How to remove pilling on clothing in just five minutes

It’s time to take out our sweaters again, and that can be a bit of a disappointment when they’re covered with little knots of thread. Don’t despair, the fabric shaver will save you!

I had some shirts and sweaters lying in my closet that I stopped wearing. Not because I didn’t liked them anymore, but because they had pills on them. It gave them a bad, old look. So they just lay there, unused, looking miserable.

The worst thing you can do with pills, is to rip them of. That will only make it worse, because pills are groups of broken fibers that become tangled together in a tiny knot or ball. Once you start pulling them, more fibers will break.

What you can do, is shave the pills. For my last birthday, I asked for a Fabric Shaver from Philips. It’s such a great gift, it only costs around €12,- and it’s giving your pilled garments a complete make-over. So you’ll end up saving lots of money and textile waste, because you prolong the lifetime of your garments.

Plus, the shaving is really satisfying

I know it’s also possible to shave your clothes with a razor blade, but it looks like so much more work. More so, the shaved pills keep piling on your clothing piece, so while shaving, you must remove these as well, to keep track of your work. A battery operated fabric shaver works must faster and “sucks” in all the shaved pills so you’ll immediately see which areas are done.

So far I have shaved my wintercoat and green crewneck I bought at a vintage shop in New York and I’m really happy with the results. Plus, the shaving is really satisfying, like getting rid of blackheads (yes, I confess, I’m a HUGE Dr. Pimplepopper fan).

I even made a Reels of the process, so you can actually see how easy the job is done! In my next blog I will write about how to prevent pilling from happening. But for now, enjoy the shaving!