There's some things, that no matter how useful they are, we just can't bring ourselves to purchase due to their uni-tasker nature (thank you Alton Brown). One of those being a sweater depiller. It's not like we don't need one, but it's just something else to take up space in our bathroom drawer — so instead we're turning to our tool chest.
Our friends over at Readymade, tweeted earlier that using sandpaper on even your finest of sweaters is an easy way to keep them pill free. They suggested rubbing your sweater with the sandpaper in one direction to remove the pills.
At first we thought the idea was super neat, then we got worried it would harm our sweaters. So being the diligent guinea pigs that we are, we thought we'd test the idea out for you. We had super star results and with a few quick strokes, all of our pills were removed and our sweater looked good as new!
This would also be a great tip for blankets or pillows that have a tendency to pill up as well. Now you can get rid of that pile in the corner of sweaters that need a little attention and get them back into commission. Do you have a quirky tip we should all know about? Don't forget to drop us a line and let us know!
(Image: Sarah Rae Trover)
Small Cool Lessons: Discovering Small Space Design Ideas That Really Work
Beatriz's Fun and Functional Workspace
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Sheex Bedding
How to Make Fresh Pasta Dough in the Food Processor
Assuming a fine gauge?
Indeed!
great tip! thanks!
I always figured there must be an easy solution like this out there. Thanks for the tip.
I used to have one of those sweater depillers. I used it all the time. Then I lost it somewhere in the move between college and the rest of my life.
I've read that they're bad for your clothes, but I still have several sweaters I used the depiller on and they're in pretty good shape.
I'm going to have to try the sandpaper thing...
I will try this next time. I used a depiller on a pair of cheap H&M gloves and the blades got so entangled in the fibers that they tore a bunch of holes in the gloves. Whether or not the quality of the gloves or the depiller can be blamed, who knows ... but the sandpaper seems like a good alternative.
I was never able to get good results from a battery-operated depiller. It may have been operator error...
Now said depiller is MIA somewhere, so that gives me a good excuse to try this out.
I really haven't had luck with those de-pillers so I am glad to hear of an alternative that doesn't require batteries.
I have had one of those battery operated defuzzers for years and I swear by it. My favorite sweater was really cheap and pills easily, but you'd never know since I shave it after every few wears. I own one of those little metal depillers with a plastic handle too (same general idea as sandpaper) and find it actually makes some things fuzzier, so I never use it. My battery operated one is so cheap, though, that it's really hard to access the battery when it runs out. So I took off the back cover and keep the battery in place with a rubber band. THAT's how much I like the thing!
Hmm never thought of this. I am in pill-hell right now what with it being winter..nothing is working at all..will definitely try out this tip!
saer
http://cravenmaven.wordpress.com
My favorite sweater de-piller is a D-Fuzz-It sweater comb. It does wonders for my hand knits and they're only a few bucks.
I've been so disappointed with the electronic pill-removers in the past, as they never did work for me. I was beginning to abandon the idea of ever wearing a sweater for longer than one season. This tip is SO timely and much appreciated! I cannot wait to try it out for myself. Thank you!
This is the best idea I've heard in a long time! My poor sweaters are all in need of a depilling but I always, always forget to pick up a proper depiller.
I have a chenille bathrobe that pills up every time I wash it - I was going to get rid of it, but will have to try this first.
depiller= disposable razor
What grit, though? 60, 80, 100, 120, 150, 220... or higher???
i second the disposable razor. i mostly use it on north faces so i dont know ho wit would hold up to finer sweaters but it works great...just do it once before putting it away for the summer and its good the whole next winter
I don't agree with the logic of this article...instead of keeping something around that's small (I have a depiller and use it all the time with rechargeable batteries) you are instead going to use something that gets thrown away after use?--I suppose you could remove the lint from the sandpaper, but there is still going to be a very short lifespan for the paper. I've had and used my depiller since the early 90's.
Totally with you on the disposable razor thing!! I have been doing this forever --- I have a seperate razor head set aside for de-pilling and I use the Venus I shave my legs with... works like a charm! Just be sure to rinse the blade after de-fuzzing.
I use fine sandpaper to remove gunk from aluminum and cast iron pans. It's much faster and doesn't hurt them.
I'm with PurpleNails and PucciLevy. The best depiller is a cheap disposable razor. The razors give you more control of what you're working on.
i've also had good luck de-pilling sweaters with dull (but clean) shaving razors.
aw man. now you tell me! i finally caved in and bought a de-piller a few months ago!
fjordtjie - why would using sandpaper on a sweater mean you have to throw it away?
i put my sandpaper in the washing machine all the time after sanding walls of paint and it can tackle many projects with a simple wash in between.
Stop throwing away your sand paper!
OMG -- this totally rejuvenated my vintage Navy pea coat! I wish I'd taken before and after photos. The coat was looking a little shabby and I'd been meaning to sit down with an exacto to cut off pill after pill after pill. This was much quicker and better. The coat looks great. Thanks, Sarah Rae!
if anyone here is canada then you might recognize the vancouver 2010 red olympic mittens
i have a pair and they keep getting really fuzzy though not quite pills
the wool is very soft and im scared to use the sandpaper on them
if anyone knows how to get rid of fuzziness on mittens please help!
I used 80 grit on several sweaters and got very good results. I had the most success with a cheapo acrylic sweater, and good results with a tightly woven lambswool sweater. It worked fine on a sweater that has some cashmere in it too- I don't know the exact fabric content of that one. The cotton sweater didn't improve a whole lot with sanding, but it didn't do any harm. I wanted a finer grit, so I tried an emery board. That worked pretty well, though was time consuming.
I think the trick is to stretch the sweater on a hard surface and press evenly with the sandpaper as though ironing.