 |
Wool blankets and clothes, photograph by the Author.
Let’s
face it, if you are a re-enactor, an experimental archaeologist, or a historical
trekker of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, you are going to be wearing
a lot of wool this winter. If you are a
modern-day adventurer, you are probably going to be wearing wool or a wool
blend, because wool is so good at keeping you warm even if it gets wet, during
these cold winter months.
So,
it’s wool season...but how are you going to wash all that wool? You could take it to a drycleaner, but that
would get expensive and you sure can’t just throw it into a washing machine! Or can you?!
A whisk broom, used for brushing the dirt off wool
blankets and clothes. Photograph by the
Author.
However,
before you wash that wool, brush it with a whisk broom to remove as much dirt from
your woolens as you can. Brushing it
with a whisk broom will also help to raise the nap or fuzziness of the wool
cloth. The nap helps to trap heat inside
the wool blanket or garment.
The washing instructions found on a British military,
100% wool blanket, photograph by the Author.
I
bought a British military, 100% wool blanket, a
couple of years ago. It came with hand
wash AND machine wash instructions!
Which
one should you choose, you might ask?
That’s a good question, so let’s talk about it.
 |
From the British Ministry of Information, Make Do
and Mend, originally published in 1943 and republished in 2007, page 18. |
Traditionally,
and perhaps conservatively, most sources recommend hand washing, and the blanket
I bought did have hand washing instructions.
Also, I found two other sources on how to hand wash woolens, one from
the British Ministry of Information and the other by C. J. Wilde from Wilde
Weavery1. Both, of these two
sources have more detail on how to successfully hand wash your wool blankets or
clothes, than the tag on my wool blanket has.
From these sources, here is how you go about handwashing those woolens.
Fill
a tub or bathtub with warm water and dissolving the soap in the water, before
putting the wool items to be washed, into the water.
Never
let running water fall onto the wool, as it can cause spot felting. Wool felting occurs when warm soapy water
compresses the nap and other wool fibers and hooks them together. Felting can also occur if you rub or twist
the wool while washing it, so don’t do it!
The
British Ministry of Information had some good advice for us, when they
suggested that you wash each item separately, starting with the lightest
colored one, first.
Also,
according to the Ministry of Information, you should squeeze the wool to work
the soap through it and you should never lift it out of the wash water while
washing it, as the weight of the water might stretch the woolens.
Rinse
the woolens in clean water, by squeezing the wool, until all the soap is worked
out of it and the soap is rinsed away. This
might take several changes of water.
When you change the water, be careful to not let the fresh water pour on
your woolens, as this might cause felting.
Again, never lift the woolens out of the rinse water while rinsing, as
the weight of the water might stretch your woolens. When you have worked out
all the soap and have finished rinsing, lift the entire blanket or garment out
of the water at the same time as a bundle, squeezing as much water as you can
from the woolens as you do.
However,
you won’t be able to squeeze out all the rinse water, and so C.J. Wilde
suggested that the easiest way to remove the remaining water from your blanket
or wool clothes, after squeezing it, is to spin it in a washing machine on a
final spin. Remember to never let rinse water
to fall onto the woolens while it is spinning as, again, that might cause
felting.
The
British Ministry of Information suggested rolling the items in clean towels, to
absorb the excess water, before laying them out flat to dry. Although the Ministry of Information doesn’t
say it, I would lay the woolens out on different clean towel to finish drying.
Interestingly,
the Ministry of Information says to, “Never hang woollens clothes, or they
may stretch”, because of the water weight.
Apparently however, when you spin the water out of woolens in a washing
machine spin cycle, it removes enough water that it is okay to hang them over a
padded clothesline or rail, according to C. J. Wilde.
If
you are drying a blanket, C. J. Wilde recommends taking the additional step of
blocking the blanket to keep it square.
“It
is necessary to block the wool blanket in order to square it back to its
original shape. Spread the wool blanket
out and gently shape it, folding it lengthwise on its center seam. Wrap this wet blanket around a clean wood
board starting at one end and neatly rolling it until only the ends of the
board stick out each side. After it has
blocked for several hours, unwrap it and drape the blanket over a clothes line
padded with old towels or over the rail of a deck to dry.”
