Bring the Family

Care and Feeding of Fleece

Posted by Toni | Filed under Gear Gab

There’s a snowstorm due here in Illinois this week. This means we’ll be seeing a lot more of our fleece around the house, from blankets to PJ’s to hats to my toasty fleece sweats that I usually reserve for cold nights of camping in the mountains.

Our middle son loves soft fabrics, including fleece. He has sensory processing issues (more on this at the SPD Foundation web site), and we think that his fondness for super-soft blankets represents an up side to his finely tuned senses. He has several “favorite” blankets, most of them fleece, and he sleeps with many of them surrounding him every night. But over time, some of his blankets haven’t retained their initial silky cuddle-ability.

Now, what I’m about to write might get my Outdoorsy Girl Card revoked, but it turns out that my preferred method of washing linens, blankets, and smelly camping clothes – in super-hot water – is incompatible with fleece fabrics. I guess my latent germ-o-phobia clashes with my “read the label, woman!” common sense. Tossing fleece in the dryer is another no-no, at least on high heat, because the friction causes pilling and reduces the softness. I have found that some synthetic soft blankets, including some fleeces, do okay with a quick tumble on low heat. It’s a good thing (for once) that I have an aversion to ironing, since that’s a major “don’t,” too (unless you like melted fleece and fire hazards–which, of course, you DON’T).

I did some roaming around Google and there’s all sorts of advice on the care of fleece. Some say never use liquid fabric softeners, others say it’s okay. Some say use the dryer on low only, some say never use it. I combined everything I read and came up with a plan to salvage a couple of my middle son’s favorite blankets: wash in cold water using mild detergent and scent-free liquid fabric softener (to give our allergies a break), and then hang to dry. It worked! I was able to test this method on this year’s holiday fleece PJs from The Children’s Place (bummer that they didn’t give out the fleece bags to go with them this year, though–my kids love and actually use them!), and they felt as soft as new.

Edited to add: the manufacturer’s instructions on the label should define how you care for any of your fleece items, as there are a variety of fleece weights and textures. What I did here with the fabric softener was an attempt to restore softness with no eye toward performance outdoors. As Melessa pointed out in the comments regarding her cloth diapers, for some fleece fabrics, softeners are a no-no because in some instances they can compromise the moisture-wicking properties of the fleece. Thanks for pointing that out, Melessa!

I’ve been camping for over twenty years and have worn the same fleece sweatshirt in that plum color that, along with teal, was popular in the ’90s since about 1994. (What can I say? I believe in using things till they expire). But it’s not exactly what I’d call “soft” any more, and it tends to make me look like a purple bear, so I’m shopping around for a new sweatshirt or hoodie. I know when I find my next go-to fleece sweatshirt, I’ll read the label first and keep my newly learned lessons in mind when washing it.

Tell me your experiences with your fleece garments, hats/gloves, and blankets. Were you a label-reader from the start or did you have to learn the hard way, like hard-headed me? Got any tips to share? Post it all in the comments section!

Permalink | Comments (1) | December 7, 2009

One Response to “Care and Feeding of Fleece”

1. Melessa Says:
   December 7th, 2009 at 12:13 pm

   I use fleece as my go-to cloth diaper liner and fleece pants as a breathable alternative to the traditional PUL diaper covers when we are just hanging out at home for the day. I do wash all diaper-related fleece items in hot water along with my cloth diapers for obvious reasons. The pilling doesn’t matter as much to me since the liners just go inside the diaper, though I do feel them and make sure they are still soft before sticking them in my daughter’s diaper. She outgrows the fleece pants so quickly that the pilling is negligable as well. Also, I only wash them with the diapers when they are super soiled. Otherwise, they wash in warm with the rest of her clothes. I don’t use fabric softener with any of my baby clothes anyway, and have been told not to with the fleece especially so that my liners don’t lose their moisture wicking properties.

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