How to make jeans soft at home?

Iron and starch

Corn or potato starch and iron are used as a softening agent.

How to proceed:

Place the jeans right side out on the ironing board.
Prepare the solution: 1 tbsp. l. starch per 2 liters of water. You can buy a ready-made product in the store.
First, apply the solution to the fabric using a spray bottle, then go over the treated areas with an iron.

This method actually softens the fabric, despite the fact that it uses starch, which is usually needed to stiffen knitwear and dresses.

Useful Tricks

Good jeans can be worn for many years if you take proper care of them. Interestingly, trousers made from this fabric can adapt even to changes in body shape (minor, of course).

If the jeans have stretched or their owner has lost weight, the situation can be corrected:

Wash the item on yourself: put on jeans and sit in a bath with cool water (up to 30 °C), lather your hand or sponge with soap and rub gently. Rinse with clean water without removing the item. Jeans should also dry on the body. This method is only suitable for the hot season; at low temperatures, denim will take too long to dry. Jeans washed this way will fit perfectly.
Speed up the drying of trousers using a special automatic machine mode. In this way, you can reduce the size of the entire thing, or individual parts, for example, get rid of elongated knees.

There is also a way out of the opposite situation, when jeans become too small:

Lightly moisten (for example, with a spray or steam) and put it on yourself. After drying, the jeans will stretch in the right places.
If you have gained so much weight that you can’t even button your pants, it doesn’t matter. You can wet only the belt of the product and stretch it as much as possible by inserting several thick books.

To protect jeans from rapid color loss, you need to wash them in cool water using mild detergents and dry them in a dark place, turning them inside out.

From the video you can learn how to care for dry denim jeans.

Sandpaper

Be careful with sandpaper. It is better not to treat thin jeans using this method; they can be rubbed to holes.

Material softening process:

Turn your pants inside out.
Place it on a flat surface, this will make it easier to work with the fabric.
Take some grit sandpaper and sand the jeans with it. After a few back-and-forth movements, you will see that the cotton fibers have gathered in a bunch. That's how it should be.
After completing the manipulation, shake the product well.

Sandpaper can be replaced with a pumice stone, scissors, or even a simple razor.

When using all these items, you need to be extremely careful and not be distracted by extraneous matters.

Carefully follow the procedure so as not to make the fabric too thin, otherwise holes will form.

To make linen clothes pleasant to wear

Linen is a fabric from which people have been sewing clothes since time immemorial. Manufacturing technology involves the use of natural fibers, which are obtained in factories in several stages. Due to this, the fabric is soft. But sometimes you discover that the purchased item is itchy and unpleasant to wear.

Don't despair; the fibers may not have softened during one of the processing steps. You can make it softer at home. To do this, you should boil the thing that is pricking in water with the addition of a soap-soda solution. Please note that this can only be done if you are sure that the fabric is natural - synthetic fibers cannot withstand high temperatures and curl up.

Try steaming the item with a hot iron, after washing and rinsing the item using conditioner. Another effective option is to contact a tailor to have a lining sewn onto your product.

Vinegar and salt

You can soften denim using salted water and vinegar. It is recommended to carry out this manipulation immediately after purchasing a new item.

Algorithm of actions:

Take the basin. Pour a few tablespoons of table salt into it and pour hot water. Dissolve the product well and add a little warm liquid.
Place the product in the prepared solution. Add water until the pants are completely covered with liquid.
Leave the jeans in the solution for 1-2 hours.
Then take out the trousers, pour out the water and rinse them in vinegar essence. Dilute 1 glass of vinegar in 10 liters of water and leave the pants alone for 2 hours.
Remove the jeans from the vinegar solution, rinse in clean water and hang to dry.

After drying, immediately put the jeans in the washing machine and wash with soda and powder several times.

How to stretch denim?

Physical exercises

Put the trousers on yourself and fasten them with a button. Place your feet shoulder-width apart and begin squatting as if you were sitting on a chair. Return to the starting position on your own, pushing off the floor with your heels. Perform the exercise intensively for 1 minute, do several approaches.

After a while, sit down on the sofa and check whether the trousers are tight to your body. If you bought clothes a size smaller, they may still be tight.

Heating with an iron or hair dryer

Physical exercises are aimed at stretching the entire product. If you need to increase the size of a certain area, use heat treatment.

Using iron and steam

Set the iron to steam mode.
Steam a narrow area for 5-10 minutes. The problem area will become moist and stretchable.
Immediately put on your pants and walk around in them for 1-2 hours. This will prevent the drying fibers from shrinking.

If necessary, repeat the manipulations until the pants no longer fit the body.

Heating with a hairdryer

The principle is similar to the previous one, but there are several features:

Lay your pants out on a smooth surface, right side up.
Set the hair dryer to medium power.
Hold the heating device at a distance of 15 cm from the surface of the material, move it evenly to warm up all the clothes.
Using the same principle, process the back of the pants.
Take a narrow piece of fabric by opposite edges and stretch it in different directions under great force. For a better effect, you can stick your hands inside and move them in different directions.

If the jeans get cold during the stretching process, reheat them with a hairdryer. Upon completion of the procedure, put the item on yourself and fasten it with a button. Squat for 1-2 minutes for better stretching.

