How Much Will Jeans Shrink In Hot Water? Exposing your denim to heat in general is one of the tested and trusted ways to make them shrink fast. By so doing, you are likely to experience about 4% shrink all in just one wash.
The same cannot be said for jeans that are preshrunk though because; they will not shrink as much as others due to their overall make-up.
Asides from them, other jeans or denim in general produced with 14-ounce cotton or less would totally shrink at least, up to 4% when exposed to heat
How to shrink jeans using hot water
Contents
A lot of things might make you want to get your jeans shrunk. They might be too long or feel slightly loose at the waist.
It might be a gift that didn’t quite fit and you would like them to get shrank back to size. If you ever feel the need to have your jeans shrunk, find below the procedures that will help you achieve just that.
Shrinking jeans using hot water is a life hack that everyone needs to know. This knowledge would prevent a lot of wastage thereby saving you money in the long run.
Simply toss jeans inside the machine to be washed using hot water. Jeans naturally would shrink in hot water. Once the wash cycle is complete, place them in the dryer and have it set to a very hot setting. This is where the bulk of the shrinking process takes place.
You will find your jeans to have shrunken in size by the time it gets completely dried. If you are dissatisfied with the level of shrink and would like them to shrink down some more, repeat the process all over again.
Faster way of getting your jeans shrinked
Have them boiled! No, I am not getting things mixed up here. Having your jeans boiled has been proven to be a faster way to get your jeans shrunk.
Simply get a large pot that your jeans can confidently fit in, fill it up with water and have it placed on the fire to boil. As soon as it begins to boil, gently put your jeans and allow them to simmer alongside the water for about half an hour.
As soon as the time for boiling elapses, carefully bring them out using a pair of tongs and toss them straight into the dryer. Voila! Your well-shrinked jeans are ready to be in active use again.
Trending Searches
Is the shrinking process good for your jeans?
Most times, getting your jeans shrunk is a necessity. It helps you salvage jeans that would hitherto have been thrown away due to a bad fit. As you know, denim in general stretches as you wear it.
So, the longer you wear your denim, the overly loose they are bound to be. In cases, like this, shrinking is absolutely necessary to enable you to have prolonged use of the jeans in question.
However, other cases whereby a consumer knowingly goes all out to get jeans that are bigger in size with the intention of shrinking them down to size should be frowned at. Shrinking should be thought about as the last resort and not as the plan from the ‘get go’ due to obvious reasons.
First of all, the hot water these jeans are subjected to is totally unhealthy for them. Denim and extreme heat are two sides of a coin that should never be made to meet. This is why the denims’ fibers shrink as soon as it comes in contact with it.
Furthermore, using the washing machine for your jeans causes more harm than good. It gets them damaged and unable to last you for long.
Not to talk about machine washing them using the hottest and longest cycle then, drying them afterward the same way.
You should know that by doing this, you are blatantly going against the instructions found on the care tag of your jean thereby having it killed before its time.
Additionally, the shrinking process also affects the color of your jeans. Hot water wash makes the jeans bleed and subsequently look faded.
To be on the safe side, shrink only when it is absolutely necessary and not when you can help it.
How to spot shrink your jeans
It is not every time that you would like the entire jean to be shrunk. The problem might be with the waist, length, or knee area. Whatever it is, there is a way to go about shrinking that particular spot without it affecting the rest of the jeans. You can achieve this by simply:
Getting the exact spot ironed
Okay, we should know by now that shrinking is made possible whenever the jean is exposed to anything producing extreme heat. This is exactly why you will find the iron totally useful for spot shrinking.
Areas like the waistband and sometimes knee area are highly prone to stretching due to the level of strain and tension experienced there in the range of motion.
You can have them shrunk back down to fit again by getting them slightly wet and drying them. Not with your dryer this time, but with an iron, pressing over the damp area that you want to be tightened again continuously till it gets completely dried.
You should know though, that this system might not be efficient for shrinking in large areas. You achieve a better result with them when you spot shrink just one and not multiple spots.
How do you shrink baggy jeans down to size?
You can shrink any jean, in general, using the hot water and hot dry method. The only difference that you might encounter with a baggy jean is the fact that you will have to redo the process a lot more to get the desired level of shrink you want out of them. For a faster approach, you can have them boiled for 30 minutes instead.
You should know though, that there is a specific level of shrink that a quality jeans cannot go past. Once that level is attained, and you still are not satisfied with the level of shrink achieved, it would mean that the jeans were too big for you in the first place. A tailor cutting out excess fabric and having them stitched again would be a better alternative.
FAQs
What makes a jean stretch?
As long as you wear your jeans frequently, they are bound to stretch out. Typically, the more you wear a jean, the more it expands.
If you are in doubt, take a look at a jean you have frequently worn and had for years and see just how well it has expanded – in the waist area, the thighs; it might even have the knee area looking somewhat baggy.
This is a normal occurrence for a jean that has been worn and washed a lot. You can, however, have them shrunk instead of throwing them away out rightly.
How to intentionally stretch out jeans
Just as you can get your jeans shrunk, you can have them stretched out too. Stretch out that pair of tight jeans sitting in your closet with these simple steps below:
The first step to stretching out your jeans is to have them immersed in lukewarm water. Have them soaked in there for about an hour.
The next step is to have them worn. You will notice that nothing has been said about drying them. This is because the drying process would be taking place on your body!
Yes, strange but true, but allowing a wet jean dry on your body even though very uncomfortable, has been proven to be very effective in stretching them out perfectly. Following this method would make you achieve a uniform stretch on every part of the jeans.
Try moving around in the wet jeans for about half an hour, totally avoiding sitting down or lying on anything that might get stained by it.
You can have them line-dried outside afterwards. Once dry, you will be presented with stretched-out jeans that fits much better than before.
Alternatively, if you want them stretched out just a little, you can try wearing them and doing some simple exercises like sit-ups, lunges, and squats, or just simply wearing them around the house. Not to worry about this time, you do not have to wear them wet at all.
Conclusively, you should know that jeans in general, stretch out better when worn often. The more you wear a jean, the more tension it experiences thereby forcing it to stretch.
How Much Will Jeans Shrink In Hot Water – Conclusion
As a rule, denim in general does not fare well in hot water. It constricts its fibers and renders them useless very quickly.
This is why the shrinking of jeans should be limited to only when it is necessary. In such cases, the shrinking would be doing you and the environment a huge favor by saving costs and preventing textile waste which is a problem to the environment as it fills up our landfills.
