It is possible to make a polyester garment smaller if needed. Using a washing machine or a dryer on high heat are both ways to shrink polyester. A clothes iron will also work but take care not to melt the fabric.
It is possible to shrink 100% polyester fabrics, but only so much. It requires a minimum temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit to shrink clothes. On the other hand, polyester blends are a lot easier to shrink. Check the cleaning label of your clothing to see if it is blended with another type of fiber.
Polyester does not shrink in a normal dryer cycle. With the caveat that you should always follow the directions on the care tag of any individual garment, most of the time, it is perfectly safe to run polyester through normal dryer settings. If your dryer has multiple heat settings, use the lowest setting.
Soak in hot water
Take boiling water and fill up a bucket with it. Take your polyester-spandex clothes and soak them in the bucket. Repeat this process once the water becomes cold or lukewarm to touch. Going over this process 3-4 times would significantly shrink your polyester-spandex blends.
Polyester can be tumble dried on a cool setting and won't shrink. To avoid wrinkles and static build up, remove the garments from the dryer while slightly damp.
Polyester does not shrink under normal circumstances. Because polyester is made of man-made polymer, which makes the fibers synthetic, the fabric is resistant to shrinkage. If you wash polyester fabric in hot water and then dry it on high heat, it may shrink some, but not a whole lot.
When you shrink cotton polyester blend shirt, using high heat is the key. Polyester material requires a minimum temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit to shrink, and despite the high temperature it still will not shrink very much.
In a way, yes. Though every type of fabric behaves differently, heat will shrink most, if not all, fabric types. For example, both cotton shirts and denim jeans will shrink more in a warm or hot wash, followed by a high heat drying cycle.
Wool or wool blends: Wash on high heat, ideally on a short cycle. Then, put in the dryer on low heat. Repeat as needed to achieve the desired size [source: The Idle Man]. You can also spot-shrink sweater cuffs that have stretched out of shape.
Polyester is heat sensitive: High temperatures can cause it to melt, shrink, or deform. Never select hot water or high-heat settings when using the washer, dryer, or iron.
Using a Dryer
Both 100% polyester and polyester blends can shrink in a dryer. Even if the garment has been washed by hand. Choosing a hotter setting on your dryer than you would normally cause a range of shrink levels from moderate to maximum. Go for a low heat setting if all you need is a minimal reduction in size.
Washing Instructions
The fabric of your jersey gets slightly stretched during construction; heat reduces the fabric back to its normal size. Therefore, the way to shrink your football jersey is to run it through the washing machine using hot water. A normal wash cycle should be satisfactory.
Using Boiling Water
For noticeable shrinkage to occur in polyester clothes when wet, place the clothes in boiling water. The heat of the water breaks down the fibers slightly, causing them to shrink. More shrinkage occurs with polyester and natural fiber blends than with 100-percent polyester.
Polyester fiber is not easy to shrink and may require several treatments through heat to get this material shrunk to size. Albeit tedious, it is possible to shrink polyester, even if not to a great extent.
Polyester is a type of plastic, so if the water is too hot, it will melt and make the fabric rigid and unwearable. Keep the water temperature under 230 degrees Fahrenheit.
Clothes are much more likely to shrink when exposed to hot water or high dryer settings. While cold water may not completely prevent shrinking with some fabrics, it goes a long way towards preserving the “off the rack” size. Also, try to avoid using heavy duty cycles or fast spins with fabric that's prone to shrinkage.
Regardless of the type of garment—shirts, cotton, hoodies, and pants/jeans—or fabric, from rayon to 100 percent cotton, the most common process for potentially shrinking clothes is to machine wash them with hot water and machine dry them with high heat.
While fabric and batting blends made from cotton and polyester do not shrink as much as pure cotton fabric, you can shrink them. Expect the 80 percent cotton and 20 percent polyester fabric or batting to shrink about 3 percent.
Yes, a 60% cotton and 40% polyester garment can shrink if exposed to higher temperatures during the cleaning process. This is true for all sorts of blended garments, such as hoodies, shirts, tops, and more. The fault of shrinking lies in the cotton component of the polyester-cotton blend.
50 percent cotton and 50 percent polymer can easily shrink up to 1 to 2 sizes. Don't expect it to shrink more than that. You can either use the machine wash method to shrink the garment or you can use the boiling water pot method for more delicate (to be handled washed only) garments.
In fact, polyester's properties make it one of the easiest fabrics to wash because you can actually machine wash polyester. Polyester is a synthetic fiber, so to ensure it does not break down from heat, opt for cool or warm water when washing.
The temperature at which polyester shrinks is linked to the temperature at which it was heat set and the extent it was stretched when manufactured, but conservatively, polyester shouldn't shrink at temperatures below 70°C (158°F) .
Polyester is a man-made fiber that is resilient, long-lasting, and often fade resistant. While materials made of polyester handle wear and tear with ease and generally don't shrink, there are times when clothing is a bit too small, especially if it's a polyester blend.