Shrinking oversize sweaters?

[Ozoid]

Has anyone successfully shrunk sweaters without damaging them?

My father is cleaning out his closet and gave some wonderful sweaters. 3 are larges,however, and I'm definitely a medium. One is a Polo RL, thick cotton yarn in a fisherman pattern. Another is a finer gauge of cashmere, and the tag of the third only identifies it as wool, in a yarn gauge and weight that approximates a typical lambswool v-neck sweater vest.

Any suggestions?

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

I've successfully shrunk quite a few sweaters without damaging them and my son and my g/f love me for my 'efforts'. Putting the dryer on high usually does the trick. Everytime I have done it I have tried shout, "Eureka!!!" but somehow it always comes out as "Oh fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccckkkkkk!!!!!"

 

[Ozoid]

Not sure I understand. "Successfully shrunk quite a few sweaters," yet it comes out as "Oh fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!!!"

Former or latter?

 

[bings]

just wash in hot water then put them in a dryer on high heat but keep checking on them... unshrinking is waaaaaaay harder to to

i've successfully shrunk a few that are in regular rotation but i've also over-shrunk a few nice cashmeres that i'll be saving for my kids now.

 

[mixProtocol]

Careful with the wool and cashmere sweaters -- they can turn into felt pretty quickly in the dryer.

I'd try a warm/hot water bath first for those.

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

I was able to successfully unshrink 2 wool sweaters with an extended soak in water and fabric softener and then pinning the sweater on a piece of cardboard to dry

 

[bings]

^^^ yeah i have to try that on a couple pieces... i know it can be done it just takes time, patience and some table space