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As a knitter and crocheter I have a lot of handmade sweaters, but even if your sweaters aren’t handmade, you might need some help to know how to wash sweaters.
This advice is best for washing wool and animal fiber sweaters that shouldn’t be washed in the washing machine, but I wash all my handmade sweaters this way no matter what they’re made of.
If you’re worried your sweaters will get stretched or otherwise damaged in the washing machine, you can always wash sweaters this way.
Supplies Needed to Wash Sweaters
As you might imagine from that lead in, this post is going to be talking about hand washing sweaters. There are a couple of supplies you will need to have handy in order to do this, but if you don’t already have them, they aren’t too expensive.
First, you need some kind of basin to wash your sweaters in. You can just use your sink, but I actually have a collection of 10 quart buckets I use for this purpose. They’re good for larger sweaters, tunics and sweater dresses as well as doing a load of socks at once.
To wash sweaters you’ll need some kind of soap. There are special wool wash products you can buy, which can have the advantage of not needing to be rinsed out. I’m cheap, and I have a lot of sweaters to wash, so I use baby shampoo. Wool is just hair, right?
You’ll also need some towels (I often use beach towels) to help get water out of the sweaters once they are clean, and a drying rack of some sort where your sweaters can dry flat. I have this set of four stackable racks I put on my dining room table. They take up a lot of space in storage but it’s great to have lots of space when I need it.
I also have a collapsible drying rack that lives in my bathtub when I need it.
How to Wash Sweaters
Fill your bucket or sink with lukewarm water and two or three pumps of soap (or whatever the bottle says if you use wool wash).
Add the sweater and gently swish it around so that the sweater gets completely wet and if possible fully submerged.
Let the sweater sit in the water at least 15 minutes. I will admit to forgetting that I was washing sweaters and leaving them for longer; it’s not a huge deal. But you do want to give them time to soak up the water and let the soap do its work.
I gently swish the sweater again at the end of that time. Drain the water from the sink or bucket. If you’re using a bucket don’t just dump the whole thing out into the sink. Drain what water you can and then gently place the sweater in the sink.
If you need to rinse out soap, you can make another bucket of plain water, as close to the same temperature as your original bucket as you can, or rinse in the sink. I generally use the sink for this.
When you feel like you’ve gotten off all the soap, gently squeeze the sweater to get out as much water as you can. You don’t want to twist or agitate the sweater, especially if it’s animal fiber. Just press on the sweater and get out what water you can.
Lay a towel on the counter or floor and place the sweater on it. Roll the sweater up and press on the towel.
Here you can use a little more force, but again it is pressing, not rubbing.
Unroll the towel and pick the sweater up, supporting its full weight, and lay it out on your drying rack.
Allow to dry completely. This may take a few days.
Taking Care of Sweaters
Sweater care doesn’t end with how to wash sweaters, though. Especially your handmade or natural fiber sweaters may need a little more attention after they’ve been washed.
Once your sweaters are dry and before you put them away, give them a quick once over to make sure they’re in good shape.
In this particular batch of sweaters, I had a lot of ends that had come loose from being woven in, so I tucked them back in.
Now would be a great time to depill your sweaters, too. I’ll probably write a full post on this at some point. I use a Lilly Brush, which is just like a little comb you run over the garment that helps pick up pills.
You can also remove any hair that’s on the sweater by hand or with a lint roller.
How to Store Sweaters
The last piece of the sweater care puzzle is how to store sweaters. Sweaters are heavy and can stretch, so the best way to store them is folding them and storing them on shelves, in a dresser or in a box.
I have a full set of open shelves in my closet where my sweaters live all year. (I told you I have a lot of sweaters.) This is mostly because I like seeing them, but also because I don’t know where else I would put them in the off season. And some of them are short sleeved, and I’m always cold, so some of them get use through the year anyway.
If you need to store sweaters for a season or longer, check out my advice about how to store clothes. If storing animal fiber sweaters you might want to throw in a bag of cedar balls to help deter moths.
How Often to Wash Sweaters
The most common question I hear about how to wash sweaters is really how often you should wash sweaters. It’s actually better to not wash sweaters that often because of the potential wear caused by cleaning.
The general rule is to wash sweaters every three to five wears, longer if the sweater is a heartier wool. You can also go longer if you wear a T-shirt under your sweater, which I always do.
An exception to that rule is if your sweater is actually dirty or smelly.
I flip my sweaters over on the shelf so the hem side is facing out when they’ve been worn and flip them back over so the folded side is facing when I wash them.
And that’s everything I know about how to wash sweaters! Do you do something different? I’d love to hear your tips!
