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Cost: $ $ $ $ $

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Time: 10 mins

Favorite sweater seen too many laundry runs? Don't spend money and replace it, shave it!
Don't you hate it when your sweaters start to look worse for wear? You know what I'm talking about; those little ballies that magically appear from nowhere. I do, especially when it's something that I wear all the time. My dad showed me this really niffy trick that makes the ballies disappear! May I introduce you to razor technology!

Posted by Pinocchio from U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado, United States • Published 29th January 2011 • See Pinocchio's 29 projects »

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julie r. favorited How To Defuzz Your Old Sweater (Or Teeshirt) 01 May 06:04
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Step 1
First procure a razor and the piece of clothing that you would like to rescue.
Step 2
Lay your sweater on a flat surface. The floor or a table works but I prefer to drape the sweater over my knee just because I can get closer to fabric and see what I'm doing.
Step 3
Now gently (gentle being the key word here) run the razor over the sweater like you are shaving. If you push down too hard on the razor, you may accidently cut the weave of the cloth and make a hole. Just be very careful and you'll be fine.
Step 4
The ballies, in the form of fuzz, should come off. I use this fuzz as stuffing for my other projects since I'm cheap and don't want to buy some from the store but you can throw this away if you want.
Step 5
All done! This technique works with all close-knit fabric so you can fix up a shirt, a dress, a pair of gloves, or anything. The possibilities are endless! Happy shaving and I hope I save you a little money :)

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Comments

DarkAshHurts · 119 projects 24th December 2011

You can also use velcro to do this (and theres no risk of cutting your fabric)!
Take the hard side (u know, theres a hard and soft side) of velcro, and use it to blot the fabric & pick up the lil ballies. Works on anything.
Using a razor, you could accidently shave off a loose thread, and create a hole in ur sweater. 0.0

Redpandas Milkshake · Orlando, Florida, US · 5 projects 10th June 2011

Would this work on stuffed animals? I bought a giant kawaii box like pig and i adore it but it gets so dirty with fuss and it drives me crazy!

Jet H. · Haarlem, North Holland, NL · 108 projects 1st February 2011

i knew this trick as well, it will appeare mostly at synthetic materials.
the synthetic fibres are tooo strong to let the small broken fibres to fall down.
thats the problem they still will be hanging on the rest of the fibres.
that's why you will have those ... ballies.LOL
so when you see them in cotton or a woollen it will be a blend fabric with a synthetic yarn.;-D

Strawberryzink · Los Angeles, California, US · 7 projects 31st January 2011

This is genius!!

Pinocchio · U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado, US · 30 projects 30th January 2011

Maybe, I can't say for certain. I only just started doing this so I don't have that much experience. If you want to give it a try, let me know how it turns out