Knitted items are loved by both our grandmothers’ generation and popular with our children and grandchildren. Knitted sweaters, cardigans, skirts and dresses are worn from a young age until old age, because the convenience of such things is invaluable. Especially if the item is made by hand and is unique in its kind.
Needless to say, such clothes are very demanding in terms of maintenance, cleaning and washing processes. But how to steam knitted product to maintain its shape and not be damaged during processing.
Methods for steaming knitted items
There is no need to touch the product during steaming (minimum gap 10 mm)
Steaming is performed using an iron with a steam function. Availability of “wool” or “ delicate fabrics” is optional, since direct contact with the product is not required.
Before you start steaming, pour water into the iron to the maximum level. To safely iron the item, you will need white gauze or thin cotton cloth.
If processing will be carried out on ironing board, then check its condition - the surface should be clean. In other cases, use white terry towel in one or two layers.
The most effective steaming methods are as follows:
- The product is taken and checked for stains. If everything is in order, then carefully lay the item on the surface of the ironing board. Set the desired mode, wet and squeeze the gauze. Next, the product is covered with gauze. You can move your hand so that the fabric fits more tightly to the item. Then we move the iron horizontally to the surface of the ironing board (10 mm gap). If necessary, press the “Steam” button on the iron.
- If for some reason there is no iron, you can put the product in order using a household hair dryer. To do this, you will need to repeat all the same steps. Next, turn on the hairdryer at maximum power and rub the item several times. Distance 15-20 cm from the surface.
- To remove small wrinkles, you can hold the item over steam. It is necessary to fill the bathroom with hot water. Then hang the product on a hanger with hangers above the container. Next, you just need to check the item periodically. Sometimes we run over it with a clean hand.
After steaming, regardless of the method, the item is laid out on a flat surface and turned over every 10-15 minutes. The product can be put on or put away only after it has completely dried.
Very simple and effective method for removing wrinkles from knitwear
If absolutely necessary, it is better not to steam knitwear and knitted items. This is especially important for materials that are generally undesirable to wet with water.
Woolen items are not steamed at all. It is required to clean the item with any in a convenient way and place between two terry towels for 5-7 minutes. You can roll the product and the towel into a “roll”, as shown in the picture above. Then unfold and dry on a flat surface.
For ironing knitted hats you will need to put the item on any semicircular shape, for example, glass jar and process a couple of times with a steam generator or steamer.
White items made from cotton threads are steamed at a low temperature, as strong heating can cause the fibers of the material to yellow. It is also taken into account that cotton will shrink and exposure to hot steam will only contribute to this.
Mohair knitwear cannot be ironed. To do this, use the method described at the very beginning. You will need to boil water in a small saucepan and hold the binding over the rising steam.
If you are afraid of ruining knitted clothes, then you should not try and experiment somehow. It's better to take your clothes to the dry cleaner. These are extra costs, but they are clearly less than the cost of handmade products.
Handmade knitted items can be amazingly beautiful. They help to emphasize your individuality and bring many joyful moments in life. But they need to be looked after. How to approach this task correctly?
Knitted items should be ironed carefully so as not to damage the product.
Steaming the finished product
These items must be handled very carefully to maintain their elasticity and delicacy/embossment. Before steam treatment, any such product must be carefully laid out on a flat surface, all folds, creases and elongated places straightened out. If it becomes deformed, you can attach it with pins to a pattern or some thick fabric.
Then determine the type of thread. The label often indicates the temperature permissible for their processing. Anything knitted from cotton and linen can withstand very high temperature, but it is important not to overdo it so that there are no unsightly yellowish spots left. Thick fleecy threads should fluff up; To do this, just hold the object over the container from which steam rises and let it dry. Things made from wool generally do not like steaming; they can be moistened, straightened and left to dry. Synthetic fibers such as Lurex require special care. It is better to tinker, selecting the desired temperature and starting with the minimum, than to melt such threads and ruin everything.
When steaming, it is important to consider the following:
- All threads react differently to the temperature of the iron, even the same threads, but from a different batch. It is better to first try the iron from the inside out on a small piece of fabric.
- You cannot pull the iron across the fabric, it will stretch.
- A product with a relief pattern, made of thick wool, should be placed on a terry towel or a thick soft blanket, then the relief can be preserved.
- Rubber bands and very convex patterns are not ironed at all.
