Wool Crepe

I bought 4 yards of a lovely red wool crepe (it's 80% polyester/20% wool). Anyone have any tips for pre-washing/treating this fabric? I'm considering just throwing it in the dryer with a couple of really damp (but not soaking wet) clean towels (maybe post-wash as I have to do laundry anyways) and seeing if that'll do the needful?

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Permalink Reply by Leimomi Oakes - The Dreamstress on February 2, 2012 at 11:06pm

Wool crepe is my favourite fabric to sew and wear. I'm not so sure about a wool/poly blend - all of my wool crepe is 100% wool. I've never had problems with wool crepe shrinking: I just sew it up as is, cool hand wash the garments, and it's aged/worn beautifully. If I'm worried about chemicals in the fabric I just cool rinse it before I sew it.

Hmmm...sorry, just realised that probably wasn't that helpful. :-/

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Permalink Reply by Tina Crossgrove on February 3, 2012 at 9:25am

Very helpful, actually, after all the doom and gloom I was reading on the internets.

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Permalink Reply by Ruthanne on February 3, 2012 at 1:33am

I think with the poly to wool ratio, you should be okay to wash it in cold. I've done 100% wool crepe in cold in my front load machine with no problem.

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Permalink Reply by Tina Crossgrove on February 3, 2012 at 9:24am

Thanks ladies... that's kinda what I figured (wash in cold water on delicate, don't dry in the dryer) but then I did internets research. I love but sometimes hate the internets... it was all WOOL CREPE IS AWESOME BUT SHRINKS LIKE A MUTHA...and I kinda tweaked a bit.

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Permalink Reply by Leimomi Oakes - The Dreamstress on February 3, 2012 at 3:31pm

How funny! I've never had that experience. I wonder if people only post about it when it does shrink. It's like the news - we only hear the bad stuff.