Can knitted items be ironed? Steaming knitwear

Do-it-yourself knits can be amazingly beautiful. They help to emphasize your individuality and bring many joyful moments in life. But they need to be looked after. What is the correct approach to this task?

You need to iron knitted things carefully so as not to damage the product.

Steaming the finished product

These things must be handled very carefully in order to maintain their elasticity, delicacy / relief. Before processing with steam, any such product must be carefully laid out on a flat surface, straighten out all folds, creases and elongated places. If it is deformed, you can pin it to a pattern or some thick fabric.

Then determine the type of thread. The label often indicates the temperature allowed for processing them. What is knitted from cotton and linen can withstand very high temperatures, but it is important not to overdo it so that there are no ugly yellowish spots left. Thick fluffy threads should fluff; for this, it is enough to hold the object over the container from which the steam rises and let it dry. Clothes made of wool do not like steaming at all; they can be moistened, straightened and left to dry. Synthetic fibers such as lurex require special care. Better to tinker, choosing the right temperature and starting with the minimum, than to melt such threads and ruin everything.

When steaming, it is important to consider the following:

• All threads react differently to the temperature of the iron, even the same threads, but from a different batch. Better to try the iron on the wrong side first on a small piece of linen.
• You cannot pull the iron along the canvas, it stretches.
• A product with a relief pattern, made of thick wool, should be placed on a terry towel or thick soft blanket, then the relief can be preserved.
• Elastic bands and very convex patterns are not ironed at all.
• Steaming is carried out only through a damp cloth or gauze, without directly touching the cloth itself.
• The product should not be ironed until it is completely dry: it would be correct to leave it slightly damp and let it dry on its own.

The iron must be carefully drawn along the canvas so as not to stretch it.

Steaming things during the manufacturing process

When starting knitting, any craftswoman first makes a control sample. If you are not too lazy to make it larger and carefully steam it, you can clearly see how the finished product will behave when ironing, shrink or stretch. This pattern gives another advantage: the calculation of the loops will be much more accurate, and the finished garment will fit perfectly.

When the details are ready, they also need to be steamed, trying to give them the shape of a pattern. At this stage, they are easy to process, and when knitting is completed, the same operation will be much more difficult to perform.

Paired parts, such as sleeves, pockets, decorative elements, are folded face to face, swept away, steamed and allowed to dry in this form, and then separated.

The last time the garment undergoes steaming, fully assembled, with the main focus on ironing out the seams.

Steaming of knitted items is carried out through damp gauze

Crochet

Usually crochet is done with light fishnet things. The beauty of a crocheted product will depend on how much you can keep the shape of the numerous holes.

For this purpose, the thing is laid out on a dense bedding or pattern. Then it is stretched by hand, pinning individual areas and even individual holes with pins. It is important that these pins do not leave rust and that their heads are not decorated with beads, which will make ironing much more difficult. If the pattern is very complex, it is recommended to use light stitches along the pattern outline to fasten the knitted fabric to the bedding, which will prevent its deformation.

Shaping takes a lot of effort and time, sometimes even a couple of hours. If the item is cotton, you can starch the back or use an appropriate spray to add extra firmness.

In the process of steaming, the pins are gradually removed from the finished sections. They leave marks on a thin knitted fabric, therefore, when all the pins are removed, you should once again easily moisten the product and completely steam it so that there are no traces left. If you show a little patience, do everything right and wait until the thing becomes dry, the result of crocheting will delight even very discerning craftswomen.

Keeping knitwear is tricky, but it’s the necessary finishing touch to make it amazingly beautiful.

