It’s that time of the year! Finally, spring is here and it’s starting to warm up (depending on where you live of course!). With the winter quickly coming to an end, that necessary spring cleaning is looming over our heads. Skis are placed in the attic, snow pants and jackets buried deep in the basement, and our sweaters need to be stored away for the summer. Some things can be stuffed into bins worry free, but we need to Save Our Sweaters!
Moths and carpet beetles love to chew through sweaters that contain bacteria and sweat remains. Storing these items for long periods of time make them more prone to these nasty little creatures. Keeping your sweaters safe all summer long requires some time and care, but it’s really not that hard! We’ve broken down what it takes to keep your sweaters looking brand new year after year.
For sweaters with 100% Natural Fibers
- HAND WASH
- Put your sweater in a bowl of water, cool but not too cold, with liquid detergent (hair shampoo is preferred) and hand wash
- Lay flat on a towel, roll in the towel and pat out excess water. DO NOT RING DRY!
- Transfer to a second dry towel, let sit until dry
Alternative to Washing
- Place sweater in freezer or an extremely hot car for 24-48 hours
- This will kill any larvae that have been deposited on the sweater and will then be ready to store for the summer
What Next?
- Brush the sweater to remove pills and any other items trapped in the material
- If your sweater is knitted from all natural fibers, our Save Our Sweaters Brush can come into play!
- This brush does not work on man made fibers only 100% natural fibers
- Cashmere, silk, cotton, merino
- This brush is too gentle to attack pills on materials like polyester and nylon
- Place in a cotton bag, or a sweater box with cedar balls
We get it, this is all time consuming. But do you really want to have one of your best golf sweaters or hand knitted Christmas gifts ruined because you didn’t take the time to put it away properly? Nobody loves celebrating the arrival of warm weather by cleaning their house, but a deep spring clean is always necessary. Once next winter comes around, we promise you’ll be ecstatic to find your clean sweaters don’t have any holes or pills and come out looking like new!
Sincerely,
The Lilly Brush Team
