Pin 34–razor to fix pilly things

Pilly sweaters drive me nuts.  Especially because it looks hor-ren-dous in the armpit area but also because it can make an awesome expensive sweater I love look like I just salvaged it from the trash.  I’ve seen a few variations of THIS PIN claiming you can shave the pills right off!  I’ve had a fuzz buster thingy in the past but a decent one isn’t exactly the cheapest item and if it comes down to it, the budget allows for diapers not fuzz busters!  {side note – one of the pins with this claim has orange razors in the pic and actually leads to a nonsense website}

So at my latest trip to the dollar store I purchased a twin pack of straight razors – super fancy 2 blade versions.  I’m not about to compromise my expensive razors for this!  I decided to try it on my bed sheets.  They are a jersey knit and the first time we used them I also happened to be wearing blue pajama pants for the first time and wouldn’t you know they made my sheets have crazy blue pills!  Every time I look at them it makes me a little more crazy.  I also tried it on my poly-blend duvet cover that says dry clean only but I have washed it a few times resulting in our favorite – pilling!  Here are some before shots.

And here are the afters….

It totally worked.  Now, it would take me over an hour to do the whole sheet and maybe another hour to do the duvet…. but an average sweater would be far faster.  The thing that takes time is not the shaving – I did that with very quick strokes, but the razor gets gummed up and filled with all the pills and you have to keep cleaning it out.  The cleaning out part is tricky to not cut yourself too!

Bottom line – do it – but best used on small items

It definitely worked without harming either fabric at all.  And it’s possible that using a razor with more blades might help speed up the process – if you’re willing to sacrifice the $4 blade!  I will absolutely try on a few sweaters that I’d like to save from donation or crafting :)

Stephanie