Steaming knitwear. Discussion of this topic on Osinka. Thanks for the tips mew, Lorna, Puzzle. WTO technology of knitted products I will make a reservation right away that I knit by machine, but I do not think that the technology for processing manually knitted parts should be fundamentally different. The second clause. I almost never knit from pure acrylic, because any thing connected from it is a thing from the "idea was good" series. You can always choose another yarn to make the product even better, and which fiber to prefer depends on the specific model. I apologize for being so categorical, I emphasize once again that I proceed from PERSONAL experience. So that's it. Acrylic cannot be steamed; it becomes flat and inelastic under the influence of temperature. If you are knitting from acrylic, then the only thing that can be done with the details before joining is to prick along the pattern, spray from a spray bottle and let dry. Therefore, you need to very carefully select the knitting pattern for the acrylic yarn so that the product looks decent. Again, the problem of joining parts - unpaired seams look unprofessional. But just wool, cotton and flax must be steamed. And in different ways, depending on the knitting pattern and much more. I will try to systematize my scattering thoughts in terms of fiber composition, knitting pattern, product type, etc. and today or tomorrow I will post. (I love this business, so that everything is scientific, with a classification ... I can’t explain everything on my fingers. First of all, why do we steam at all? more expressive, the seams are even and clear (just do not shower me with hats right away, lovers of large embossed braids! patterns are different ... Wink) Secondly, there are three points when steaming may be needed (and sometimes just necessary): the product is in detail after the end of knitting, in the process of joining parts, after washing (I have a couple of openwork sweaters that I have to revive after EACH wash) Third, what do we knit from? You can divide the yarn into groups for ease of discussion. knitting and pattern are largely determined by the yarn.Smooth wool, mohair, wool with additives, cotton, linen, viscose and all sorts of combinations require different handling. We don’t press hard, these are not some dry jeans, right? I also always knit a sample of the pattern from the yarn that will go to the product and steam it. Everything becomes clear at once. You can adjust the temperature and the degree of depression. My ironing board is quite soft, I put an additional layer of thick batting under the cover. Now in order. 1. Pure wool (sheep, alpaca, angora, it doesn't matter, I mean a smooth thread without any bells and whistles), in my opinion, needs to be steamed. It becomes softer and fluffier, under the influence of steam, all the fibers of the yarn are straightened, and the loops become smoother. Sometimes it takes extra effort to get a fluffy yarn jumper to look like the picture in a magazine, but this has already been discussed a lot in the mohair topic. So: If the details of the product are knitted with a pattern without high embossed elements and not in elastic, then I usually prick them right on the ironing board with the wrong side up along the pattern (more precisely, in size: length, width, armhole length, etc., the pattern itself I rarely do) and steam through a damp iron. This is usually done in parts, because does not fit entirely on the board. If the canvas is elastic, it is impossible to steam in a stretched form. It is necessary to put the part so that the elastic is in a "compressed" form, give the part the correct shape and carefully, without pressing, evenly walk with the iron. Knitting becomes much smoother. I also steam relief patterns, and I hold the iron almost by weight. After all, flat reliefs become flat not because of temperature, but because of pressure. If I feel that I have overdone it and ruined the embossed pattern with excessive pressure, I have to wash it. After washing, everything falls into place. 2. Smooth blended yarn: wool + cotton / rayon. The principle is the same: we steam smooth patterns boldly, and the more embossed, the more carefully you need to act. I must steam the openwork patterns so that the pattern of the "holes" is clear. There is a tremendous problem with embossed patterns made from such yarn: un-steamed ones look uneven, steamed ones look flat. I can't advise anything here, it all depends on the desired effect. 3. Any "summer" yarn (cotton, linen, viscose), again smooth. If we consider that openwork is usually knitted from such yarn, then steaming is necessary. I prick in size, steam it off. If the yarn is with viscose, then it is better to adjust the temperature of the iron on the sample and not hold the iron in one place, and cotton and linen - at the maximum and without any hesitation. If there is a jagged border, then you need to chop all the corners and then soar. It's hard to say about the gum, you must definitely try it on a sample. All of the above applies to the processing of parts before assembly. During the assembly process, an iron is also indispensable. If the details are cut off on the machine, it is imperative to weld all the seams from the inside out. Sometimes hand seams should be slightly steamed, the only exceptions are the seams connecting the rubber band canvases. Usually the connection of the gum is almost imperceptible, but if it seems that it is crooked, you need to weld it so that the gum next to the seam is in a compressed state. After washing, some knitted things again ask for an iron, especially those that are sewn on a typewriter. I always lightly weld the machine seams, even if the whole thing does not need to be ironed. Somehow it seems to me all the time that they lie unevenly. I also had several jumpers made of pure wool, knitted with a front satin stitch, they had to be completely steamed after washing, and even stretched a little. Summer openwork blouses and tops, too, after washing, look not exactly wrinkled, but somehow inexpressive. But the embossed patterns of pure wool look better and better. For this I love! WTO for mohair I remembered one more way of steaming :), if you can call it that, which I used for mohair. I had such a wonderful "Camomile" cosmetic device, consisting of a bath with a boiler and a plastic hemisphere put on it, into which it was supposed to stick my face and undergo a steam bath. So I pulled a mohair sweater on this hemisphere, steamed all its parts evenly and The effect is amazing - all the pile immediately crawled out, straightened and became silky and soft.This is how people suffered until they came up with powerful steam irons! Lay on the parts of the ironing board with the wrong side up, without stretching (!!!). Give the correct shape. only slightly touching the sole to the product.It is better, of course, to try on a sample (if you knitted a sample for calculating product sizes). Actually, you're right, the gum looks smoother after this treatment. But if there is at least 15% synthetics, then it is better not to risk it. WTO. Steaming knitwear Girls, I make it much easier. I rarely knit from pure synthetics. Therefore, I steam everything and always, and I advise everyone to do it. I have a few tricks with this. Firstly, the details must be swept in pairs, and always with the front side inward - then you can press a little harder with the iron. If the drawing is very embossed, place a terry towel under it on the ironing board. Then another thing: we steam through cheesecloth, and not through coarse calico. Then we leave everything to dry. Then we calmly collect the seams and steam only the seams on the finished product. I try to float the elastic, perhaps at the very edge of the quilted seam (if the collar is elastic). Openwork must be steamed always and very carefully. And to prick the details on the pattern, sprinkle them with water is not serious, and there is little sense from this. A friend of mine erases parts before assembling. Of course, this is her business and the business of her clients - but to me these things seem to be immediately knitted from old washed yarn. And if you process it according to my method, you will feel the difference. how to steam the gum Well, about the gum (though I do this mostly with the machine). Thread thin straight knitting needles into the bottom and top edges of the elastic, pull it high so that it shrinks nicely in width, and steam lightly (the iron is always only by weight!). It looks great.