- Steaming is carried out only through a damp cloth or gauze, without directly touching the fabric itself.
- The product should not be ironed until it is completely dry: it would be correct to leave it slightly damp and let it dry on its own.
The iron must be carefully passed over the fabric so as not to stretch it.
Steaming things during the manufacturing process
When starting knitting, any craftswoman first makes a control sample. If you are not lazy, make it larger and carefully steam it, you can clearly see how it will behave ready product when ironed, it will shrink or stretch. This pattern provides another advantage: the calculation of the loops will be much more accurate, and the finished garment will fit perfectly.
When the parts are ready, they also need to be steamed, trying to give them the shape of the pattern. At this stage they are easy to process, but when knitting is completed, the same operation will be much more difficult to perform.
Paired details such as sleeves, pockets, decorative elements, folded face to face, swept away, treated with steam and allowed to dry in this form, and then separated.
The last time the item undergoes steaming treatment is fully assembled, with the main focus being on ironing the seams.
Steaming knitted items is carried out through damp gauze
Crochet products
Usually, light openwork items are crocheted. The beauty of a crocheted product will depend on how well the shape of the numerous holes can be maintained.
For this purpose, the item is laid out on a thick mat or pattern. Then it is stretched by hand, pinning individual sections and even individual holes with pins. It is important that these pins do not leave rust and that their heads are not decorated with beads, which will make ironing much more difficult. If the pattern is very complex, it is recommended to secure the knitted fabric to the bedding using light stitches along the contour of the pattern, which will prevent its deformation.
Shaping requires considerable effort and time, sometimes even a couple of hours. If the item is made of cotton, you can starch it with reverse side or use an appropriate spray to add extra density.
During the steaming process, pins are gradually removed from the finished sections. They leave marks on a thin knitted fabric, so when all the pins are removed, you should lightly moisten the product again and completely steam it so that no marks remain. If you show a little patience, do everything correctly and wait until the item becomes dry, the result of crocheting will please even the most demanding craftswomen.
Caring for knitted items is not easy, but this is the necessary finishing touch that will make them amazingly beautiful.
Now, more than ever, hand-knitted items are popular. The mistresses of knitting needles and crochet hooks are able to knit the most complex patterns in a way that many factory workers have never dreamed of. Instagram is filled with pages of stunningly beautiful cardigans, hats and scarves. Handmade is extremely common and enjoys well-deserved love among many, because every thing, hand tied, is individual, made especially for the customer and, as a rule, worn with great love.
Care
At proper care sweaters, hats and cardigans will serve you for several years without losing their original appearance.
But ordinary “store-bought” knitwear is no less popular, especially with the arrival of autumn and then winter, which in Russian latitudes are rarely not cold. First, turtlenecks, cardigans and fluffy stoles appear in our wardrobe, later – voluminous hats, sweaters with braids or jacquard, warm snood scarves and mittens with woolen socks. Both adults and children wear these items.
Of course, wool, cashmere and acrylic knitted items need washing no less than fabric ones., because they become equally dirty when worn. However, both washing and ironing must be correct. Many of them can only be washed by hand (especially hand-knitted items) at a temperature not exceeding 30 degrees. It is better to use special compounds for wool for washing; many experienced knitters recommend 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner for this. If you decide to use a washing machine, only the delicate mode or the “wool” mode will do. The number of revolutions during spinning should be no more than 600, or better yet, even less. Yes, it will take much longer for the item to dry, but at the same time it will not stretch out, it will not warp, it will remain symmetrical and even.
Removal of any kind of stains on a knitted product occurs before the main wash. To do this, you need to soak the item in warm water (about 30 degrees) and apply a stain remover either in liquid form or in the form of soap to the surface of the stain. Then you can wash the item either in a machine or by hand, as usual.
Such things are dried laid out on a vertical surface., you need to squeeze and twist them with great care; if possible, it is better to place them above the bathtub so that excess water drains out, while the product should not sag or stretch. A special clothes dryer attached to the wall in the bathroom works well.
Steam processing of products
Once the item has dried, it needs a wet heat treatment (WHT) and in most cases cannot be ironed. To give things correct form and alignment of loops in its knitting, only an iron with a “steam” function or a clothes steamer is suitable.
