Fixing / reviving wrecked clothes

[meamoto]

Hi all,
I've got a nylon top where the neckline has become a bit stretched from being pulled around today. Anyway......any idea if it will shrink back in the regular wash or do I have to do something else to get it to shrink back???

Thanks.

 

[softgrey]

moving this to the DIY section

but in my experience...
nylon doesn't often stretch back...

 

[educo]

Hi all,
I've got a nylon top where the neckline has become a bit stretched from being pulled around today. Anyway......any idea if it will shrink back in the regular wash or do I have to do something else to get it to shrink back???

Thanks.

You can add a bit of elastic to the inside and have it gathered in. That's the best way I can think of that's pretty easy to do.

 

[gius]

hmm... i have shirts which shrink back when i put them in a warm/hot wash&dry
but they are cotton...

you could test
and let's hear your results

 

[gius]

getting rid of wrinkles

Say you ironed a polyester shirt too much
and the wrinkles became "permanent"
Is there a way to get rid of those wrinkles ?? without ironing it again

If you wash a synthetic shirt in hot water, do you think it would go back to its original state ??

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ I have banished polyester from my wardrobe, but it seems worth a try ...

 

[softgrey]

if you have heat set the wrinkles...
in a manmade fibre..then they are set...
you will need to apply more heat in order to set it to something else...

it's not like natural fibres...
the actual chemical make up of the fabric is altered by the heat in most man made fibres...


for example...
that is the whole basis of Issey Miyake's pleats please...
all those are heat set...and they don't fall out when you wash them...


gius...this is basic textiles 101....
didn't you take a class like this sometime?
if not...
maybe you should...i think you would find it quite interesting...

 

[gius]

i do know already about the heat so it was silly of me to ask it's a reason they call it thermoplastic
i use heat to mold polyester permanently when i'm making sculptures
but anyway i was just hoping there would be a way to change it back
in order to fix my sculpture lol
i guess it's a lost cause

(so it's actually not about fixing clothes..
although someone could use the idea to fix clothes... )

anyway thanks for the responses !

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ It sound like softgrey is saying maybe more heat would work ...

 

[gius]

yep ! ^ in order to change it to a new shape...

what i'm doing is slightly complicated though
it's making fabric from scratch
using polyester thread
i've spun them to the point the threads are curly..
and i need to find a way to 'set' them so they lay straight, so that i can make it into fabric
but if i use heat to fix the threads straight, the threads will take on that new shape... and i'm not really sure how to turn them back into the curly sort, after already forming the fabric

anyway never mind

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ You're like a mad textile scientist