machine and tumble dryer properly. This goes hand in hand with choosing the right temperature, as certain cycle will automatically set the washing temperature.

Not only will this cycle reduce the washing temperature, it will reduce the spin speed, resulting in a gentler wash and less shrinkage. Hand washing is another option, and it might even be the instruction the care label gives you. This is certainly the least damaging method of washing your clothes, but of course, the most labour-intensive.

Again, paying attention to care labels is key here. However, if it indicates that the item can be tumble dried, make sure you choose the right temperature setting. Drying clothes which require a low heat on a high heat setting is likely to result in shrinkage. Again, if your tumble dryer offers fabric-specific programmes, be sure to use these. Then, under the heat of the dryer, they dry and shrink to their normal size.

However, as they continue to dry, they start curling up, which makes them smaller than they originally were. The water molecules also act as a lubricant between the cellulose molecules, easing the way they get close to each other.

This effect is strongest for fibers which absorb water very well, such as cotton, linen, and wool. The tumbling causes fibers to constrict, shrinking the clothes. To make things worse, this also decreases the life of the fabric. So at the end of the day, a combination of heat and tumbling can have devastating results for your clothes.

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