Fibres, Information
How to Store Your Wool Clothes
Jun
As the sun rose this morning, there was promise of a beautiful, warm (maybe too warm), late Spring day ahead. It is time to cast off and store out winter clothes, especially the wool. I have a tendency to simply leave them in a pile on the floor to be dealt with later. As someone who also works with wool daily, I am also aware that the dreaded clothes moth is waking up and breeding. HELP! Holes in my clothes!
Moth hates light, fresh air, clean wool and some fragrances e.g. lavender or conkers. Although sometimes they seem to ignore some of the ‘rules’!
Kirsty Allsop advocates taking a clothes rail with clothes out into the fresh air to help reduce or remove the moths. She posts on social media about it. That’s great if you have the space, but I don’t and with the number of wood pigeons around here, the inevitable will happen!
This is what I plan to do this week…maybe. I take all my warm clothes from where they are kept in winter. I put everything through the washing machine. I know wool through a washing machine! It is generally safe to do.
First separate out the wool from other fibres like plastic fleeces or cotton jumpers. The other fibres can go through a normal wash. The wool MUST go through a wool wash. I have written about this before in “How to Wash Wool”.
Obviously if you are worried, hand wash your wool. If there is a scarf with a fringe, tie the fringe up with hair ties to help prevent felting, then hand wash. It is the one item I will hand wash! If you want to add some conditioner, then use a small amount of hair conditioner in the final rinse. Remember wool and your hair are both protein fibres, so normal fabric conditioner won’t work.
After washing you should lay out knitted jumpers etc out flat and reshape the cuffs and collars, or they will lose their shape. I don’t have the room, so they are hung up to dry, preferably outside (Kirsty’s fresh air).
In the meantime, I clean out the drawers where I store all my sweaters and fleeces (I don’t have many of these left as I don’t buy them anymore). The clothes are now dry, clean and well aired, so they can be returned to their normal cupboards and drawers. I add conkers collected in the Autumn to deter moth or I go old lady and add some lavender bags.
Alternatively, if you lack space and put winter clothes into storage, so there is room for your summer range, you can put them into sealed moth proof bags. Please make sure they are moth proof!
That’s my plan, but for now where are my shorts, shades and sandals? It’s too nice to miss this lovely weather. Then again there’s the shearing and gardening to do…..
Enjoy the sunshine!
