Happy Friday! I’m popping in today with a quick and easy little hack on how to remove pills from clothing and fabric. Pilling occurs when the fibers in a fabric or garment rub together, causing them to break off and accumulate in small piles and they really make the item look old and dingy. Never fear though. All you need is a razor and some tape to get your favorite clothing item or upholstered furniture piece looking like new again!
Let’s start off with my husband’s upholstered chair that he uses at his computer desk. It’s actually less than a year old, but it has really accumulated some bad pilling {and lots of dirt!!!}.
First, I gave the upholstery a good cleaning using this method. This definitely made it look quite a bit better, but the pilling still made it look old and worn.
To get rid of the pills quickly and effectively, all you need is a new, sharp razor {look for a plain one without the moisture or soap strips}. Gently shave in short strokes along the direction of the fibers. Tap the razor frequently to remove the built up pills and keep the razor clear. Start with the lightest contact possible and increase as needed. Once you have completed this, shave in a similar manner at a 90 degree angle to the fibers. Once the pills have all been removed, use your vacuum with the upholstery brush attachment to remove all loose fibers. {As an alternative, you can press some packing tape against the area treated to remove the fibers if you find that easier}. After just a few minutes – voila!!
Such a difference! This method works great for removing pilling from both upholstered furniture and from clothing {yes, those yoga pants can look new again!}. For clothing, lay your item flat and pull the fabric tight with one hand. {NOTE: If there are loose fibers or any strings having off your fabric, cut these first so they don’t get caught in the razor and pulled further}.
This trick will work on a variety of fabrics but the looser the fabric weave, the gentler you need to be.
Happy de-pilling! 🙂
I have used this method many times over the years most recently on one of my son’s sweatshirt with much success. My last name has changed after my divorce so has my email which I put both above. Have a great weekend!
I’m glad it has been successful for you – I don’t know why I hadn’t tried it sooner! If you left your new email for the subscription services, I’m not able to change that on my end. You just need to enter your email in the sidebar and another email should be sent to you asking you to confirm. 🙂
I had some wingback chairs that were in the basement. The pilling on the black corderoy made them look old and junky. Thanks for the great tip. They look like new!
Awesome! Glad to hear they were restored!
Amazing tip… worked perfectly for my 8 year old couch!
Glad it helped! 🙂
Just a regular disposable razor will do?
Yep! 🙂
Do you dip the razor in water or dry?
Use it dry!
Thank you! I was going to throw out my black jersey with white pills all over it but now its fine! I remembered that I used to shave my school uniform jersey many moons ago. Id completely forgotten how effective it was.