handmade wardrobe: de-pilling sweaters (sweater stones vs. sweater shavers)
when we spend hours and hours knitting new sweaters for our wardrobe, it’s important that we take good care of them so that they last a long time (ideally even outlasting us, although perhaps those silhouettes don’t survive quite as well as the wool they’re made from…). on top of seasonal washing and storing safely from moths and other pests, our well-loved sweaters may require semi-regular de-pilling. there are plenty of options on the market for doing this, and i decided to test out two of the most popular methods:
sweater stones vs. sweater shavers (different from a regular razor, which is also used and which makes me feel a little too nervous to risk any of my own handknits)
the brands that i decided to use were a new sweater stone and an older remington battery-powered shaver. i tested them each out on one half of the following three sweaters:
a colourwork pullover using my canadian worsted yarn
a textured pullover using yoth father (100% rambouillet, dyed with synthetics dyes)
a stockinette cardigan using julie asselin’s fino (75% superwash merino, 15% silk, dyed with synthetic dyes)
you can see the before photo and then an after photo with the pile of pills collected on each respective side. while the photos may not be that clear, the result of de-pilling was quite drastic in real life, so regardless of which product you choose, i would definitely recommend de-pilling your sweaters every once in a while to give them a new lease on life.
colourwork pullover
before
after
textured pullover
before
after
stockinette cardigan
before
after
the results
as you can see from all of the after photos, there is a considerable difference between the amount of pills removed by the shaver compared to the stone. while the stockinette sweaters were both relatively easy to de-pill with both tools, the stone seemed to actually aggravate the fabric and cause more pilling and fuzziness than without. i actually stopped after doing just a corner and after taking the after photo, i tidied it up with the shaver. otherwise, the results were ultimately fairly similar, although the shaver was quite a bit faster to use than the stone.
stone pros: more eco-friendly, doesn’t require batteries or a power source, works fairly well once you get a hand on it, less risk of snagging or cutting your fabric by accident
stone cons: takes longer, you have to get the right rhythm with each sweater, leaves a little dusting of stone behind that eventually requires replacing the stone because it’s worn down too far to hold properly (technically this should take a few years, but it will of course depend on how frequently you use your stone)
shaver pros: quick, efficient, did a good job across the board with tidying up pills regardless of texture or fibre content
shaver cons: risk of creating holes in the fabric, made of plastic, requires batteries
overall, i think both tools work decently and neither felt like it was drastically better than the other, so it’s down to personal preference for which you choose to add to your tool kit. i think i’m going to keep both in mine, i prefer the sustainability of the stone but the shaver works really well so i’m certainly not going to toss it before it breaks down!