How do you wash your crochet tops?
That is one of the most common questions I get asked throughout all my crochet top tutorials I post on YouTube. Although I thought that everyone knew to follow the yarn packaging instructions as to how to wash the yarn, I suppose many people are just unaware or do not have much experience with hand washing delicate and unique articles of clothing such as crochet tops. So although this may seem simple and obvious to some, I felt that posting this would be helpful for those who genuinely want to know how I care for my tops. If you are one of those people, thanks for stopping by, I hope I am able to answer all the questions you have about how I care for my crochet projects!
First thing I do is grab some detergent and fabric softener. Then, I fill by bathroom sink with warm water, pouring some detergent in along with the running water so it can mix and create bubbles. The bubbles are probably not necessary to wash the tops, but I just like to have them. * Note: Depending on what type of yarn is used, you may need to wash the tops in cold water.
Afterwards, I submerge the crochet top, or crochet project, in the soapy water until it is soaked. If you are washing light and dark projects, make sure that you wash the light ones first if you are planning on using the same water. You want to avoid any color transferring from the dark project onto the light project. You can also simply drain the water and refill the sink, but I like to save as much water as possible when I am hand washing my crochet projects- or anything, really.
I then begin to scrub the project lightly by grabbing two portions of it and rubbing them together. This helps loosen dirt and wash out any dark spots it may have.
I also pay close attention on scrubbing the details of the top. If there are areas of the project that need to be handled delicately, simply use only your hands and fingers to scrub those parts.
I do the same with crochet tops that have padding sewn in, except I make extra sure that when I submerge the top and it soaks up all the water, I then squeeze it- while it is still submerged- that way the soapy water can reach and run through the follicles or the fabric. I repeat this step a number of times to make sure that the soapy water has gone through. I do this with all the tops I wash, but mostly with ones that have padding because dirt and sweat gets trapped there much easier than in other areas of the top.
Once I am finished washing the light colors, I set them aside and wash the darker colored crochet projects. Again, make sure that the light colored yarn does not come into contact with the water used to wash the dark colored projects, as the colors may bleed onto the light yarn.
After I wash the dark colored project the same way as I did the light, I drain the soapy water and rinse the dark top with fresh water. I then set it aside and rinse the light tops.
After rinsing the projects of soap, I take a tiny bit of fabric softener and pour them onto the tops, trying my best to cover as much of the tops as evenly as possible with the softener (usually just a light squiggly line that covers from one end of the top to the other).
I then add a small bit of water into the sink once again, submerge the top, bring it back up, scrub lightly, submerge, and scrub lightly until I feel that the fabric softener has distributed throughout the top. You will know when it is ready because when you wash a crochet project without fabric softener, it feels rough and scratchy, but after using the softener, it feels so much better.
After washing the light colored project, I rinse it off and do the same with the dark colored projects.
I then rinse them off, ring them, and let them hang dry outside. Normally it takes a few hours for the tops to dry completely, but it will depend on the yarn that is used, what it is made of, how thick it is, and how hot or humid it is outside.
And that’s it! This is what I do to wash my crochet tops / my crochet projects. I hope you found this helpful, if you did, please share it on Pinterest, Facebook, or any social media site, as it will truly help me in creating more crochet content. Also, if you would like to see this tutorial in video form, I have a video pretty much sharing the same information, but with a bit more visual detail.
Thanks again for stopping by, happy crocheting!
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