Does cotton shrink after washing?

Cotton clothing has been around for several millennia. This material was appreciated in ancient India and in Egypt; a couple of centuries ago both peasants and aristocrats wore such clothes. This fabric has not lost popularity even now, but a young housewife is always interested in the question of whether cotton sits after washing. We will talk about the properties of this amazing material and how to handle it.

to contents ↑

Features of Cotton Fabric

Cotton has a lot of advantages. Clothing made of chintz, satin, calico, cotton knitwear has a lot of useful properties:

• hygienic;
• absorbs moisture well;
• does not cause allergies;
• pleasant to the touch;
• beautiful;
• It is inexpensive.

Why is that? - Consider a few nuances:

• Hygiene is due to the fact that products from this fabric are easy to process. In many cases, you can use high temperatures at which no bacteria can survive. Cotton absorbs moisture well, therefore, summer clothes and linen are sewn from such fabrics.
• It is a material made from natural fibers, so it does not cause irritation, allergies, or skin diseases, of course, if you take care of things correctly and prevent them from getting too dirty.

Important! During the time that cotton fabrics exist, they were made up by a lot of designs, so you can easily find bright, beautiful products on sale. At the same time, the price range is quite wide, so you can buy very beautiful dresses and t-shirts at the lowest price.

disadvantages

Perfect materials do not exist, each has its own drawbacks. Cotton also has them:

• cotton fabrics are wrinkled;
• white things often turn yellow;
• manufacturers do not always use persistent dyes, so things often fade and fade;
• with improper washing, cotton sits after washing, sometimes even heavily.

Important! Recently, products have appeared on sale that label Eco Cotton material. How is it different from usual? To understand this, read our separate review. "Cotton Eco - Material Features".

to contents ↑

First wash

How to wash cotton so that things serve for a long time, keep their size and appearance? A lot depends on the first wash. Even if you usually wash in an automatic machine, the first time you need to wash cotton products by hand, especially if there are no synthetic fibers in the fabric.

1. Pour cold water into a basin.
2. Add some powder for natural tissues (preferably with enzymes). Our partner will help you find the right one. detergent rating.
3. Soak the product for about fifteen minutes.
4. Rinse and dry the item thoroughly.

Important! The first wash is best done immediately after you bought the product - then you can do without powder at all.

to contents ↑

Choose a washing powder

It's not hard. Many detergents are suitable for washing cotton products - both those intended for products made from natural fabrics and universal ones.

But there are nuances:

• Pay attention to what materials the product is intended for - white, black or color.
• In addition, make sure that you always have at hand bleach and fabric softener - of course, those that can be used to wash cotton items.

Important! For washing cotton products, do not use chlorine-based bleaches - they destroy both fabric and dyes. Oxygen bleaching is preferred.

to contents ↑

Laundry Prep

Since cotton sits quite often during washing, some simple rules must be followed. Cotton fabrics can be washed:

• manually;
• in car.

Regardless of which method you choose, products need:

• sort;
• to get from the pockets everything that is there;
• turn inside out;
• fasten if there are buttons or zippers.

Sorting laundry

Disassemble dirty things very carefully:

• to separate white products from color ones;
• sort by degree of contamination;
• put things from thin and thick fabrics into different piles.

What features should be considered in this case:

• Sheets, pillowcases and duvet covers are best washed separately from T-shirts, socks and other small items.
• It is better to always wash white and colored linen separately, regardless of what materials it is sewn from. A thin strip on a synthetic sock, which seems to be resistant, can paint the entire contents of the washing machine in the most incredible colors. This is especially true for cotton fabrics - dyes can be very unstable.
• Pockets are also better to always clean, because accidentally remaining bill or candy wrappers can ruin a thing forever. Turning the product inside out, you provide the color products sparing mode. As for the fasteners, the zipper left open may never be fastened again.

to contents ↑

Print spots

Before washing the cotton, remove too obvious stains from it as much as possible.

Very dirty socks and t-shirts

Sand, clay, cocoa, fruit juice - what can happen on cotton things? Unfortunately, street dirt also leaves spots that do not immediately wash off. Therefore, before you put a T-shirt or socks in the washing machine, try to remove excess contaminants. For this you need:

• turpentine;
• ammonia;
• hydrogen peroxide;
• laundry soap;
• washing powder.

