Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. See legal disclaimer here.
Do you have a shirt that’s too large and you want it to fit? Do you want to style your shirt the right way? Well, you’re in luck. Well, this article will show you how to shrink a shirt at home with just a few household items and a little bit of time. It’s easier than you might think! With just a few steps, you’ll be on your way to increasing the comfort of your shirts and how they fit.
– how to shrink a shirt at home
– how to make a shirt smaller
– how to make a too big shirt fit better
So let’s start with the first method and work your way from there.
Related: How To Style Black High Waisted Jeans
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. straight-leg jeans.
Step 1: Check the Label for Fabric Content
If your shirt is 100% cotton, you can shrink it with hot water. However, if it’s made of polyester or rayon, shrinking the shirt won’t work at all, and you’ll need to use another method. If there isn’t a care tag sewn into the collar, turn the shirt inside out and look for fabric content listed on the back of the collar.
Step 2: Check how Much You Want to Shrink It
Before attempting to shrink your shirt:
- Check how much you want it to shrink by laying it flat on a table or other hard surface.
- Pull both sleeves away from each shoulder so that they are stretched taught.
- Measure how long the arms are currently using a ruler or measuring tape. Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to go on to the next step.
Step 3: Boil a Pot of Water
Bring the water to a boil and then let it continue to simmer for about ten minutes. This is a step where you should be careful how much water you use. The general guideline is to pour enough water into the pot to cover at least half of the shirt once submerged into the pot.
Step 4: Time To Shrink Your Shirt
Submerge your shirt into the pot of hot water and set a timer for how much time has passed since you submerged it (you should have measured how long the sleeves were when stretched out in step two). Make sure that there is always enough water in the pot so that your shirt stays submerged until you’ve reached how far you wanted it shrunken. Start checking how far along the process is once every five minutes.
You will likely prolong how long your shirt can remain how you’ve made it now!
If your shirt can still move around freely in a single layer, take a smaller spoon and gently stir up and down for about 5 minutes before checking how much shrinkage has occurred.
Step 5: Leave the Shirt In the Water for About 5 Minutes, or Until Water is Cool
You need to wait for about 5 minutes before removing the shirt from the water. Hot water will do an excellent job of shrinking your shirt, but if you leave it in too long, it may end up destroying your garment and rendering it useless. However, remember that how much shrinkage occurs depends on how hot the water is and how long you keep it there.
Check how much shrinkage occurred after leaving it in for 5 minutes by seeing how much folding has happened around the chest/shoulders/sleeves.
Step 6: Let Shirt Cool Down
After removing your shirt from the pot, I’d recommend Using tongs (you can try using your hands to grab hold of them), picking up one side of the pot’s handles, and carefully lifting out all of the boiling water.
Once you check the shirt and it’s the size you want.
Then skip step 7 and hang the shirt up using a hanger or a clothesline, something like below.
Shop Froshline Store Clothes Line
Shop Sharpty Store Plastic Hangers
Step 7: Repeat These Steps Until You Have Reached Your Preferred Size
If the shirt isn’t the size, you won’t go back to steps 1-6 and do them again. Instead, you’ll go back to how it was before and try shrinking it some more by following the same steps.
Please remember that the side of the shirt with a bar-tacked end looks like a belt; that’s how you can tell if it’s your front or your back. When boiling a long sleeve shirt, follow this process for each sleeve.
This is how to shrink a shirt in 6 relatively easy steps! If you did not read these instructions, the article would sound like gibberish to you, so be sure to look at them when trying this out for yourself.
Also, remember that without hot water, actual heat sources (like an iron), and vinegar, then this trick probably won’t work either.
Finally, I’d recommend reading the bonus step if you think these are too many steps.
Option 2: Wash and Tumble Dry on a High Heat Setting
Changing the heat setting on your dryer will help shrink the shirt. But how you choose to do this is dependent on how much time and energy you want to exert. If it’s a large load, wash and dry with hot water. If it’s a small load, then change the heat setting.
Make sure that you tumble dry correctly. For instance, please put it on low or medium heat for about 10 minutes for small loads. For larger loads, leave it on for 5 minutes longer.
Option 3: The Vinegar Method
Steps: 1) extract a long sleeve shirt from your closet
2) Fill up a sink with boiling water
3) Add vinegar (optional but will make drying easier later). Let soak for at least minutes.
4) Place the shirt on a transparent surface and spread it out to see the size.
5) Once the shirt is your preferred size, turn off the water and pour out the sink.
6) Ring all excess fluid out of the shirt.
7) Take it to a howling dryer inside-out
8) Tumble dry on high heat for minutes
The result should be that your shirt is now one or two sizes smaller.
This method works exceptionally well, but there are some essential things to keep in mind when following this how-to guide:
1) You are shrinking clothes so they may not look exactly how they looked before you shrunk them.
2) Be careful because certain types of fabrics will shrink more than others.
3) It’s recommended to wash separately unless you don’t mind how your other clothes get shrank.
Here Are Some Shirts You Might Love:)
Let me know which method you used?
Pin For Later?
Leave a Reply