How to remove pills from sweaters

Remove the little balls, one pill at a time, using a small pair of scissors or a razor blade, being careful not to damage the fabric by cutting too close to the surface. Or, you can purchase a sweater comb or electric fabric shaver, then drag it across the fabric to remove the pills.

Sweater Comb

A sweater comb is basically just a manual version of a fabric shaver. Just run it across the surface of a sweater, and this little comb will pick up pills and fuzz like a charm. Make sure to work carefully though, because you can easily snag the fabric if you’re not paying attention.

How to Remove Pilling From Clothes. One of the most effective ways to remove pills is to use a fabric comb or a battery-operated pill and fuzz remover that shaves the pills from the surface of the garment. These will pull the knotted fibers away from the surface of the fabric.

2) Prevent pilling in the washing machine

Start by turning garments inside out and fastening zippers, buttons and hooks – rubbing against these hard objects can damage clothing fibers. Next, sort clothes according to color and fabric type to help keep heavier fabrics from damaging lighter ones in the wash.

To get rid of pilling on your clothing, you can try household items, like a sandpaper sponge, a shaving razor, or a strip of Velcro. You can also use store-bought tools, such as a sweater comb, an electric sweater shaver, or a sweater stone.

These are most effective and are ideal for both clothing and couches. Manual options like sweater combs and pumice stones are more compact and don’t require batteries, but they take longer to remove pills. The winner of our test, this small but mighty shaver removed pills from fabric quickly and easily.

Put your clean (dry) sweaters — turned inside out — into the dryer on the “gentle” cycle and set the temperature to “air” (no heat!). Fluff them for five or 10 minutes. You might add one of those fabric softener sheets along with your dry sweaters — preferably a variety that is not scented.

Fibers such as wool, cotton, polyester, nylon and acrylic have a tendency to pill the most, but wool pilling diminishes over time as non-tenacious wool fibers work themselves free of the fabric and break away, whereas pilling of synthetic textiles is a more serious problem, because the stronger fibers hold on to the

If you pull the sweater gently and it bounces back into shape quickly, that’s a good sign. Review the sweater for any pills that have already begun; immediate pilling can indicate lower quality fibers.

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On the flip side, “synthetic acrylic is terrible for pilling,” Cormier said. “It’s basically a substitute for wool,” he said. “Like those cheap hat-glove-scarf three-piece sets.

If pilling reoccurs, it can simply be shaved off again. This may occur several times, but the pilling will diminish and eventually cease once the excess fibres are removed. Fabrics that are less likely to pill: All fabrics will pill to some extent however, there are fabrics that are less likely to pill.

Pilling will occur mostly on the surface of the fabric and gusset of pants made with Luon. You can make an effort to wear these leggings to low to medium-impact sports to prevent pilling. Extended use and washing will cause pilling. Wear multiple times before washing your Luon.

Your 100% cotton shirt is already pilling.

If that cotton shirt you just bought is already showing signs of pilling, it might not be made of quality fibers. That’s because cotton is a natural fiber that is actually pretty resistant to pilling, according to CottonWorks.