Taking care of your crochet - Laundering

It is always a good idea to follow washing instructions that come with the yarn. Most cotton threads are treated with sodium hydroxide to shrink it and increase its luster and affinity for dye – the label would read Mercerized cotton. As a general rule mercerized cotton is colour fast – but some dark colours do run. If in doubt, and your piece is small, dissolve a handful of salt in a liter of water and use this solution for washing your piece – otherwise, it is safer to dry clean it.

Some crocheted lace like doilies may require starching or stiffening. Here are a few pointers.

• First wash the lace using good quality soap.
• Starch can either be bought or prepared at home.
• Soak the lace completely in the starch solution. Squeeze gently to remove excess starch.
• Place a piece of plastic larger than your crochet lace on a flat surface. If the lace is round, then it is a good idea to draw a circle measuring the same as the finished lace on the plastic using compass and a pencil. Whatever you use for drawing, make sure it is not water soluble. If it is a square, then draw a square using a set square.
• Now, using rust free pins, pin the lace out to the penciled shape, taking care not to strain the lace.
• Pin out the general shape first, then, carefully pin the picots, loops and spaces into position.
• When the lace is partially dry, place it face down on a soft towel. Then, place a damp cloth over it and iron.

Alternately, you can simply dab starch all over the wrong side and pin to shape following the steps above.

Special points to note when pinning:

• When pinning loops, make sure the pin is in the center of each loop
• Pull out all picots properly.
• Where there are flowers, gently pull out each petal in position.
• When pinning filet crochet, make sure that the spaces, and blocks are square and that all the edges are even and straight.
• Remove the pins only when the lace is almost dry and iron the lace as described above.

All this may seem like too much trouble, but it is definitely worth the effort. Try it out and you’ll agree.

Tags: crochet, crochet pattern, crocheting, filet crochet, yarn