Option 1

In a bucket of warm water (10 l) dissolve 5 tbsp. l washing powder and 5 tbsp. l turpentine. Soak the product for a couple of hours, then rinse. The spots should move away.

Option 2

In 10 l of water (cold or room temperature), dissolve 2 tbsp. l hydrogen peroxide and 1 tbsp. l of ammonia. This solution is also designed to soak for a couple of hours.

Important! It is more suitable for white products than for colored ones.

Option 3

You can just soak things for a day in warm water with powder. The water temperature should not exceed 40 ° C.

Option 4

For this old-fashioned method, laundry soap is used. The operation is carried out before soaking the entire product. The method is laborious, but effective:

1. Water the stain.
2. Spread it thickly with laundry soap.
3. Rub it.
4. Wash off the soap.
5. If necessary, repeat the procedure.

In addition, stains can be removed with refined gasoline, glycerin (previously diluted with water), as well as special stain removers. After removal of “specific” contaminants, products are washed in the same way as usual.

Important! The main advantage of all these methods is that cotton does not sit after such processing.

Print yellow spots

Sometimes white cotton products turn yellow just from old age. You can return them to their former beauty, but for this we need:

• hydrogen peroxide;
• ammonia;
• water.

In a bucket of water, dissolve 1 tbsp. l peroxide and the same amount of ammonia. The product is soaked for half an hour after normal washing.

to contents ↑

Hand wash: how to wash cotton so you don’t sit down?

The first enemy of cotton fibers is heat. Of course, cotton sheets and waffle towels, as well as baby diapers, are sometimes boiled. But this can only be done with linen that has already served for some time or if shrinkage does not play a big role. If you want to keep an attractive look of clothes, it is not necessary to digest it. Quite the opposite - you need to use cold or slightly warm water.

Thin fabrics - separate attention

You can wash clothes from thin fabrics using a regular detergent or using salt or boric acid.

Option 1:

1. Pour cold water into a basin.
2. Dissolve 2-3 tablespoons of washing powder with enzymes.
3. Soak the product for 15 minutes.
4. Rinse the item thoroughly in running water.

Important! During the spinning, cotton products cannot be twisted very much - bruises or creases may form, which will then be very difficult to smooth out.

Option 2

In 10 l of warm water, dissolve 2 tablespoons of edible salt (not iodized). Soak the products for 2 hours, and then rinse. You can use sea salt.

Option 3

Dissolve 3 tablespoons of boric acid in 10 l of water and hold the product in this solution for two hours.

Important! This method is good for white things, gray with time or poor quality previous wash.

We wash clothes with embroidery

Such cotton products require a particularly careful attitude, especially if you do not know what thread the embroidery was made on.

It is only necessary to wash cotton with embroidery manually:

1. Dissolve in 1 liter of water in 0.5 l. l of salt.
2. Soak the product.
3. Wait 20 minutes.
4. Wash the item manually by adding detergent for natural fabrics.
5. Rinse the product.
6. Wrap it in a dense, absorbent fabric.
7. Wait for the fabric to absorb excess water.
8. Hang the product on a coat hanger and dry it in the open air.

to contents ↑

Can cotton fabric be boiled?

It is possible and even necessary to boil cotton products, but not all kinds. Do not boil:

• new things that have not yet been erased:
• products from colored and printed fabrics.

Do not use aluminum cookware for boiling - white items will turn gray. An enameled tank is most suitable, in which water is poured and bleach is poured, the laundry is loaded, all this is brought to a boil and boiled for an hour.

Important! The contents of the tank must be mixed periodically.

to contents ↑

How to wash cotton in the washing machine?

It is easy and pleasant to wash cotton in the washing machine, if only to choose the correct mode. Any temperatures are permissible, it all depends on several circumstances:

• white things or colored;
• thin fabric or thick.

Regarding temperature:

• From too high a temperature, the dyes are destroyed, respectively - colored things fade. Therefore, the temperature should not exceed 40 ° C.
• White things can be washed even at the maximum temperature - they are also suitable for 95 ° C, but it is better to set the thermostat to 90 ° C.

