How to get rid of the pilling on your bobbly sweater

Understanding Pilling: What Causes Those Pesky Bobbles?

Ever noticed tiny balls of fabric forming on your favourite sweater? This common annoyance is called pilling, and those little fabric clusters are technically known as pills. Pilling occurs when loose fibres in the fabric tangle together through friction, creating small, fuzzy balls on the surface of your garment.

This can happen when you wear or wash your clothes, rubbing from movement, bag straps, or even sitting on furniture can trigger the fibres to break free and form pills. Knitwear, especially made from soft or delicate yarns like wool, is particularly prone to pilling because the fibres are naturally shorter and more likely to come loose.

How to get rid of the pilling on your bobbly sweater

While pilling is a normal part of wear and tear, it can make clothes look older than they are. Thankfully, it’s not the end of your garment. Using a wool comb or fabric shaver can easily remove the pills, refreshing your knitwear and helping it look as good as new. Taking extra care when washing and storing your clothes can also reduce pilling, ensuring your favourite pieces stay in top condition for longer.

What is a wool comb or de-piller?

Is your favourite knitwear losing its charm? Here are a couple of tools to help you bring it back to life.

The Lowie wool comb is designed to help restore it to its former glory. This handy tool effortlessly removes those pesky bobbles, keeping your jumpers looking sharp and fresh.

To make caring for your knits even easier, the wool comb comes with helpful maintenance tips printed on the back. Lowie are committed to extending the life of your garments. That’s why they proudly offer free repairs on all Lowie pieces, for life. And offer repair workshops using a heritage repair loom hosted by me, Ali Clifford.

The Gleener Fabric Shaver – this is an excellent tool for de-pilling fluff (and removing pet hairs too) from your jumpers, I’d highly recommend – thank you Gleener, this was my Mother in Law’s Seasalt jumper which sadly shrunk in the hot wash (bonus for me) but was super pilled – click to watch this video to find out how to get rid of the pilling on your bobbly sweater!

Just hoping the moths don’t get to it now, although – you probably know by now I rather like visible mending too. (click here for workshops)

What are your tips for extending the life of your favourite garment? Let us know in the comments below, Ali @incredibusy