Dear Budget Fashionista:
Is there anyway to unshrink a pair of jeans?
A: It can be difficult, but no impossible, to “stretch” a pair of jeans. Most jeans are made with 1%-3% of stretchy spandex/lycra fabric to help the jeans retain their shape and cotton, both fabrics’ fibers can be broken (aka stretched) when wet. Below is a way to do this (try at your own risk).
How to Stretch a Pair of Jeans
Soak the jeans in lukewarm water for a few hours or, if you are brave, you can wear the wet jeans around for an hour or so (best way to try and stretch jeans that are too small width wise). After soaking, do not wring, but hang the dripping wet jeans up on a clothes line or over a drying rack. There’s a possibility that gravity (along with the additional weight added to the jeans by water), might stretch the jeans.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
My mom allways said you could wear the jeans while bathing to unshrink them. In the bath tub, that is.
I’ve found that if you add some hair conditioner to the lukewarm water, it helps soften the jeans…this allows for it to return to some of its original shape.
I have a denim pencil skirt that I shrunk (and, ok, I MIGHT have gained a few pounds) and I un-shrunk it by: washing it, leaving it wet and stretching it out (not easy, keep at it) and letting it dry flat. Denim’s cotton, so it will stretch, eventually.