Additionally,
C. J. Wilde in her article on caring for wool, noted that you need to let the woolens
air dry, even after they feel dry to the touch, as wool retains moistures which
cannot be felt with your hand.
 |
Photograph by the Author.
I
have washed my British military, 100% wool blanket several times, using the
instructions on it and a washing machine, and I have had good results. I have also washed some 100% wool coats using
these same instructions, and again, I have had good results.
When
following these instructions for machine washing woolens, I always set my
washing machine to “Knits Gentle, Light”, since the
instructions call for “warm, minimum wash”, and I fill the washing machine up with
warm water, first. Next, I put the soap
in and give it time to dissolve, before I put my woolens in.
Once
I put the woolens in, since my washing machine on “Knits Gentle, Light” does
not agitate, I plunge them up and down several times to make sure that they are
thoroughly soaked in the soapy water and then I turn off the washer and walk
away for a while, so that the soap has a chance to work.
When
I come back, I turn the washing machine back on and wait while the washing
machine to goes through its cycle, because you must stop the washer before it
gets to the rinse cycle, so that your wool isn’t felted by the rinse water
pouring on it. On my washing machine, the
rinse cycle starts when the dial rotates to the “•”, which is to the left of the
“Knits Gentle, Light” label. It might be
different on your washing machine, I recommend a “dry” run, with an empty
machine to figure out the washer cycle before you machine wash your woolens the
first time.
What
I do when it gets to the rinse cycle and I have stopped the washer, is take the
woolens out and put them into a clean laundry bucket and start the washer cycle
over again by turning the dial back around to “Knits Gentle, Light” and filling
the washer back up with water, putting the woolens back in, plunging them up
and down, soaking them in the soap free water and then letting the washer run
until it gets to the rinse cycle again, before stopping the washer and doing it
all over again: rinse and repeat, three times.
Photograph by the Author.
After
that, if I am washing a blanket, I block it and after several hours, I unblock
it and drape it over a drying rack to finish drying. With clothes, I skip the blocking step and
simply drape them over my drying rack to dry.
If you don’t have a drying rack, you can dry your woolens over a towel
padded clothes line, a wide wooden rail or by laying them flat on clean towels.
So,
this winter wool season, when you have to wash your matchcoat and all the rest
of that wool, I hope that this helps.
I
hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me
on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE. Don’t forget to follow me on both The
Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE,
and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube. If you have questions, as always, feel free
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announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at
bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.
That
is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!
Notes
1 CARE
INSTRUCTIONS FOR HANDWOVEN WOOL BLANKETS AND MATCHCOATS
A
handwoven wool blanket can always be dry cleaned by a professional cleaner, but
it is not difficult to clean it at home using the bath tub.
Draw
warm water in the tub mixing a liquid soap in the running water. Place blanket in the water and let it soak,
gently working water through it to loosen any dirt. Move the blanket to the far end of the tub
whenever running more water into the tub.
Repeat washings if needed and rinse with clear, warm water until all the
soap is removed. Be careful not to let
the water run on the blanket at any time as this could cause spot felting of
the wool.
The
easiest way to remove excess water from the clean blanket is to spin it in a
washing machine on the final spin.
Distribute wet blanket evenly around the sides of the machine and
spin--DO NOT USE ANY WATER. When
spinning stops, remove blanket for blocking.
Allow
the blanket to continue to air dry after it feels dry, as wool retains moisture
that can't be detected by feel.
From
“Care Instructions For Handwoven Wool Blankets And Matchcoats”, by C.J. Wilde,
unfortunately this website no longer exists and so I have reprinted it here in
its entirety.
Sources
Ministry
of Information, Make Do and Mend, [Originally printed for the Board of
Trade, His Majesty’s Stationary Office, London, 1943; Republished by Sabrestorm
Publishing, Sevenoaks, Kent, 2007], page 18
Wilde, C.J.; “Care Instructions For
Handwoven Wool Blankets And Matchcoats”, http://www.wildeweavery.com/blanket_care_instructions.htm, accessed April 1, 2008
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