Should you iron the knitted fabric while working? We asked the author of many master classes (some are published on our website) Anna Dranovskaya to reveal more extensively this exciting issue.

- Hello, dear needlewomen! Many novice knitters ask themselves the question: do I need to iron? Today I have to play an unusual role, I will try to answer the question asked, I will share with you almost 20 experience, I will give an illustrative example.

When I am asked if I am stroking, a definite "yes" sounds from my lips. I did not come to the conclusion that the product must be steamed while knitting. As a child, I knitted for dolls, and the first serious product was a sweater, which I knitted without steaming. Having tied it up, it seemed to me crumpled and I decided to smooth it out. Then I was horrified and in complete despair from the stupidly done work, the state was "at least cry." This was my first sad experience.

I am often asked the question: why is it not possible to accurately calculate the loops and knit the thing in size?
The first reason, which I call with my eyes closed, is that the product was knitted without smoothing. The second is the unwillingness to constantly check with the size and the third is the calculation errors.

Communicating with lovers of knitting and other craftswomen, sometimes I hear the phrase “I like unsmoothed”. After that, remembering the famous phrase about jellied fish, I would like to paraphrase and answer: you just do not know how to do it.

I want to show you an illustrative example in a small fragment.

At number 1 in front of you is a sample without steam treatment. Look at what a "poppy" and unkempt look he has.

Sample No. 1. No steam treatment.

Do you like it? I don’t. In my opinion, wearing a shapeless knitted thing is a disgrace to your work.

But oddly enough, many people wear just such clothes. Not knowing how she really should look, fashionistas proudly demonstrate it. And after washing, when she has taken on immense dimensions, they are disappointed in knitted things.

An ironed sample is presented under No. 2. It looks neat, the surface is smooth, in a word, nice to look at.

Sample No. 2. Smoothed out through damp gauze.

Pay attention to the difference in size, for this I purposely placed a centimeter next to the fragment. Draw conclusions: how much the finished product will stretch if you do not process the fabric during calculation and knitting.

Now decide what you like best.

Why do I need to steam a knitted garment?

