Q&A for How to Unshrink Clothes

Depending on the fabric, some garments can be reshaped using steam from a steam iron.

Steam will help soften the fibers, so you may be able to stretch your hoodie back to its original size.

That should work. If you'd rather play it on the safe side, you can instead use hair conditioner.

Soak your sweater for 30 minutes in water with Borax, wool detergent, or white wine vinegar. While your sweater is still damp, lay it out and stretch it out by hand.

If your jeans feel too stretched out, try tossing them in the dryer on low to tighten them again. You may need to restretch them if they shrink however.

Probably not. The active ingredients to soften are in the conditioner, and shampoo is generally meant to clean.

Use cold water on your washer machine's settings, then air dry your clothes on a clothes' line

Put it in the sink and do the same process as it says do jeans. Stretch it out by wearing it and see if it buttons after taking out of a 10 min soak in warm sink.

No. If you don't want to use or don't have it, you can use conditioner.

It depends, If your dryer continually shrinks your jeans each wash, you might need to put it on a colder setting and wash your jeans together. Jeans generally are made so they don't have to be washed that frequently, so you'll be fine. When they are dirty, put them on a colder setting. You only need to do this when they shrink, so if you notice they're a tight fit, try this out.

If you steam press the lace, it usually will stretch as you iron it. I did this with my granddaughter's dress. Her mother dried it in the dryer. That may not work though depending on if it really shrank or simply that it needed to be pressed out again.

It can be regular "adult" conditioner, but not shampoo. If you do not have baby shampoo, then do not worry. It does the same thing.

Generally rayon is something you'd want to dry clean. If you can't dry clean it, I'd wash it on cold, then hang dry it. When it's line drying, you can determine if it shrunk any. If it did, just gently stretch it until it's the correct length again.

You can't. Rayon has to be dry-cleaned.

You'll want to use either conditioner or baby shampoo. Use method 1.

No, you can usually leave the conditioner in without a problem, but you can hand wash the fabric in cold water if you wish. Sometimes the shampoo affects the way the fabric feels, and washing it off changes that.

Try soaking them in baby shampoo and water. It may not help as much as it would with some other types of material, but it still has the potential to reverse the shrinkage a little.

As long as it's fully dry, yes, you can.

Yes, if they're made of cotton, this will almost certainly work.

Lay the garment smooth and flat on a firm surface - table or ironing board - and gently float over the surface of the coat with sharp scissors held sideways to carefully cut the pills off. I got too old to do this with a steady hand and bought a wonderful pill shaver that works on batteries and also has a cord! It is called Sewmeister Electronic Fabric Pill Remover and costs about $20. You can buy one on Amazon or at many fabric stores.

Heating it or stuffing it may help. Generally, if it hasn't been shrunken, you can stretch it out by breaking it in.

The methods in the article apply to jackets, as well.

Follow the steps in Method 1. Cotton responds very well to this method, it should stretch nicely and return to its original shape or very close. If you don't have baby shampoo, conditioner will work too.