3 quick steps to get your sweaters ready for fall (even if sweater weather has snuck up on you)

Oh fall what a finicky season. Here in New York, last week it was in the high 70s and sunny, this morning I work up to a dark and rainy sky, and the desire to stay in bed all morning. (Huzzah for the laptop!) And while I love the parts of fall where a light shirt is all you need, I am very excited for sweater weather to be back. However this sudden shift has caught me a little bit off guard. All my sweaters are currently still in their cozy vacuum-pack storage cubes, and none of my sweaters are ready for fall.

Luckily unpacking all my sweaters doesn’t have to take a whole afternoon, so I wanted to share 3 quick steps to get your sweaters ready for fall that work even when we didn’t see this coming.

3 quick steps to get your sweaters ready for fall

Step 1 – freshen up your sweaters

If you washed your sweaters at the end of spring and put them away clean, this can be as easy a spritzing them with a little refreshing spray. I’ve heard great things about Soak’s Flatter Spray both for ironing and also for refreshing fabrics. But I never seem to have any on hand when I need it, so I just flick a couple drops of essential oils on my sweaters.

If you put your sweaters away right after your last wear in the spring, give them a nice wash. This can be as simple as soaking them in a clean sink with some hand washing soap and laying them out to dry. If you need to speed up the drying process, or if it’s still humid where you are, point a fan at it (it’s an obvious tip, but really can cut the drying time down significantly). And next year, just do this part before you pack away your sweaters, even a little bit of dirt or sweat sitting on your sweater all summer it really damages the fibers.

Step 2 – steam out any wrinkles

Give your sweater a quick steam to get rid of any winkles and smooth out those fold lines.

If you have a steamer, hang your sweater and run the steamer over it, making sure not to tug or pull the sweater out of shape while you steam it.

If you don’t have a steamer, you can use the steam from an iron. Just lay the sweater flat, hold the iron above it (but not touching!) and let the steam get out any wrinkles.

Step 3 – shave away any pills 

As we wear our sweaters some of the fibers can come off and collect into little ball that cling to the fabric. This are annoying and unattractive little things called pills that you might absentmindedly find yourself picking off your sweater as you wear it. Luckily they’re quick and easy to remove before you leave the house, you just need a sweater shaver. My absolute favorite is the Gleener’s Ultimate Fuzz Remover (and it looks like they now have travel sizes too, which I can’t wait to try) – hands down the best sweater shaver I’ve ever used. But generally most of the ones that have what feels like gentle sandpaper work well without damaging your garment.

Just run the rough to the touch part of the sweater shaver along the fabric of your sweater and watch the pills come off! (It’s oddly satisfying.)

Here’s a whole post about shaving away sweater pills, and de-muppet-ing your sweaters.

And that’s that! If your sweaters were packed away in good condition this won’t take more then a couple minutes. If you’re with me and was blindsided by chilly fall weather you could even spruce the sweater you want to wear today, this morning, and then come back to the rest later

At least, that’s my plan.