DIY shrinking and washing machine
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I just love the way @Filthy2123ozjunkie was exploring this stuff.
And I would like to share my shrinking story with all of You.One of my first IH pairs is the IH-888S-21 in size 36. I was still trying to nail the right fit and size and I ended up with something that fit more like roomy sweatpants. They wanted to drop from my waist constantly, so I bought suspenders and made it work. They were so comfortable, easy to put on and non-restrictive that I started to use them constantly around the house. I knew there was nothing to lose, and they can become my test pair before I do anything with my properly sized pairs. So, I washed them for the first time in 60 degrees Celsius and surprisingly there was not much shrinkage at all. I kept the suspenders and did few more 40 degrees Celsius washed over the year, thinking that there is not much more I can do.
I then came across @Filthy2123ozjunkie exploration in shrinking and then pair it with some research on the OD process and what it does with cotton, I decided that there is no reason not to try putting the jeans into 95 degrees water and not in to gentle cycle but rather one for dirty clothes. I wanted to get plenty of agitation and prolonged exposure to high temperature.
Living in Sweden comes with benefits of always having a laundry room in the basement of your apartment. And there is usually an industrial grade washing machine and dryer available.
And so, I set the program on cotton 95 degrees Celsius, with extra agitation and extra rinse. No limitation to spin. And this time I didn’t bother to give them the usual soak, they were just inside out.
After ~70 min I put them in the dryer on max heat for 45 min and the outcome was spectacular!
I got it from size 36 into the dimensions of something like 34,5. And all of this without losing any more indigo compared to 40 degrees washes. The fabric retained all its characteristics, but I might have created a 22oz version
Photos will follow when it gets brighter here in Stockholm. -
As You see the only thing that really suffered from hight temperature was the patch. It came out super dark, and imidietley after taking it out of the dryer I coated it with Obenauf's Heavy Duty Leather Preservative.
I also want to claryfy that I did not use the tumble dryer but rather something of this sort - https://www.electroluxprofessional.com/commercial-laundry-equipment/drying-cabinets/ so no tumbling while drying. The drying was done inside out. -
Hoping to revive this topic. I have a pair of 633 S 21 tag 33x36. Unlike my 666 s 21 in same tag size I'm finding my 633's to be a decent amount bigger in the waist and looking to shrink them up a bit. To date I only have 25 wears on them so not in a hurry to wash but looking for more advice on shrinking them some.
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I'm also curious about this as I have a piar of N&F that I probably should've sized down a tag size, so I'm anxious to hear about shrinking techniques.
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Pretty sure im going to try a hot water wash in the machine w a cycle in the dryer on warm for starters.
