The good thing about modal is that you do not need to clean it at the dry cleaners. That means avoiding hot temperatures when you use your dryer to get your clothes nice and dry. Yes, you can as you launder this fabric as you would normally launder cotton. Just keep a watchful eye over your clothing to make sure you do not lose a size when you least expect it. With that said, some people have claimed that if you wear modal clothing in cooler climates or environments, you should expect some shrinkage to take place. Hot water and a hot dryer are the two techniques used to make modal fabrics smaller. This is a complex fabric to launder as while it resists shrinking you may still see some take place if you do not give it the right care. Then you iron modal like it was made of wool. Usually, the instructions are that you wash modal like cotton using a cooler temperature no higher than about 100 degrees F. It will shrink at some point but it resists that movement as long as it can. It is possible as modal is not invulnerable to shrinking. The natural fibers come from the beech tree and are processed like bamboo to make good fabric. This fabric does absorb moisture well and still remains nice and soft. Also, modal was developed by the Japanese in 1951 and gave it the properties that rayon did not have. But modal will still shrink if not cared for properly. This construction gives the material its unique anti shrinking capability. It is neither natural nor man-made fibers. Modal is a fabric that starts from natural fibers and uses man-made techniques to be developed into the material you can use in your sewing projects. In fact, it is this characteristic that has many underwear manufacturers blend their cotton wares with modal to prevent shrinking. That is a good characteristic to have as that cuts the shrink factor down to size and lets your underwear remain the right size longer. I hope this post is encouraging to any of you who share my distaste for high maintenance laundry tasks, and never give up easily when things do and will go wrong.It seems that this fabric is very strong when it is wet. You may have already heard of this formula for stretching out shrunken clothes, but I’m so happy that it actually worked on a fabric that I thought would be a lost cause! This shirt already had a little stretch and give to it, so this method worked beautifully. The original shape was “hi – low”, meaning the back length of the shirt is longer, so that is why you see more lace from the back bottom.Īlso, the amount of stretch does depend on the tightness of the weave of your rayon garment, and if the tag reads “dry clean only”, there’s a chance this won’t work. A FEW NOTESįirst, I did not stretch out the lace hem. While the shirt dries, give it a few more stretches here and there. Wring it out and lay (or drape over the back of a dining room chair) and stretch it out every which way. I used about 1 tsp per quart of warm water, so you can double or triple depending on the size of the garment. Because to my surprise, it actually worked! Fast forward to now, I’m glad I tried it. Should I even bother with rayon? I figured I don’t have anything to lose. Stretch out the garment in all directions and lay flat to dry. The formula for unshrinking fibers was a little hair conditioner and water soak. But wait! I then remembered a method I had tried a few years earlier with a shrunken cashmere sweater. I’m now thinking that this shirt is going to my youngest daughter a few years early. Warm washed instead of cold, tumble dried when I should have laid out flat, used the regular cycle instead of gentle. I got this wrong on just about every front. My first thought was….who would make a child’s shirt out of rayon? Who decided that moms and dads needed to add a bit more fuss to their lives by making us pay this much attention to laundry? Do I sound dramatic? Let me say it again. I hate fussing over laundry. ![]() ![]() Panicked, I of course went straight to “what did I do wrong?” and searched frantically for the care instructions tag. While folding a load of my oldest daughter’s clothes, I came upon her favorite new shirt, which now looked like it would fit her perfectly, about 3 sizes ago! I’ve found out about the existence of rayon in kid’s clothes the hard way. Rayon? In kids clothes? Isn’t that the same cloth that in some cases you shouldn’t even get wet? WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? But lately I’ve found kid’s clothes makers are throwing out some curve balls. Mostly unfussy cotton blends that wash and dry without much fuss. In my 10+ years as a parent, I’ve found that kids clothes were typically the easiest to care for. However, this last load left me wondering how to go about unshrinking rayon. Just give me the ‘ole warm wash and tumble dry, please. The sorting, deciding what to tumble dry or line dry.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |