How and what to do if jeans stretch after washing: re-wash in the correct mode

How to reduce jeans size at home

You don’t have to part with your favorite item or rush to the atelier to have your trousers sewn. You can try to return them to shape yourself using one of these methods.

Cooking jeans

Not everyone will risk doing this, since the boiling procedure is unsafe for the fabric. You will need a pan of water and detergent. You can use washing powder or add a lot of grated laundry soap.

Boil the solution with clothes over low heat for 1–1.5 hours.
A significant disadvantage of this method is that the jeans will lose their original color. Therefore, it is better to use boiling for very light-colored trousers.
Darker items may only change color when boiled in certain areas. It is possible that stains of blue or gray shades will appear on the surface.
Also, do not boil jeans if they are decorated with various decorative elements, they may come off.

How to wash old jeans to make them shrink if you can’t boil them? Refer to the following methods.

Dryer

To make your jeans shrink a little, you can put them in the dryer on the most powerful setting.

In most cases, when exposed to high temperatures, the fabric shrinks and the jeans become smaller.

We sit in certain places

Removing stretched knees or hips from jeans is quite simple, and therefore almost anyone can use this method. The proposed method is suitable for cases where it is necessary to remove excess stretching locally.

We also recommend reading: Disinfection of shoes for fungal diseases: how to treat shoes from fungus

It is worth arming yourself with fabric softener, warm water and a spray bottle. You need to mix water and product in a 3:1 ratio and pour it into a container. The contents must be well mixed, and therefore it is recommended to shake the bottle thoroughly.

It is necessary to carefully moisten all areas that need to be restored with the contents of the bottle. At the same time, dry areas will not shrink, and therefore you should carefully monitor which areas are wet. All that remains is to dry the product at high temperature. To do this, it is recommended to use a dryer, but if you don’t have one, don’t be upset, since you can complete the procedure with a hairdryer.

To consolidate the result, it is recommended to iron the product at high temperature for several minutes. This method will not work if you need to reduce the product by one or more sizes, and therefore you should pay attention to other methods that will help achieve the desired result.

How to wash jeans to make them shrink

Washing is a proven method for reducing clothing sizes over the years. Everyone knows that a washed item is much more difficult to put on and fasten.

Washing helps reduce stretched jeans at the hips and out-of-shape fabric at the knees. But the effect will be short-lived, and after a while the product will stretch out again.

To increase the washing effect, use hot water.
In terms of effectiveness, hand and machine washing are not the same, since in the washing machine you can increase the temperature to 90, causing the fabric to shrink. Thanks to the high temperatures and high speeds in the washing machine, jeans can be reduced up to two sizes. When washing by hand, you cannot use such hot water.

It should be noted that shrunken items return to their previous appearance quickly, and very soon you will have to wash them again.

How to iron jeans: step-by-step instructions on how to iron jeans quickly and easily (85 photos)

Why do jeans stretch?

Most often, jeans stretch at the knees and waist due to the cotton thread they contain. Synthetic fibers improve the situation a little, but there are many other reasons why a given product may begin to stretch. Here are some of them:

If jeans are made from pure cotton, they will stretch greatly due to the structure of the fibers.
When wearing this item for a long time, the fabric stretches on the hips and knees.
Budget jeans are often made with a large amount of Lycra. The threads break, creating a stretch.
When washing jeans in cold water with powder, there is a high chance that they will stretch.
If the item is not spun out after washing, then when drying on a line, the water flowing down will stretch the fabric.

Stretched jeans: how to get back into shape

If the described options for one reason or another do not suit you, and the question is still relevant, how to make your favorite jeans fit, you can try a somewhat extreme option, namely shrinking the trousers “on yourself”.

How to make jeans smaller this way? The sequence of actions is as follows:

Wear stretchy jeans and don't forget to fasten the zipper and buttons.
Fill the bath with hot water so that it covers your body to the lower back. The water temperature must be high enough, but at the same time tolerable, otherwise you risk getting burned.
Sit in a bathtub of water, and you need to sit so that your jeans are completely covered with water. You need to stay in the bath until the water cools down.
Now the product needs to be dried without removing, which is best done in the fresh air, under the sun's rays. If you decide to sit, choose a metal or plastic chair; these materials will not absorb moisture.

It takes several hours to dry jeans, constantly turning them over so that the product dries completely. This method will allow you to perfectly “fit” stretched jeans to your figure.

A quick way to make jeans smaller

If you have no time at all for cooking, washing or drying, a fairly simple but effective method of reducing the size of your favorite jeans can come to your aid. To do this, the weather outside must be hot and sunny.

Take a shower and direct hot streams of water onto your jeans. The hotter the water, the better. The main thing is not to get burned yourself during all the manipulations.
After this, shake your pants. Wring out, try not to stretch the fabric.
Wear jeans. Fasten all zippers and buttons.
Step outside and the hot summer sun will do its job. Jeans under the hot rays will begin to dry quickly. The fabric is different in that the fibers quickly release moisture to the external environment and at the same time begin to shrink. What’s important is that your jeans will begin to shrink according to your figure! As a result, you will get trousers that fit perfectly and beautifully highlight all the curves of the body.

The disadvantages of this method are obvious:

It’s good if no one sees you in the first minutes of “sun drying”: you can look stupid in jeans from which water flows in rivulets. Luckily, jeans dry very quickly!
The result is short-lived. In just a couple of days you will have to think again about looking for ways to shrink your jeans.
This method requires hot weather. And this condition does not depend on the person.

