How to wash knitwear, and avoid pilling and moths - with Anderson & Sheppard

I'm Simon Crompton found a permanent style calm in this video series with the campaign for wool we'll be looking at care and repair of wool tailoring and knitwear providing information advice and tips luxury garments like this are also an investment and can last decades if looked after properly during this series then we'll demonstrate in person how to carry out our recommendations and suggest repair services invisible members [Music] welcome to part two of our series looking at the care of wool products I'm here with Otto Charles of Anniston shepherd haberdashery and today we're going to look at the care and maintenance of woolen knitwear [Music] why do you particularly like Oh God look at you and I you've got Shetland which we adore I've got merino completely different weights serving different purposes but it's just as such a spectacular product we love everything about it that it's natural from beginning to end it's a wonderful product and it's the first thing you're born into a lovely will short and you probably die when it won't like it it's on our floors it's everywhere so I mean it's something that we take for granted and Morra busts of long lasting than Kennecott if you take care of it if you take care of it it'll last you a lifetime the actual abundance of textures colors the way you can knit it weave it it's only quite an incredible thing to have in our lives let's first let's talk about washing some people are really like everybody grew up absolutely terrified of watching sweaters yeah and it's one of those things a life skill that you people should be taught are there by their mother so their grandmothers are in schools men and women oh all the thing oh I can't wash this well yes you can you just have to be careful and again if you use water the temperature you probably put a new baby into it's not cold no remotely hot at all just that lovely tepid gentle water a lot of manufacturers sweater manufacturers recommend using baby shampoo okay because you want to keep it as pure as possible okay yeah absolutely again we don't want to put chemicals into it we want to keep it as soft and natural as possible you may also just get a very good wool wash that you can buy it in most supermarkets but it's a therapeutic thing to do it feels kind when you do it if you don't get a great pile of sweaters you have two or three put the radio on some rice music a glass of wine on the side it's a very gentle soothing thing to do so just get that sweater into the warm soapy water and then like when you see a cat that goes like this with its paws no ringing just gently sweet ball you didn't want plenty of water one at a time and sometimes I leave to soak for about five minutes before I go and okay caress it kind of thing and then just do it for a few minutes like this and take it out refresh the water rinse it Lots till you feel the waters really really clean and then take your sweater and I generally put it inside one of those mesh washing bags okay why do you put it inside a box well either that if you don't have a mesh washing bag put it in a pillow case with an elastic band on top and then put it in the spin cycle of your washing machine that contains the sweater and stops it going short and wide mmm I know what we're talking about wool but things like cotton they will go shorter and wider so contain them and then when they're done take them out put them on a towel flat like this press them into shape or over a drying rack but not with any weight to them yes it would no point to stretch okay and just let them dry naturally in a warm room fresh air overnight okay and you don't do two or three at once and it's a very nice thing to do yeah I often do like laying out a towel yes you roll it up like this it a good squeeze ml takes that much that'll take some of the moisture out especially if you don't have a spinner yes of any kind at home I'm the stews but in a spin cycle again people might be nervous about using a machine like that suggest I guess err on the safe side you know try a little bit how do I give something that you're not too worried about have a test room okay on an old sweater that you think well I learned from this one yeah and do you ever use washing machines that even the month of the a very delicate side do I know with modern machines they're really really clever but there's something like when you're washing it by hand you can feel the temperature you know what you're doing if you're more in control like everybody's machines are different every oven is different I trust my own judgment and my hands rather than so if someone someone knows the machine very well than those I totally would you ever use a tumble dryer as well for sometimes if they're really weighty again and let's keep it in the back I just do it for literally a few seconds at a time and then have a look okay till you can kind of Judge okay and how about like really heavy kind of chunky knit wear something like chunky knit wear like this one to be honest I wouldn't risk washing that because it will become so incredibly heavy and pull out of shape with the weight that I'm afraid I would have to send to the dry cleaner and also because sometimes it's not the washing it's depressing mmm this a big sweater like this I would trust more a Dracula a good dry team that's impressive this is actually irony you know the dry taters have those wonderful Spig steamers yeah and I would honestly I'd put this into the hands of a good dry cleaner okay rather than try and do that at home [Music] another subjective pressing so when you've you've watched a knit where you've rinsed it you've got all the moisture out of it you've dried on a rack you have really dry but I guess particularly slightly thinner never could still be quite wrinkled yeah I think also one of the things we didn't mention is it's probably a good idea to turn your knitwear inside out okay when you wash it the surface and then I think when you come at the end sometimes just literally pressing it'll look fine but you might just need to stay mine put a clean tea towel or a cotton cloth between you in the sweater okay and just literally just you just pee it I'm not gonna pressing like gentle just to get rid of any you know wrinkles or whatever um it won't take much from the sixteenth row you know don't oppress gentle gentle just touching it up [Music] and how often would you wash it where do you think killers should well depending on how much you were I mean generally we say to somebody don't wear something every day give everything like your suit everything a day off but like us all you know you've been working hard yes we're just worked very hard for you yeah we all like a nice gentle boss so someone's wearing something dirt is a great enemy to any clothing because we know moths love it yeah and we want to keep it smelling nice normally a sweater is over a t-shirt or over shirts it's not generally next to your skin yeah so it doesn't get too funny but at the same time I think every confident washers Waring's I'll give it a wash okay next topic mother talked about was pilling now