Preshrinking before taking to the tailor?

[PeterB]

Not sure if this is the right topic for a new thread, but seeing as there was not a thread already that seemed suitable, I took the liberty.

I have read that before taking new fabric to a tailor, one should preshrink it by soaking it in cold water for a few hours.

Does this sound like good advice?

Best regards,

Peter

 

[Asienizen]

It depends on what sort of fabric you have. If I buy a cotton or linen shirt fabric, or a cotton twill chino fabric, then I always pre wash. I usually just put them in little mesh clothing bags and throw them in the machine for a full wash. Silk I just soak in cold water and line dry. Wool or any suiting fabric. . . well I don't know, I have always heard, don't wash a suit. Maybe someone with more cloth knowledge can chime in.

But for general shirt and pants fabric. I always wash to get it to its natural size and color.

 

[PeterB]

Thank very much for the advice. Much appreciated. I wouldn't wash a made suit, but thought of soaking the cloth to preshrink it. A friend brought me back a bolt of preshrunk gabardine from Bombay some years ago, sold by Raymond's which is quite a well known brand of fabric over there. It had and still has the best drape of any of my suits, by far. So good that I wore it for my wedding back in 2000. I wondered if it was the preshrinking, but probably not. I suppose preshrinking could spoil the shape of the weave, couldn't it?

 

[Rabbit]

Never heard of pre-shrinking fabrics for suits. Pre-shrinking shirtings is something that Luxire does, and I'm glad they do so. It doesn't seem to be common among shirtmakers even though it makes perfect sense and prevents trouble with collar sizes and sleeve lengths. I've owned shirts from Mercer and Sons and from Darcy that were sized up in the collar size, in order to account for shrinkage, and then oftentimes the shrinkage never happens.

However, washable summer suits of the old days were made in a very special way which involved pre-washing pretty much everything used for the suits before they were sewn, including padding or wadding, if there was any used in the construction. It was a true art to get these summer suits right, without the lapels, collar and internal construction being in danger of getting messed up during washes.

 

[herringbonekid]

i know that the tailor Frank Shattuck has said he will soak the fabric beforehand and let it dry before using it, but i've never heard the same from a British tailor (Frank was taught in Italy).

most suit fabric of the 30s and 40s (at least in Britain) was industrially pre-shrunk... i've seen the stamp many times on old fabric (see below) so there would be no need to wet it again.

i'd be very surprised if most modern suitings didn't go through at least one wash process.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

What about just steam ironing them? Heat and some moisture...has to be even though.

I think I've heard something along those lines but don't know where.

 

[Claudio]

Never heard of pre shrinking wool fabric - ever. Cotton on the other hand yes, better pre shrink unless fabric makers have done this already (most of the time thats the case)