Many people wonder how to best care for their hand-made items, which I appreciate so much! Over the years I've gathered lots of tips from my professional experience as a crafter (and a brief stint doing costume run crew for stage plays, i.e. spending college dollars to learn how to do laundry). Allow me to share the fruits of my knowledge about caring for these products, and generally safe laundering information, below... 

General Information

What kind of materials do you use for wearables? 

Generally, all wearable products here are made out of either 100% cotton, 100% acrylic, a synthetic/cotton blend or wool/synthetic blend. None are pure wool. Generally, decor items are 100% cotton or 100% acrylic. The materials of the yarn used in each wearable is displayed clearly in the description. 

Why do I use acrylic, cotton and blends - over wool?

This comes down to personal preference, but it's a strong one for me! While wool has a long history of use in wearables, I myself am slightly/moderately allergic to wool. However, there's no denying its advantages in moderating body heat while still being lightweight. Luckily these days, there's great wool blends available that appear to get the perks of wool without the traditionally scratchy feel. 

What are the differences between materials? How does it impact me as the wearer?

Cotton is a plant based material, like linen or even paper. This makes it very breathable, which I highly prioritize for items like bikini tops, crop tops and dresses. Most cottons used in yarns like the ones I use, are treated with different processes to make them more naturally shiny and easier to maintain. 

Acrylic is both a type of material, and somewhat a blanket term to refer to all synthetic and non-naturally derived materials in yarn. Other synthetics used in yarn include polyester, nylon and rayon. Basically, if it's not wool or plant based, it's likely synthetic. My preference as an artist is for acrylic and synthetic yarns, due to many factors; I enjoy that synthetic yarns have a wider range of (unnatural) colors, are generally more rugged as finished pieces, and are lots easier to care for (most synthetic yarns are machine washable and dryable; a bit faster than the process of soaking and handwashing a wool item!)

Wool is an animal-derived material. It is made from the fur of an animal; typically that is sheep, but wool can be made from the fur of almost any animal, including alpacas, goats and rabbits. Technically, you could even make yarn and clothes out of your own hair (gags). Since wool is a type of hair, it's very challenging to care for. Caring for wool items is less like other clothing and laundry, and much closer to conditioning and caring for the hair on your head. (In fact, there's an interesting process called "felting" that is essentially forcing wool strands to get really frizzy and coarse, so much that they lock together and make a solid fabric; it's the exact same way that we humans can make "dreads" or dreadlocks on our heads! Super cool as a hairstyle, but not comfortable as a worn object.) If you or anyone you know has a funny story about accidentally shrinking a sweater down to child size, it's probably made out of wool. Fortunately, wool blends seem to be a bit easier to manage care-wise, but pure wool is not my preferred material.  

Best Practices For Doing the Laundry

What's the safest way to care for an item, if I don't know what material it is?

If you don't know what material an item is, err on the side of caution and treat it very gently. Generally, Americans are very hard on our clothes, treating them closer to towels and linens that we expect to stay perfectly clean, sterile and bleached. This is NOT a good approach for anything hand made (or vintage, for that matter!) 

The generally safest way to care for an item: 

The gentlest wash you can muster: either machine wash (Gentle Cycle) with gentle, wool-safe or no laundry detergent; or wash by hand (soak and rinse in a sink or bucket of cool water). Your enemy is too much heat or agitation, which will rough up and harm your garment. Gentle soak, rinse, soak and rinse, then roll up your item in a towel and squeeze the extra water out by standing on the rolled-up towel. NEVER wring or twist the item super hard! That's super stressful for the material, and the item may not recover. 

The gentlest dry you can achieve: either machine dry (Delicate Cycle) and/or Lay Flat to dry. Your enemy here is also too much heat, agitation or gravity. Keep the heat low. If you dry your item outside of a machine, lay it FLAT to dry! If you try to hang your item to dry, it can risk stretching out the yarn while it's drying, leading the item to be loose and disrupting the fit, and making the yarn lose some of its natural elasticity and become more brittle over time (especially if you're pulling hard on it, like a halter strap). No one wants a wardrobe malfunction - be nice to your clothes! 

Best care practices for 100% cotton items:

To be extra careful, you can always follow the directions above for gently hand-washing the item in cool water, safely extracting excess water through rolling up in a towel and stepping on the towel, and laying the item flat to dry. Generally, the cotton used in these pieces is machine washable and dryable, on the most gentle settings. Machine wash cold (Gentle Cycle), and tumble dry low (Gentle Cycle). Do not bleach, iron or dry clean. 

Best care practices for acrylic, synthetic or blended items:

To be extra careful, you can always follow the directions above for gently hand-washing the item in cool water, safely extracting excess water through rolling up in a towel and stepping on the towel, and laying the item flat to dry. Generally, the acrylic and acrylic blend yarns used in these pieces is machine washable and dryable, on the most gentle settings. Machine wash cold (Gentle Cycle), and tumble dry low (Gentle Cycle). Do not bleach, iron or dry clean. 

Best care practices for wool blend items:

To be extra careful, you can always follow the directions above for gently hand-washing the item in cool water, safely extracting excess water through rolling up in a towel and stepping on the towel, and laying the item flat to dry. Generally, the wool blend yarns used in these pieces is machine washable, on the most gentle settings; do NOT put a wool item in the dryer! Machine wash cold (Gentle Cycle), and lay flat to dry. Do not bleach, iron or dry clean.