What shrinks the clothes? hot water or drying them at a high temperature?

Question

What shrinks the clothes? hot water or drying them at a high temperature?

Answer 1

Both. It's the heat that shrinks the fibers. If you have something you don't want to shrink, wash in cold water and hang dry.

Answer 2

Both will do this.

Answer 3

it all depends on the fabric that you are trying to shrink, if it contains polyester it will not shrink , any other natural fibre like ,cotton, linen, silk, rayon, and wool will , and at times will even be unwearable due to the damage or the over shrinkage.

Answer 4

Drying them in high temperature

Hot wash machine water removes more soil,stains or dirt.

Answer 5

Both

Answer 6

both.  If you don't want it to srink make sure to wash in cold water.

Answer 7

The cause(s) of shrinkage vary according to the fibre and fabric.

Under a microscope, fibres have characteristic shapes.  There are fine ones and coarse ones. Straight ones and curly ones. Smooth or rough. Etc., etc. ....

I think the most complex case involves wool. (Listen up, here! This also applies to the hair on your head.) A wool fibre has "cuticles", protruding bits that make the fibre look sort of like the trunk of a palm tree.  When wool is dry, the cuticles sit quite smoothly. If wool is wet, the whole fibre, including the cuticle, becomes more flexible: the cuticles open up. The hotter the water, the more the cuticles open up. Another factor here is the alkilinity of the soap or detergent used. If wool fibres are rubbed together, the cuticles tend to catch on each other, and the fibres become entangled.  Fine, curly varieties of wool tend to hang on to each other more than coarse, straight varieties of wool. (The implication, so far, is that wet is more likely to shrink than dry: hence, dry cleaning. That hot water is more  likely to cause shrinkage than wet. And that the more the fibres are rubbed together, the more likely they will clump together. Hence, we want to handle wet wool very lightly.) They are more likely to stay that way if there is a rapid change from hot to cold: the open cuticles close, holding on to each other. (Hence, we want to avoid a hot wash, then a cold rinse. And as far as human hair, we wash our hair in warm water, not hot, and are told to rinse our hair in cool, but not cold water.  The cuticles smooth back against the trunk, and that's why we are told to rinse our hair with cool water.  But I digress ....)

Now, for the drying part, which is not really different, in principle, from the washing part.  Basically, a works by tumbling things around in hot air.  Which means that wool fibres with open cuticles are being rubbed together a lot.  As the clothes dry, they maintain the connections. Even more if the fibre was curly.

In principle, wool fibres become flexible when dampened. So a dry woolen garment tossed around in a hot dryer will shrink little, if at all.  But a damp woolen garment becomes more vulnerable to the fibres tangling. Especially if the garment got wet in hot water. If you put it in a hot, agitating environment, things get even more clumped and entangled. As it dries, things set in that position.

The factors leading to shrinkage seem to be water, heat and abrasion. So the choices would be:

- Consider dry cleaning,

- Dissolve a small amount of mild detergent in cool water. Gently submerge the garment. Pat it gently in the water.  Do not rub or wring. Squeeze it GENTLY, to get out most of water.

Lay it out flat on something absorbent: a thick bath towel is ideal. Roll up the whole business. You can squeeze that.  I even stand on it. Unroll it, and the garment is damp-dry. Lay it out flat, ideally on a grid or net so the air can get at it from both sides (so it should not stay too damp, and get mildewed or mouldy.) Let it dry flat.

The worst method would be to put the garment in hot water, then a long, heavy-duty session in the washing machine, to scrub the garment hard against itself for a long time, wring it out hard, and put it in a hot dryer with a lot of other things, so it will take a long time to dry. Maybe that would be one way of making Barbie clothes?

But, on the other hand, I had a cardigan from the Sally Ann. (Here begins another digression!) I suspect it had been carefully knit, in a complex Irish knit, in good, soft wool.I think the person for whom it was knitted was of "traditional build". Then I think it got mixed up with the sheets. And it got the full treatment ....  It came out a good size for me, and I'm small. It had felted together into a thick, compact, almost windproof and cosy sweater/jacked. Bitter irony: I lost it at a beach resort (!)

I should have said, at the very beginning, that you can extend the good life of a garment big time by washing it inside-out.  Have you read this far?  Let's hope (!)

Enjoy!

Answer 8

'Heat does not shrink clothes'

So says Lucinda Ottusch.

Who's she to debunk something we all believe and know is true?

Well, she's a fabric technologist for Whirlpool.

She spoke with Washington Post reporter Katherine Salant for a story published November 6.

Among the fascinating things I learned:

• Dryer heat does NOT shrink garments. Rather, said Ottusch, shrinkage is caused by the tumbling action as the garments hit the sides of the dryer. Shrinkage is also caused by the washing process itself.

• When a garment is made, the fabric is stretched to its max so slightly less is needed, saving money. Then, when the garment is washed, the cloth fibers shrink back to their natural (shorter) state.

• The warmer the water, the greater the shrinkage.

• Compared with washing, which shrinks clothing, drying them with heat has the opposite effect. As the garment loses moisture, the fibers stretch slightly.

Here's the entire story.

__________________

Heat Didn't Shrink That Shirt: Fabric Expert Offers the Scoop

One benefit of testing Whirlpool's laundry appliances was the opportunity to talk with Lucinda Ottusch, one of the company's fabric technologists, and demystify some of the laundry process.

The first myth debunked: Dryer heat does not shrink garments.

After all, as Ottusch pointed out, a hot iron does not shrink clothes; in fact, the heat and pressure of the iron cause the garment to stretch out.

Rather, she said, shrinkage is caused by the tumbling action as the garments hit the sides of the dryer.

Shrinkage is also caused by the washing process itself.

When a garment is made, Ottusch said, manufacturers often stretch a fabric to its max so that slightly less cloth is needed. (A tiny bit of fabric factored over thousands of identical garments is a significant savings.)

But when the garment is washed, the cloth fibers will shrink to their natural state.

The warmer the water, the greater the reversion.

If you were to put on jeans when they were wet, you would find they were too small, Ottusch said.

The degree of movement of the garments during the washing process also affects the fibers, she added.

As a general rule, the tumbling action of a front-loader produces less movement and fiber reversion than the agitation of a top-loader.

A "preshrunk" garment has already been washed, so the garment will not be as affected by the laundering process.

Compared with washing, which can shrink clothes, drying them with heat has the opposite effect.

As a garment loses moisture, the fibers will stretch a bit; as you wear the garment, the heat of your body will increase this stretching.

But, Ottusch said, the drying process can damage fabrics made of natural fibers such as cotton, linen and wool, if too much moisture is removed.

These fibers have a natural moisture content, even when they feel dry (with cotton it's 5%; with wool as much as 17%).

When the fibers are over-dried, they will reabsorb moisture from the atmosphere.

The occasional over-drying will usually not cause a problem, but when it happens repeatedly, the fibers will be weakened and the clothes won't last as long or wear as well, Ottusch said.

A dryer can also affect the appearance of garments.

Dark ones can rapidly lose their brand-new look as they hit the sides of the drum.

This raises microscopically small fibers and gives the seam areas a powdery appearance, Ottusch explained.

With some types of fabric, however, the raised fibers are a plus.

With a towel, for example, the raised fibers make it feel softer.

Answer 9

Both will shrink natural fibers, such as cotton, wool, angora and such.  If they are polyester, less likely to have shrinkage, but if the heat is too high, they may just melt!  Hope this helps you!  Good luck!