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My item did not felt....


Jempast

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I have lion brand wool yarn the color of the yarn is black, that I made a test swatch from. I tried felting it on hot water temperature and put the washing machine on short delicate cycle. I threw in a pair of black pants with the test swatch. The test swatch did not felt nor did it shrink. My washing machine is a top loader & I did add laundry detergent.

 

What did I do wrong?

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It is not just the heat but the agitation that causes it to felt. this is why you can wash wool by hand and it doesnt felt unless you squeeze it a lot. You need the agitation to get it to felt. Just try it again on a super wash cycle it you have one.

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You need the basic cycle, not delicate to get the agitation going. You can had a handful of baking soda and a drop (just one) of liquid dishwashing liquid to change the pH of the water and help the felting process. Don't use laundry detergent, but after you rinse the item, you can use a little hair conditioner stirred up in water as a softening agent instead of regular fabric softener.

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Try putting a pair of jeans in with it to wash. Maybe you did but I wanted to be sure since it just says "black pants." I'm not sure if that means they were black jeans or black knit/cotton/etc pants. Jeans agititate the felting items pretty well; I have also used bathroom towels in a pinch.

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Like the others have said, are you sure it's 100% wool and not a blend or superwash? And don't be afraid to get rough with it. It needs the agitation, the more the better. Go ahead and put it on a regular cycle, you may have to run it through a few times to get it where you want it...

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You need the basic cycle, not delicate to get the agitation going. You can had a handful of baking soda and a drop (just one) of liquid dishwashing liquid to change the pH of the water and help the felting process. Don't use laundry detergent, but after you rinse the item, you can use a little hair conditioner stirred up in water as a softening agent instead of regular fabric softener.

 

This is how I do it too.:yes

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  • 1 month later...

About the "need" for baking soda and/or a drop of dish detergent when felting. I've felted lots of things, as has my best friend: different locations, different water: neither of us has ever used baking soda or dish detergent when felting. We just use hot water, low water level and put in a pair of old sneekers. Everything has felted beautifully.

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here's my :2cents

 

Low level, hot water, tiny amt of gain detergent, permanent press cycle.

 

I've used the heavy duty cycle in the past, but recently had one of my items come unstitched at a seam. So I'm backing down to the PP cycle with good results.

 

I have soft water, so I can get away with very little soap.

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