I know but watching this gonna help along with pilling right because all manufacturers we all complain about everybody hates peeling peeling peeling and it seems to be the more expensive the garment the more it's more into a pill and they always say a washing washing washing washing hope it does of course it does but it's a complete pain in the neck and it's one of the hazards of knitwear it does pill wear your arms the friction or you're carrying something a boss good or a pet so I mean I use this funny thing it's just an emery board okay they're like an alpha so for like a scarf again practice it on something yeah you know you're not too worried about but just keep the fabric nice and tight like this it's a whole talk with your hands and then literally this is very very fine it's just stroke like this okay so very like yeah very likely running over the surface and you'll see that you get these fine fine fibers that you off like this yeah so you can see the result of that immunity yeah you can't absolutely you can see it's very delicate that's what we want is that and then my practice on Simon so we all get this on our sweaters so we just literally take it off like this this is on Shetland mines merino but it'll still feel a bit but you can just tidy it up really I know there's those fancy machines that you buy with a sort of razor inside yeah and I'm sure they're absolutely fine but this is really easy it feels like you'd be slightly more scared of using something harsh than that with a razor I mean this is not the kind of weight that you'd go and sand a door or a table down it's delicate but yes it is it's very handy look see what is doing the job why do you need something else get a lot of pilling on that point because they're not washing it yes they do that's gonna tell people oh keep washing it keep washing it you can see that a they're terrified of the whole word of keep washing it keep washing it and you know they're never gonna do it yeah so much as we'd say just keep washing it and it is true it will help to stop the pilling yet in an emergency anybody so something else which is going to help with pilling but also with the wrinkling yes folding properly yeah right so you don't want to kind of stuff it in a drawer or somewhere but it's only a particular way you should be folding it or anything well simple flat mm-hmm fold it over put the sleeve so you put that you're almost like giving it a press mm-hmm like that comes very nice yourself it does but I mean it's it's not that difficult no I guess if someone's if you put even a piece of like a magazine and you give yourself a template but if you go like this this and you give yourself a sort of shape yeah so the sweaters could be roughly the same size when they're in the cupboard yeah and then give them room to breathe you know none of us like to be squashed yeah that's gonna cause matter help keep its shape and it looks very nice in your closet when you open the door all those people are slightly OCD yeah and if you're traveling with knitwear again you just pack it and store it in the same way you say the same way I mean some people roll and that's perfectly acceptable but I think the nice thing is also when you travel you can travel with different weights its larynx if you're going to from a cold country to a hot country a hot country to a cold country you know that you can start with something very very lightweight like the very like Marino's or build up to Shetland and lambs walls and have layers because then you're covered and I guess one of the worst things with storage is hanging it right on don't hang it it will end up like arms like a sort of chimpanzee with the shoulders dripping and the coat hanger makes a horrible mark fold everything you've got like that sort of very heavy okay it looks for anybody sad next thing I want to talk about with steaming because I know some people put steam like a clothes steamer yeah run that say then you would hang on it where yeah but steamed through it and I just sort of relaxed it kind of it's like you in a steam room you feel bristly refreshes you yeah so if you've got one of those little handheld steamers or the big ones that come along like a vacuum cleaner and again you know lift up the arms go into all those nooks and crannies yeah and you can you can sort of see the thing almost smile at you yeah yeah just refresh without having to kind of actually press it just come out yeah and don't put it on the garment away from the garment and you'll just see the steam revive the thing yeah I guess so just be careful of the hot water yes Lister and you know steam burns you so you've got to be very careful about not putting your hand in front of the steamer yes that's really serious stuff and one mistake I've made is steaming like that and then putting it back when it's still a bit damp and last thing I want to talk about I mean we've we've touched on this briefly before but moths and that's always the first question how to prevent loss I don't think there's a cure this Prevention okay things like sea doubles and the most important thing is never for anything we're dirty okay your suit trousers whatever it is must love dirt some bit of a sandwich that's been left on the sweater either have them dry cleaned or washed before you put them away some people again put them in plastic bags others put their stuff in the freezer to kill off the moth eggs once the mosque there it's too late and it's your stuff we can't see that sitting in your closet all summer some lovely pile of nicely folded sweaters yeah and nice family of Muslims so that's a point about prevention rather than cure is about the event in terms of keeping it keeping it clean and keeping things moving yeah it's I think must just love it when things stay still yeah they need circus yeah it makes you lay their eggs and a very happy little nest they made so keep things moving give them a shake make sure they're clean and again in the market like lavender and cedar pools as some of them may work but again it's prevention I think keeping things clean is the most important do you ever use so synthetic sprays or anything no I've never done it never done it okay I not doesn't sound very nice I'm sure there are products out there that work yeah and what why do you not like putting things in plastic bags so I'm sure someone could feel like that is the protect just some people like the fact that this word is sealed up and prevented from a moth getting in but I'm mighty reason what if it's already in there yeah and so I don't know I just just don't particularly like the plastic bugs but other people yeah they do it's just a matter of I guess if it's damp at all oh yeah no even the tiny little smell Larry Dewey yeah [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Permanent Style

Views: 13,679

Rating: 4.9733334 out of 5

Keywords: wool, knitwear, sweater, pullover, pilling, washing knitwear, moths, garment care, knitwear care, luxury knitwear, anderson and sheppard, audie charles, simon crompton, savile row, permanent style

Id: gPAnVpyYTCQ

Length: 15min 3sec (903 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 23 2019