Is it possible to iron wool items? Is it true that this causes them to deteriorate?

You can iron wool if you take precautions. A correctly carried out procedure will smooth out the seams and give the product a neat appearance.

Wool requires care. To avoid spoiling it during processing, follow our recommendations.

When can I iron?

If the item was purchased in a store, carefully study the label. The pictures on it show how to care for your clothes.

It is easy to understand the meaning of the abbreviations:

• a crossed out iron means that the material cannot be steamed or ironed;
• if the crossed out picture is accompanied by two vertical lines at the bottom, the clothes cannot be steamed;
• an iron with one dot inside says that ironing is allowed at temperatures below 100 degrees without steam through gauze;
• iron with two points - the product can be ironed and steamed by heating the device to 150 degrees, using damp gauze or cloth;
• an iron without additional symbols indicates that the item can be ironed at any temperature.

To steam, pour purified water inside the device. This will help avoid contamination of the iron soleplate and damage to the material.

How and at what temperature to iron?

If woolen clothes need to be ironed, but there are no tags, follow the general rules:

• be sure to use gauze;
• do not heat the iron more than 150 degrees;
• for work, purchase an ironing board, cover its surface with a thick, light-colored natural fabric;
• use modern household appliances equipped with a steaming system, non-stick soleplate and temperature regulator.

It is recommended to iron the product if it is knitted with regular satin stitch and does not have embossed inserts.

To iron the wool, follow this algorithm:

1. Turn the clothes inside out, shake them and place them neatly on the board. Cover with damp gauze or cotton cloth.
2. Set the iron to “Wool” mode. First, release a stream of hot air, and then iron, lightly touching the material.
3. To avoid burning the fabric, act quickly and do not linger in one area for more than 2-3 seconds.

Steam patterns, seams, cuffs, eyelets, keeping the sole a few centimeters away from the wool. Do not stretch the item while working.

To prevent deformation, do not iron the wool when wet. Wait until it is completely dry.

How to steam things?

When steaming, the risk of damaging the wool is minimal. This method is suitable for knitted and crocheted patterns.

Sweaters, sweaters, and trousers made of wool are best processed in a horizontal position. Place the caps on a glass jar first, this way they retain their shape perfectly.

It is more convenient to do the processing with a steam generator, but you can also use a regular iron with a steaming system:

1. To prevent the item from stretching, straighten it, hang it on hangers and secure it in the desired position with pins.
2. Whatever wool item you steam, be sure to cover it with gauze first.
3. Pour purified water into the container, heat it and run it through the steam, holding the device at a slight distance from the surface. Try to keep the gauze moist at all times and re-moisten it periodically.

After finishing steaming, wait until the item cools down completely and dries. If you put it on too early, it may become deformed.

Useful tips

Ironing may not be necessary if you dry things after straightening out all the creases:

• To keep mohair jackets and sweaters looking presentable, wrap them in a thick towel after washing, carefully twist them and lay them out horizontally to dry.
• Hang semi-dry clothes made from thin acrylic threads on hangers and smooth them out with your hands. To smooth out wrinkles, boil water, pour it into a bowl and hang the item over the steam.
• To remove creases from an openwork sweater, use a wooden rolling pin. First, wet two terry towels and wring them thoroughly. Place one on a horizontal surface, place clothes on top and cover with a second towel. Take a rolling pin and roll it over the terry material several times. The wrinkles in the clothing should be smoothed out. The same method is suitable for things with long pile, downy scarves.
• If you urgently need to get your hair in order, but you don’t have an iron at hand, a regular hair dryer will do. Cover the material with damp gauze, turn on the device and treat with hot air, holding it at a distance of 10 mm from the product.
• White wool threads are more afraid of high temperatures than others. This causes them to turn yellow and lose their attractive appearance, so steam and iron white clothes at low speed.

Wool is a capricious material that can easily be damaged by a hot iron. To prevent this from happening, iron it as a last resort, do not exceed the permissible temperature and do not handle a wet item, otherwise it may stretch.