Can I Wash Fleece On Warm?

luppamom

Wed, Jan 21 2015, 4:35 pm

I have a few fleece baby stretchies. I washed them on warm 30 C in my washing machine and hung them to dry (no drier). Today, I tried to put one on my baby and couldn't button it. Very possibly, she grew. But, there is still a chance that it shrunk.

For future reference, is it a problem to put stuff fleece or cotton in warm water? I really don't want the next size up to also shrink (if that's what happened).

greenfire

Wed, Jan 21 2015, 4:45 pm

any cotton shrinks when washed - regardless of the water temperature

luppamom

Wed, Jan 21 2015, 5:31 pm

greenfire wrote:

any cotton shrinks when washed - regardless of the water temperature

Well, I gotta wash the clothes unless I want fermented spit-up... hmmm maybe that's a new type of cheese to market?

hinenimuchan

Thu, Jan 22 2015, 12:45 am

[align=left]I don't think that washing at 30 degrees caused significant shrinkage.

First of all, 30 degrees Celcius is cold when it comes to wash. Or at least that is how I have always interpreted pictorial washing instructions when using a machine where the options are just cold-warm-hot. I have not damaged anything that way in my 30+ years doing laundry.

The reason why 30 degrees is considered "cold" for wash is that fabric does not wash optimally if the water is f-r-e-e-z-I-n-g cold. I learned this from the instruction manual of my washing machine. My machine has a setting that is meant to be used in conditions where the ground water is very cold: It mixes warm water in with the ground water in order to achieve the proper temperature for "cold" wash.

When fabrics require cold wash, it is usually to prevent colors from running...not the problem here. Even so, on a few occasions I have risked throwing an old cold-wash item in with a similarly colored warm (40 degrees) load. Never had a problem with the cold wash item shrinking.

I have to disagree with Greenfire. The only fabric I know of that could shrink from just being wet is wool, and I don't think the water temperature is a factor with that unless maybe the water is scalding hot. Drying temperature is a big issue with wool, which is why even most washable wools need to air dry. However, they don't usually make stretchies out of wool and you don't have a dryer.

I think cotton stretches when wet regardless of temperature, and only shrinks when dried in heat. But you don't have a dryer and I doubt air temp would be warm enough to cause cotton to shrink while drying. Anyway, I doubt the fleece in the stretchies is cotton.

Most fleece in stretchies is polyester or acrylic, and 30 degrees should not be a problem for those fabrics.

My hunch is that your daughter grew. Or maybe she was fuller because she had taken more into her stomach as her body was preparing to grow.

Thu, Jan 22 2015, 1:07 am

Interesting... I have noticed that the fleece stretchies fit tighter than the cotton ones. But I did put them in the dryer, so I assumed that if they shrank it was from the dryer.

amother

Thu, Jan 22 2015, 3:44 am

I have had random clothes shrink in the wash on cold (which I think is 30C). It's totally unexplained and has happened enough times that I know I'm not imagining things. I doubt it would shrink just because it was washed on 30C, but what do I know. I have a big mystery over here at my place!