Irish wool sweater - question on restoration

Nov 06, 2008 2 Replies

Pardon me if I'm in the wrong group, but I'm not sure where to post this question. (Redirection welcomed.)



I've long owned a natural wool fiber hand woven Irish sweater. Over the years, in trying to remove small stains, I've also removed the natural oil so that there are now some patches that show brighter than the original. Sorta like "clean spots," if you know what I mean. It's a very noticeable contrast with the original "worn" color tone. These areas actually feel less oily, too.



I'm looking for suggestions for restoring the oil to these areas, or perhaps treating the entire garment to return to the original look and feel. Seems the alternative would be to spray the whole thing with Shout, and wash. That'll produce a uniform color again, but lighter (and "dryer") than the original. I'd rather have the original, natural look and feel.



Is there a standard way to do this? If so, I'd appreciate suggestions for the type of oil and a method for applying it.



Thank you, Ron



I found this recommendation which might help.

Edna in Sydney

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I would be tempted to remove all of the lanolin and get the sweater back to uniform color, and then put lanolin back in via the lotion- with-lanolin-and-water-added method you found. The Shout would probably do the trick for the first part -- getting the uniform color back. Just be absolutely sure you only use cool water, and don't put the sweater in the dryer!

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