Important! Do not wash cotton products with synthetic ones, even if the same mode is suitable for both.

Choose a program:

• First you need to soak the laundry. To do this, in the machine there is a special mode of pre-washing or soaking. In this case, the detergent must be placed in two compartments of the tray - A (1, I) and B (2, II). The first is for preliminary, the second - for the main wash.
• For the main wash there is a special program “Cotton”. It is best to choose her, although she is considered slow. Some high-quality machines have several programs for each type of fabric. You have already sorted the laundry, so it will not be difficult for you to choose the right one - for example, “Colored Cotton” or “White Cotton”.

However, other options are possible.If the item is thin, sewn from colored fabric, not very dirty and you do not want it to decrease in size, it is best to select the delicate washing mode by setting the thermostat to 30 ° C. After washing, the product must be stretched and dried in a horizontal position. In the same way, items associated with cotton yarn are washed.

Important! Ensure that the product retains its shape.

to contents ↑

Does cotton stretch?

But what if, despite all the tricks, the product still sat down? Is it possible to stretch it? In some cases this can be done. To do this, you need an iron with a steamer:

1. Lay the item on a horizontal surface.
2. Cover it with wet gauze.
3. Iron with stretching edges.

There are other ways to deal with trouble, you need:

• hydrogen peroxide;
• vinegar 3%.

Option 1:

1. Dilute in a bucket of water 2 tbsp. l peroxide.
2. Soak the product.
3. Wait 2 hours.
4. Rinse and dry horizontally.

Option 2:

1. Spread the product on the table.
2. Straighten all folds.
3. Dampen the sponge in 3% vinegar.
4. Moisten the product.
5. Wash in the usual way.

to contents ↑

Reduce T-shirt

Shrinkage is not always bad. Sometimes the product needs to be reduced in size, and cotton is just perfect for this:

1. Place the product in the machine.
2. Set the heat - the higher it is, the more cotton will sit.
3. Wash according to the mode.
4. Set the normal spin.
5. Use machine drying.

Important! That is, in this case, you need to apply everything that cannot be done if you want to avoid shrinkage.

Regarding T-shirts, we still have a lot of useful tips. Read them in special articles:

• How to fold t-shirts?
• DIY T-shirt Drawings.

to contents ↑

How to dry?

1. For products made from 100% cotton, do not use machine drying.
2. Hanging such things on the steam heating batteries is also not necessary - it is harmful for both the fabric and the battery.
3. Electric heaters are also not the best helpers in this case.

Important! Drying cotton products is best in the open air, but not in the sun, from which the white fabric turns yellow, but the colored one fades. At the same time, it is necessary to use clothespins very carefully, from which strong creases and bruises can remain. Better use a coat hanger.

to contents ↑

How to iron cotton?

Cotton can be ironed at high temperature - it does not melt and does not stick. For this fabric, set the thermostat to maximum. The most important thing is to make sure that the fabric lies evenly, because folds on cotton form in the most unexpected places, and then it is quite difficult to smooth them.

Important! Such products can be steamed as wet as possible, but this should be done carefully, otherwise tanning marks may appear.

to contents ↑

How to care for cotton products?

Cotton, of course, is not the most wear-resistant material, but it can still serve long enough with proper care:

1. Do not forget to see what is written on the label before the first wash.
2. Do not allow dirt to eat - wash things immediately.
3. Do not dry cotton products on a rope - if there is no other way out, dry to a wet state, and then complete the process with an iron.
4. Do not dry out - in any case, iron the fabric when it is wet.

Important! The same rules must be observed if you have a dress or T-shirt made of mixed materials with the addition of synthetic fiber. Synthetics are added to keep things better in shape. In this case, clothes and linen can be dried on a rope using clothespins, but you should be more careful in choosing the temperature regime - it may happen that the maximum temperature is not suitable.

to contents ↑

Stock footage

Now you know about whether cotton sits after washing, how to avoid this, how to properly wash such things manually and in the washing machine. We hope that with the help of our tips you will have no difficulties in caring for such convenient and enjoyable things.