How to easily de-pill your sweaters

Before you go tossing out that old, pilled sweater that barely made it through last winter, consider this.

I’ve tried just about every de-pilling method. Stones, scrapers, battery-operated ones from Amazon – but none of them really seemed to get at all the pills without getting caught in the process. It ended up always being a battle with finishing the job, or surviving with all my hands and not ripping the de-pillers away from the sweater. Insert cheesy infomercial b-roll here.

So when I heard about another method that literally would cost me nothing – AND it was using a household item I already had – I was like, “okay, let’s give this a go.”

The secret: a dull safety razor.

Yup. Some of you probably know already, but after your razor is past its close-shave days, it makes an excellent de-piller. It gets the furs without cutting into the yarn of the garment. And it’s SO easy. Not one moment of getting stuck. I could SEE the pills coming off!

I found it helpful to go WITH the grain of this sweater. It made it easier to dislodge the pills. I hold the razor at a 45 degree angle, and instead of long strokes, it’ll be more effective if you use repetitive short strokes in the same direction. You can test out the pressure, but start light and if you need more weight, slowly increase your pressure. This is quite a hefty knit, so I had no problem with snagging. I’d be cautious when attempting a more fine knit, testing it out slowly at first!

Now, ready to try yourself?! It’s unusually satisfying. Good luck!

PetraAlexandra