so i need to shrink some jeans and cords about a size - should i wash in warm water, dry high, wash in hot, dry medium, or what? i'm just deathly afraid of rendering my pants unwearable by shrinking them too much!

and is it true that there's a shrink point? like once you wash your cottons in hot water they'll shrink as much as they'll ever shrink?

i've had jeans that seem like they just keep shrinking, but most clothes will just shrink as much as they are going to and stop. shrinking is hard to control, especially if your pants are part-synthetic. you could go ahead and wash and dry them hot to get maximum shrinkage, but there's no guarantee that the shrinkage will be even throughout the garment, or that they will shrink to the size you want.

stella

hmmm... my pants are all cotton, but i didn't even think of them shrinking unevenly. so then do i need to do both wash hot and dry hot or can i do one or the other?

i guess i'm not too picky, as long as it doesn't shrink the the point where i can't fit into them.

tumble-drying them hot is going to get the most shrinkage, but washing with hot water will help.

stella

I think it is true about the shrink point, I have used cotton upholstery fabric to make slip covers and whenever I buy it the shop people always tell me to make sure to wash it in hot water so that it will not shrink later when I wash the covers in cold, some upholstery fabric shrinks a LOT like greater than 10% after two washes in hot water but not much after that, ros.