To make an accurate calculation of the loops. Having calculated, you are typing loops on the knitting needles or starting to crochet, knitting a few centimeters, you should smooth it out. You measure whether your calculation matches, if so, then continue to work on. If not, then decide what needs to be done, add or subtract the number of loops, and, without regret, dissolve. After knitting another 15–20 cm, iron it again and make a control measurement, edit further work. And so repeat until the bitter end.

There is one more nuance - the product in a horizontal position has a different length from the thing that is hanging (on the mannequin or on you).

How to knit so that the desired length is obtained?

Measure the length of the knitted fabric in the hanging position. Yes, it's difficult, but the bottom line is worth it. When knitting a straight silhouette of a dress, its length may not be fundamental, but when knitting the head of the sleeve, it is important to observe its height, otherwise there will be a "cap" in the sleeve. In a fitted silhouette, the dimension of Dpt and Dst is important. When measured horizontally, you get one number, but when hung or put on, the figure will change up. This will lead to the fact that the waist is not in place, but somewhere lower.

By steaming the fabric while knitting, you can see and understand how the yarn behaves. She will either sit down or stretch. Thus, you exclude its deformation after washing. Under the steam, it will take on the state that will occur if you washed it.

In most cases, the yarn will stretch, but there are exceptions when it shrinks. It all depends on its composition. I repeat how the knitted product will behave, you can find out by smoothing it during knitting.

By following my advice, I guarantee that you will knit the fabric exactly to the pattern. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, I will try to help.

The beauty of a knitted product depends a lot on the quality of the yarn. But it looks really finished after steaming or wet heat treatment (WTO). It is performed using a steam iron and cutting gauze or fabric. We also always steam the finished knitted product using an iron and damp gauze or cloth.

If the product is knitted on its own, then the yarn itself is steamed first. Especially if it is reused after the previous item was disbanded. This is necessary to align the caked thread. Then a control sample is knitted and also steamed. This is necessary in order to understand how the yarn will behave in the finished product. The next WTO is needed for the details of a knitted thing. We pre-sweep the sleeves, with each other, so that they are the same size. If the knitting is hosiery, we connect it close to the edge so that the part does not fold into a tube. Sweep the front and back separately, folding in half along the vertical fold. Steam gently without touching the vertical fold.

We hold the iron carefully. By no means iron do not smooth the jersey, do not press on it as is the case with regular fabric. This will lead to deformation. The gauze should be kept moist at all times. During steaming, it can be moistened for a few r az. Do not dry the steamed knitted parts with an iron to the end. At the end of the WTO, they should be slightly damp and dry on their own.

If the yarn is unstable, the knitting structure is loose, then the details of the future product must be pinned with stainless pins to the pattern on the fabric. We apply a paper pattern to a piece of fabric, draw a circle around the outline with an indelible marker. Then we pin the details of the knitted thing to the contours of the pattern.

When the knitwear pattern has a raised convex pattern, a terry towel should be placed under the part before the WTO. Before steaming, we carefully stretch the openwork parts with holes to the desired size.

After assembling the product, we also lightly steam it through a damp cloth or gauze, holding the iron on weight. We pay special attention to seams and folds.

The same steaming rules apply to finished knits. They are also pre-laid out on an ironing board, smoothing out dents and creases with your hand. Steamed through damp gauze using a steam iron. Hold the iron over the surface of the product.

In no case should you steam the gum, it stretches and loses its shape. Otherwise, the finished knitted product will have to be redone, and hand knitting will have to be bandaged. If the thing is knitted from thick gray yarn, then before the WTO we moisten not only the gauze, but also the product itself.

Several subtleties and features of steaming. If the product is made of wool, there is practically no need to steam it... You can make a minimal WTO, then wrap the knitted item in a terry towel for a few minutes. Expand and leave in a horizontal position until completely dry.

Knitted cotton yarn needs to be steamed carefully, not particularly zealous... Yellow stains from hot water often remain on cotton; under the influence of high temperature, cotton items can shrink significantly. It is possible to lightly starch them with an aerosol during WTO. It will give the knitted product the desired shape.

Knitted items made of bamboo yarn are very pleasant to the body and environmentally friendly. But she is capricious and easily out of shape. You do not need to steam the finished thing at all, but immediately dry it in a horizontal position after washing. If the WTO is necessary, then you need to move it very carefully, the iron does not need to be very heated. Otherwise, the product may deform.

