Clare's channel, Bobwilson123, about how to soften scratchy yarn. I had no idea that scratchy yarn could be made to feel soft like other yarns. This was big news to me. I am a fan of Red Heart Super Saver. Love the colors. Love working with it. Love the durability. Love the easy care. Love the price. But . . . I hesitated to use it for baby sweaters because it wasn't as smooth to the touch as other yarns. After watching Clare's video, I did some additional research and found Emi's tutorial on her channel, Hectanooga1. Both tutorials utilized shampoo and conditioner.
I decided to use a similar process but use my washing machine and fragrance free fabric softener instead of shampoo and conditioner. I washed the garments in the machine, with a small amount of detergent on delicate. Then I soaked the 100% acrylic sweaters separately in warm baths of water and 1/3 cup of fabric softener in large bowls. I periodically gently swirled the sweaters in the softener solution and made sure they stayed submerged in the liquid. After 2 hours, I drained the softener water, squeezed out the excess, and put the sweaters right back in the washing machine. I put fabric softener in the dispenser cup then ran the garments through a regular delicate cycle without detergent. I tossed them in the dryer with two fragrance free dryer sheets and a dry white bath towel on the low touch-up cycle for 7 minutes. Still slightly damp, I let the sweaters finish drying flat on a towel. The texture of both sweaters improved significantly and were soft enough for an infant. I'm glad I went through this process prior to adding buttons. I may need to increase my button size slightly to account for the change in the yarn and how that loosened up my button holes a bit. I will definitely try the shampoo and conditioner method on my next set of sweaters but I also like the idea of using common fragrance free laundry products.
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