The product must be carefully laid out on the surface of the ironing board and covered with clean gauze or cotton cloth, previously slightly moistened with water. After this, the item must be steamed using either the “steam” function on the iron or a steamer. If the item has just been knitted, then an OBE should be performed immediately after the end of knitting. This way the canvas straightens, the loops are made smoother, and the product takes on the shape that was originally intended.
If for some reason you don’t have a “new generation” iron at hand, but you still need to iron a knitted product, any iron will do. However, you will have to act very carefully so as not to burn a hole in the knitted fabric or leave scorch marks.
In the same way, you need to lay out the item on the ironing board and cover it with a clean piece of gauze or cotton fabric. After this, use a spray bottle to spray clean water onto the entire surface of the fabric. Next, turn the iron lever to the maximum temperature, and, holding it very close to the product, but without touching it, move it over its entire area. This action requires great care and concentration, but the result, if you did everything correctly, will be exactly the same as if you used a steamer.
When steaming things, knitted or crocheted, attention should be paid to the seams, if any. It is necessary to steam them in such a way that unsightly creases do not form at the places where the parts of the product are sewn together.
If there are no seams on things (for example, on sweaters and dresses, tied with raglan both above and below), they need to be steamed so that there are no folds on the sides. It is best to carefully pull the product onto the ironing board and sequentially treat it with hot steam on all sides. If the stitching was done using a knitted stitch “loop to loop” (most often found on handmade items), then their smoothing is done in the same way.
If you use a vertical steamer to steam your knitwear, you can not lay the items on the ironing board, but after drying, hang them on clothes hangers. Steaming can be done directly on them. It must be remembered that by leveling the surface of clothing in this way, you make it wet, and after completing this procedure you need to let things dry.
If the product is not knitted from natural wool or cotton (this is most often found in industrial production), for example, sweaters or scarves made of acrylic, there are some peculiarities in caring for it. Since this material is one hundred percent synthetic fibers, it gets dirty faster than natural ones. Wash it in water no hotter than 40 degrees. If you do this by hand, under no circumstances should you wash out stains that have formed on your clothes. They should be carefully rubbed with stain remover soap and left for the time recommended in the instructions. After this time, you need to carefully rinse the item and squeeze out as little excess water as possible.
If you wash acrylic in washing machine, it is better to choose a mode for wool or delicate washing, set the minimum spin speed. Can be used as washing powder, and washing gel. But bleaches – either alone or as part of a laundry detergent – cannot be used.
As for steaming items made of acrylic, they, like items made of bamboo thread, cotton or lurex, are very easy to spoil. Therefore, WTO should not be carried out at the maximum temperature of the iron. As for cotton threads, they tend to shrink strongly during steaming; in addition, it is very easy to place a stain on them with hot steam, so WTO is carried out quickly and with a non-hot iron.
About how to steam knitted item, watch in the next video.
Is it worth ironing knitted fabric when working? Expand this further exciting question we asked the author of many master classes (some published on our website) Anna Dranovskaya.
— Hello, dear needlewomen! Many beginning knitters wonder: should I iron? Today I have to perform in an unusual role, I will try to answer asked question, I will share with you almost 20 experiences, I will give clear example.
When people ask me if I iron, the answer from my lips is a resounding “yes.” I did not immediately come to the conclusion that the product must be steamed while knitting. As a child, I knitted for dolls, and the first serious product was a sweater, which I knitted without steaming. Having knitted it, it seemed wrinkled to me and I decided to smooth it out. After which I was horrified and in complete despair from the stupid work done, the state was “at least cry”. This was my first sad experience.
I am often asked the question: Why can’t I accurately calculate the loops and knit the item to size?
The first reason, which I mention with my eyes closed, is that the product was knitted without being smoothed out. The second is the reluctance to constantly check the size and the third is errors in calculations.
When communicating with knitting enthusiasts and other craftswomen, I sometimes hear the phrase “I like it unironed.” After which, remembering the famous phrase about jellied fish, I want to rephrase and answer: you simply don’t know how to do it.
I want to show you a clear example in a small fragment.
Under No. 1 you have a sample without steam treatment. Look at how shabby and unkempt he looks.
Sample No. 1. No steam treatment.
Do you like him? I don't. In my opinion, wearing a shapeless knitted thing is a disgrace to your work.
But oddly enough, many people wear just such clothes. Not knowing what it should really look like, fashionistas proudly show it off. And after washing, when it has taken on immense dimensions, they become disappointed in knitted items.