Don't rush to part with jeans that have stretched out. Try reducing their size using one of the following methods. But if you want a lasting result, then the path lies in the studio. Stitching will help to permanently reduce the size. But even in this case, over time, the jeans will begin to stretch again, although not soon.

Washed jeans

Welding jeans in the truest sense of the word is a risky business. The procedure itself is very simple: put the jeans in a pan, pour water, add detergent, and simmer on the stove for at least one hour over low heat.

The jeans will actually shrink in size. They will fit tightly to the figure without sagging fabric. But this method can be called aggressive in terms of its effect on the tissue. Its disadvantages:

The fabric may become rougher after cooking.
You cannot “cook” colored or dark jeans. They will definitely lose their shade. If the paint does not come off completely, then streaks will definitely remain. Only light or white jeans should be “cooked”.
Decorative stripes, rhinestones, and beads may fall off during heat treatment. You can carefully cut them off during the procedure and then sew them on.
If the jeans have been frayed, they may tear in these places.

Drying jeans

If you dry your pants properly, they may also shrink in size. This is done after a planned wash or special pre-soaking.

There are several drying options to reduce size:

The easiest way is to resort to machine drying. Most modern washing machines have a drying program. Choose the most powerful and powerful mode. After that, all you have to do is take out the jeans and put them on.
Hang wet jeans on the radiator or in front of the fireplace. In this case, do not forget about fire safety standards and do not leave them unattended. Exposure to heat from the heating elements will help shrink the jeans. It is highly likely that your jeans will shrink by one size due to the compression of the fabric fibers.

This method has virtually no downsides. But the effect is unlikely to last longer than a couple of days. The jeans will then stretch out again, returning to their original shape. The advantage of this method is that the fabric will remain intact and intact. Drying does not damage the fibers in any way, but only shrinks them for a short time.

How to get rid of blisters on your knees

If the fabric begins to bubble in problem areas, you can return it to its previous appearance in several ways.

Using fabric softener

Take fabric softener, some warm water and a spray bottle.
Pour three parts water and one part conditioner into a container. Mix well.
Moisten the problem area with the resulting liquid.
Spin the clothes in the washing machine on the drying cycle or dry them with a regular hairdryer.

Advice! If the problem cannot be resolved the first time, repeat the procedure.

Steam treatment

Another way to correct the situation is to use an iron with steam mode. To do this, smooth out the damaged fabric, periodically treating it with hot steam, until it returns to an acceptable appearance.

The same procedure to eliminate the “bubbles” effect can be carried out on damp jeans until they are completely dry.

Reference!
If you cannot tidy up the problem area yourself, you should turn to the services of specialists, a sewing studio.

Creative way

A good way to correct this defect is to take a creative approach to the problem. It is enough to decorate these areas with the help of “fake” patches, embroidery or appliqué made of colorful fabric or pieces of leather, and the stretched fabric will not be noticeable.

You can make decorative cuts on youth jeans, which are extremely popular at the moment.

What types of jeans are there?

Jeans are divided into types according to style, color and season. There are classic loose ones and tight-fitting ones, like a second skin. Thin summer and insulated for cold seasons, black, white and blue.

But for our topic, it is more important to separate them according to the material from which they are sewn. Since this is what most influences how long the trousers will last and how to care for them. Is it possible to make the jeans not stretch or to make the jeans shrink?

High quality denim. Branded jeans are made from it. This is a dense natural cotton fabric with a special weave of two threads. One side is lighter, and the other is noticeably darker.
Cotton from Mexico, the Caribbean Islands, and Africa is used to produce fibers. It is durable and retains its shape well.
Shrink to fit. This fabric shrinks only once, during the first wash, and subsequently, no matter how much you boil it, you won’t be able to shrink it.
Jeans made from Asian or Indian cotton. This fabric comes in different densities and trousers made from it are cheaper than those made from classic American denim. The fabric, which comes from Asia, becomes denser and rougher after washing, but quickly returns to its previous size. Jeans from India are thinner, and the threads have a fleecy feel to the touch. When washed in hot water, they will shrink in all directions, both lengthwise and widthwise.
Stretch. To achieve elasticity in such jeans, artificial fibers elastane or lycra are added to natural cotton. They can stretch well to fit the figure and immediately return to their previous volume when the trousers are removed. The presence of synthetics in the composition does not allow them to be washed at high temperatures. Regular washing briefly causes them to narrow slightly.
Summer. These thin fabrics essentially have almost nothing to do with denim. This is natural cotton, only dyed to match classic jeans. It has a regular, not at all dense weave, so it does not have the strength and wear resistance of classic jeans. When washed in hot water, they shrink a lot and never return to their original shape.

Prohibitions on the procedure for reducing jeans

Each item is marked with the maximum washing temperature allowed for the product. You should not increase it so that the item does not deteriorate.
You should not iron wet jeans, as this will stretch them even more.
Air drying at normal temperatures will not cause shrinkage.
Also, shrinkage of jeans leads to their reduction not only in width, but also in length. Therefore, you need to be careful in this procedure so that the pants do not become too short.
If your jeans have decorative elements, such as sequins, you should not wash them in the machine at full power. The design will deteriorate and the washing machine may become clogged.