Oh, I forgot. I toss all the clothing in the washer and dryer as soon as i get it home and before any cutting. So much easier and less mess and fuss. I use just warm water because I dont want to make felt. I dont care about the lining or anything and for over 50+ garments this has worked beautifully. I prefer cutting up a clean garment.

I remember several things I washed that were all wool. One an army blanket, shrunk to the size of a lap quilt, the other a wool jacket, it was so stiff and small my 6 year old couldn't get in it - was funny shaped.

Thank you all... and I will say my athsma was kicking up after alll that wool cutting. The suits appeared to be sanitized when I got them. They all smelled the same anyhow..nothing aromatic...lol

I super appreciate the tip on cutting a corner to see IF the suit I washed would fray! It didn't! Love that...

I got to thinking of WHY I prefer wool slacks to the suit coats. Most the the suit coats have tayloring darts, and other things (button holes, double breasts etc) that change the line of the fabrics. Most of the slacks all have nice straight lines of the plaids and herringbones.

Also, someone said I need to put a piece of cedar wood into my wool drawer to keep the moths out of it... REALLY??

AZJane
I love alllllllllll the bull breeds, but I've had nothing but rescue boxers since 1970. The little sweetie that's my AV was a skeleton 2 years ago. She bloomed into a perfect little princess, and the second year I had her she was trained and is now my husband's hearing alert service dog. She was a natural so the training went super easy. She's very mellow for a boxer, and so amazingly gentle with our grandchildren it melts my heart. I cannot imagine WHY she ran as a terrified stray for awhile before she was caught. I love your AV too! I could *kiss* every smooooshie faced dog I see... I just love the bull breeds to bits.

Your holey army blankets are at my house. Dh loves them.lol

My first quilt, and it's wool
 

I have been wanting to post these pictures but I didn't know how to upload photos until now. This is my first ever quilt, and it's made from clothing from our closets and from the Sally Army. It was a lot of fun looking for the clothes and working with them. They all went straight into the washing machine and were washed and then machine dried using the hottest, longest cycles available. Some of the fabrics didn't felt, so were left out.

The leaves were traced from ones I collected while walking the dogs. Except for the red, 3-lobed leaf (bottom left of first picture), which is poison ivy, which I didn't want to touch, so I used my imagination. Easy to do, we have a ton of it around here.

The finished top was longarm quilted by a lady who lived nearby at that time. The batting is thin, and the backing is cotton, but it is still quite heavy and so cozy!

I never used cedar or mothballs with this but I did keep bags of whole cloves with it, but one small moth hole appeared. I embroidered a bee over the hole!

I have been working on another wool quilt for the past few years, I will try to take some pictures of that one too.

That is quite fabulous!!!

I used hot water because I did want to make felt, so that the raw edges would not unravel. Also, to kill any moth eggs or bugs that might be there.

When I collected fabrics it was the hottest week of that summer, but the nice people at the Sally Army let me bring my dogs in with me to cool off in their ac. My little dog Charlie had a great time sneaking under the racks of clothes and making people jump when he put his cold wet nose on their legs!

I just made two round table topper out of silk or blends ties. Each tie had a Christmas motif. I washed before I took them apart. opened them up and laid out around my table to get them placed. Then covered the center hole with a crazy quilted round piece from leftover scraps. I posted a photo a couple of weeks ago but it was deleted for some reason so I won't post again. Ties make very pretty projects.

wash your wools in hot water, rinse in cold water- toss into the dryer---no interfacing is necessary. they come out ready to cut & use anyway your heart desires. wool is wonderful to work with!

This "quilt" is about fifty years old and has been in use the entire time, although it is starting to seperate. When I got it was flat, but it got fried in a overheated dryer (burned the hand when touched inside drum getting stuff out that was too hot to touch) and now sort of bubbly/puckery. The quilter stitched around each square, which would be a neat handwork thing to take along to all the places we have to wait in a day) and then crocheted them together. Looks like cotton thread of some sort was used. It must have taken a very long time. The full squares were 6" but since the frying they are 5 1/2" squares. There is no backing; just the simple wool squares and this thing is toasty!
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