No. 2 shows an ironed sample. It looks neat, the surface is smooth, in a word, it’s nice to look at.
Sample No. 2. Smoothed through damp gauze.
Please note the difference in size; for this purpose, I specially placed a centimeter next to the fragment. Draw conclusions: how much the finished product will stretch if you do not process the fabric during calculation and knitting.
Now decide what you like best.
Why do you need to steam a knitted item?
To do exact calculation loops Having calculated, you cast on the loops on the knitting needles or start crocheting; after knitting a few centimeters, you should smooth them out. You measure whether your calculation matches, if so, then continue to work. If not, then decide what needs to be done, add or subtract the number of loops, and, without regret, unravel. After knitting another 15–20 cm, iron it again and take a control measurement, edit further work. And repeat this until the bitter end.
There is one more nuance - the product in a horizontal position has a different length from the thing that is hanging (on a mannequin or on you).
How to knit so that the desired length is obtained?
Measure the length of the knitted fabric in a hanging position. Yes, it is difficult, but the final result is worth it. When knitting a straight silhouette dress, its length may be unimportant, but when knitting the head of the sleeve, it is important to maintain its height, otherwise there will be a “kapshuk” in the sleeve. In a fitted silhouette, the Dpt and Dst measurements are important. When measuring horizontally, you will get one number, but when hung or worn, the number will change upward. This will lead to the waist not being in place, but somewhere lower.
By steaming the fabric while knitting, you see and understand how the yarn behaves. It will either shrink or stretch. This prevents it from becoming deformed after washing. Under steam, it will take on the same condition that would occur if you washed it.
In most cases, the yarn stretches, but there are exceptions when it shrinks. It all depends on its composition. I repeat, you can find out how a knitted product will behave by smoothing it during knitting.
By following my advice, I guarantee that you will knit the fabric exactly according to the pattern. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, I will try to help.
With the onset of cooler days, knitwear becomes more and more relevant. Beautiful things make your image unique.
By knitting your model, you show skill and individuality, but you forget that knitted products need special care. You can’t wash them in a hard mode, and if you also put them in the spin cycle at high speeds, the item will lose its shape.
Some knitted items cannot be ironed at all. Here's the trouble. After all, after washing, even by hand, and spinning, even gentle, wrinkles remain. Even though they are small, they look ugly. If you don't care how knitwear fits on you, don't worry. If you want to look fashionable and neat, then the item needs to be steamed.
Methods for steaming knitted items
Modern irons are equipped with a steam function. If you have an iron like this, then steaming knitted items will be very easy for you. You pour water into a special compartment, turn on the desired mode - and off you go. Pass the iron over the item, without touching it, of course, and it produces jets of steam, tidying up the knitwear. Just remember that the knitted product should lie on a flat surface, and in no case hang on a hanger or on a rope.
If you don’t have such an iron, you can use several in simple ways steam knitted items:
- Lay out the dry item on the ironing board. If there is none, on the blanket. Not cotton or padding polyester. Heat the iron at maximum heat. At this time, lower a piece of thick gauze into a container of clean water. Take it out and squeeze it out so that the water no longer drains. Lay out the wet cut on the knitwear. When you hear a click - a shutdown signal (which means the soleplate is heated to the desired temperature), you can start steaming. Do not drag across the item: this can stretch the pattern beyond recognition. The corrugated surface will instantly become smooth. And with weak knitting, the product will generally become 3-4 sizes larger. 5 mm from the gauze, pass the sole of the iron over the surface of the item. Hot air passing through wet gauze will do its job.
- A similar method can be used without an iron. Hairdryer turned on at full heat. The air stream must again pass through damp gauze or thin fabric. You can’t bring it too close to the knitwear.
- A knitted item can be sent to the “steam room”. There is a bathroom and hot water in it too. Here's the next method. With a minimum of your intervention. Lay out the knitwear on a hard surface, fill the bath with hot water, close the room and wait for the steam to act on the yarn. You cannot hang the item on hangers or a rope at this time: under steam treatment it can become very stretched.
- Craftsmen smooth out used yarn using a teapot. Boil water in it, when steam begins to rise above the spout, place the knitted product in the area of its action. Hold for a short time until the threads are steamed and the wrinkles disappear. The kettle can already be turned off at this time. It is important that the steam rises.
After steaming, the item will become damp. It will need to be dried by laying it on a flat surface. But so that new folds do not form.