Knits made from silky or lurex yarns must be steamed carefully. Do not set the temperature regulator on the iron to the maximum. Otherwise, the threads may melt and the thing will deteriorate.

Steaming acrylic jerseys very carefully. Or don't do it at all, having laid out the thing after washing horizontally on the surface until it is completely dry. Otherwise, the "capricious" thread may be deformed, the shape will be lost.

Delicate delicate items are best steamed without an iron. Pour water into a saucepan, heat up. When the water boils, remove the lid. Carefully, so as not to scald your hands, hold the mohair product over the steam. Wrinkles and creases are smoothed out, mohair villi are straightened and fluffed up. Small knits and trimmings can be steamed over the spout of a boiling kettle. This is a proven folk method.

Before the steaming procedure, it is imperative to test the jersey.... With independent knitting, this does not cause difficulties. You can try it on a sample. If you need to steam a finished item, you should definitely test it on the wrong side, so as not to spoil it.

When home steaming of knitted items is in doubt, it is best to rely on dry cleaning. There, the product is carefully and carefully steamed on special equipment.

Knitted items are loved both by the generation of our grandmothers and are popular with our children and grandchildren. Knitted sweaters, cardigans, skirts and dresses are worn from an early age to old age, because the convenience of such things is invaluable. Moreover, if the thing is made with your own hands and is unique in its kind.

Needless to say, such clothes are very demanding in terms of maintenance, cleaning and washing processes. But how to steam a knitted product in order to maintain its shape and not spoil it during processing.

Steaming methods for knitted products

Do not touch the product during steaming (minimum gap 10 mm)

Steaming is carried out using an iron with a steam function. The presence of the mode "wool" or "delicate fabrics" is not necessary, since direct contact with the product is not required.

Before you start steaming, pour water into the iron up to the maximum level. For safe ironing, you need white gauze or a thin cotton cloth.

If processing will be carried out on an ironing board, then check its condition - the surface must be clean. Otherwise, place a white terrycloth towel in one or two layers.

The most effective steaming methods are as follows:

1. The product is taken and checked for stains. If everything is in order, then carefully lay out the item on the surface of the ironing board. We set the desired mode, moisten and squeeze the gauze. Next, the product is covered with gauze. You can run your hand to make the fabric fit snugly against the garment. Then we run the iron horizontally to the surface of the ironing board (10 mm gap). If necessary, press the "Steam" button on the iron.
2. If, for some reason, there is no iron, then you can put the product in order using a household hair dryer. To do this, you will need to repeat all the same steps. Then turn on the hair dryer to maximum power and hold the thing several times. Distance 15-20 cm from the surface.
3. To remove small wrinkles, you can hold the item over the steam. It is necessary to draw hot water into the bathroom. Then hang the product on a hanger over the container. Further, you only need to periodically check the thing. Sometimes we run over it with a clean hand.

After steaming, regardless of the method, the item is laid out on a flat surface and turns over every 10-15 minutes. You can put on or put away the product only after it is completely dry.

A very simple and effective way to eliminate wrinkles from knitwear

If necessary, it is better not to resort to steaming knitwear and knitted products. This is especially important for materials that are generally undesirable to wet with water.

Woolen items are not steamed at all. It is required to clean the thing in any convenient way and put it between two terry towels for 5-7 minutes. You can roll the product and towel into a “roll” as shown in the picture above. Then unfold and dry on a flat surface.

To iron knitted hats, you will need to put on a thing on any semicircular shape, for example, a glass jar and process it a couple of times with a steam generator or steamer.

White items made of cotton threads are steamed at a low temperature, as strong heating can lead to yellowing of the fibers of the material. It is also taken into account that cotton shrinks and exposure to hot steam will only contribute to this.

Mohair knitwear is not ironed. For this, the method described at the very beginning is used. You will need to boil water in a small saucepan and hold the knitting over the rising steam.

If you are afraid of ruining your knitted clothes, then you should not try and somehow experiment. Better to have your clothes dry cleaned. These are unnecessary costs, but they are clearly less than the cost of hand-made products.