Wet method

Spraying

Straighten your trousers on a clean and flat surface, preferably with a towel or bag.
Moisten the tight area of material using a spray bottle. The water should be at room temperature. At the same time, do not allow the fabric to become waterlogged. The product should be slightly damp, but not wet as when washing.
For better stretch, add 1 teaspoon of conditioner to the machine, which will make the fabric softer.
Spray water evenly downwards, starting from the waist.
Stand on the area of the material that needs enlargement.
Take the opposite edge of the product and pull the jeans up with all your might. To increase width, start stretching from the waist area, moving to the buttocks and hips. To lengthen jeans, start from the middle of the product. The main thing is not to pull on pockets and belt loops, as these are vulnerable areas.
Lay your pants out on a flat surface and let them dry completely.

Soak

The best way to stretch jeans to fit your figure is to put them on yourself and lie in the bath. But to get the desired effect, follow the instructions:

Fill a bathtub with warm water and sit in it with your jeans buttoned up for 15 minutes.
Without getting up from the bath, manually stretch narrow sections of fabric for 10 minutes.
Drain the water and let the jeans dry a little on your body so that when you leave the bathroom, water does not flow from your clothes.
Stand up and do physical exercises to stretch the tissue.
Wait half an hour for your pants to dry on you. This way the clothes will take the shape of your body. While drying, you can lie down or do household chores.
Remove the pants and fill them with some objects or hang them on the back of a chair so that the material does not shrink during final drying.

Note: There should be enough water in the bath to completely immerse the item of clothing.

Using the Extender

An expander is a device used by tailors to increase the width of a garment at the waist. Sold in specialized sewing stores. When using the device, you must adhere to the following algorithm of actions:

Take measurements and fasten all buttons or zippers on your pants;
Moisten the waist area with water, best done with a spray bottle;
Place the extender along the waistline inside the trousers;
Set the desired width of the jeans on the device.
Stretch the fabric evenly to the desired size.
Leave the product to dry with the expander installed inside.

Drying should occur naturally without the use of special devices.

Stretching

Jeans can become stiff if the fabric shrinks a little after washing. Then the material becomes denser and can even rub in intimate places.

To make the fabric softer, it must be stretched.

How to stretch:

Pour water into a spray bottle. Lightly moisten the material, put it on yourself and walk around until the material dries. Remove the item and iron it.
You can stretch wet trousers with your hands. Step on the end of the pant leg with your foot and press down well. Grasp the belt with your hands and pull as hard as you can. The fabric will stretch a little and become softer.
Softening the material in the calf area is difficult, but not impossible. Put on your pants and place your feet in the bath up to your knees. Sit in a warm bath for 15 minutes, periodically stretching the material in the calf area.

Stretch is a good option for softening fabric, but it only lasts until the first wash. After this, the procedure will have to be repeated again.

Doing exercises to make jeans soft

How to make jeans soft without washing? You just need to space them out well. The dense fibers of denim are made stronger than most others precisely to last longer, be used more often, and resist mechanical damage. As you know, the uniforms of American workers were made from it, which explains its increased wear resistance. But it is still possible to soften it.

Here are the main mechanical actions for this purpose:

Frequent wear - you need to wear them as often as possible and not just sit, but walk down the street, do housework in them, if denim clothing is not allowed at work. The material will stretch and soften naturally if you actively use it every day.
Cycling is a great way to speed up the process of softening your denim pants. Cycling on the street or on a home exercise machine is effective. This way you can kill two birds with one stone: stretch the fabric and correct the figure.
Deep lunges, squats, leg swings, knee raises and other exercises. Exercising in jeans will also quickly affect their softness in a positive way.
Regular washing - hand or machine, with powder and softening conditioner, in case of contamination or simply for prevention.

Wear jeans more often, run, jump in them, take evening walks and long-distance hikes. They are designed just for active use and daily wear.

Tips for drying and ironing plus a few life hacks

To keep the fabric comfortable and soft, and the item comfortable, follow these simple rules. Dry the item by laying it on a horizontal surface or hanging it on a rope by the bottom of your pants. It is not advisable to use a dryer. When drying in this way, try to set the temperature to a minimum. After drying the product, do not turn it inside out immediately, iron it as is. It is better to iron the item slightly damp, with the iron slightly warmed up. Some irons have a separate mode that is ideal for ironing denim. Washing jeans can be completely replaced by such a non-standard cleaning method as freezing. The item should be left in the freezer for a couple of hours - this will help get rid of dirt.

To stretch your trousers, wet the top of your trousers at the waistband, zip them up and stuff as many different items as possible inside until the girth reaches the desired size. If the problem is the opposite, you can reduce the size by washing it in a washing machine and drying it in a dryer or bathing the item in a hot bath. The item should be placed in an automatic washing machine and washed in cold water at low speed without adding washing powder or similar products. Afterwards, you need to wring out the item of clothing and dry it in the dryer. The second way is to put on jeans and get into a hot bath in them, staying there until the water cools down. Using the described recipes will help preserve the item for a long time and make the wearing process convenient and comfortable.