Laundering curls up my clothes!

November 20, 2008 5:37 AM

Why do parts of my clothes curl up after being washed and dried?

This used to happen a LOT when I wore a lot of polo shirts. I'd go to get out out of my closet and notice that the collar is all curled up, mostly at the tip. Now that I'm staying home with my kids I notice that my daughters frilly clothes are all curled up where there are small decorative pieces of material like frills. I'm fairly certain this is happening as part of the laundering process but how do I stop it? I don't really want to iron a 2 year olds clothes!

posted by Thrillhouse to home & garden (7 comments total)

It happens because the fibers in the cloth were not probably washed/pre-treated before they were stitched into the garment in question. A good way to eliminate this is to remove the offending clothes from the dryer while they are still slightly damp and stack them in a completely flat pile to use the compression method to flatten them without ironing.
posted by banannafish at 6:13 AM on November 20, 2008

Ive noticed this in polo shirts. Im not sure what happens, but it usually happens after a year of ownership. I think its just wear. Whatever is supposed to keep the polo collar straight has fatigued somehow. I just buy new shirts when I start noticing it.
posted by damn dirty ape at 6:41 AM on November 20, 2008

It may be from the heat of the dryer and/or hot, hot water. Try and use the coolest setting and, as bannanfish mentioned, take thing out of the dryer before they are fully dry.
posted by mightshould at 6:41 AM on November 20, 2008

If it's happening in only knits, it could be the nature of the fabric. Stockinette stitch - the basic stitch most knit clothes like t-shirts, polos, etc, are made of and looks like a series of Vs from the "right" side - is asymmetrical and the raw edges naturally curl up. Sturdy hems or ribbing on the ends of a garment will prevent this, and washing/drying tends to exacerbate the curling.

I'm not sure if that's what's happening to polo shirt collars, but it seems to be such a common problem that googling "no-curl polo" will get you several results - it looks like Hanes makes a shirt that purportedly doesn't curl.
posted by Metroid Baby at 7:02 AM on November 20, 2008

I hang my polo shirts up to dry and I don't really have the collar problem.
posted by oaf at 7:12 AM on November 20, 2008

Also, previously on askme.
posted by damn dirty ape at 7:41 AM on November 20, 2008

Thanks everyone! I'll try taking them out with the load thats in there now and see how it work!
posted by Thrillhouse at 8:23 AM on November 20, 2008