How do you keep sweaters from pilling?

A reader wrote in with the following question, which I’d love your help with!

I was wondering if you have any tips for keeping sweaters from getting nubby or repairing them once they do. I bought a battery operated tool that is supposed to shave them, but I don’t think it works all that well. Even when I buy supposedly high quality sweaters I still have this issue.

Thanks!

Meghann

I don’t own tons of sweaters, so I’m not the best person in the world to answer this question.

My sweaters (and my girls’ sweaters) are all the fine-gauge variety, and I wash them in cold and then line-dry them.   That mostly seems to keep them pill-free for me, but Meghann shared with me that she’s having pilling issues even though she’s washing the sweaters on delicate and then air-drying them.

So.

What do you all do to keep your sweaters pill-free?

Is there a special washing/drying technique you use?

Do you have a way to remove pills once they’re there?

Is there a particular fiber you look for when you shop for sweaters? (wool? cotton? Do you avoid acrylic?)

(On a related note, I bought a sweatshirt from Kohl’s last year, and it started pilling before I even washed it! It’s acrylic, and I’ve never had that problem with a cotton or fleece sweatshirt.   So, that made me wonder about the type of yarn used to make sweaters, and whether that’s a factor.)

Alrighty.   The floor is yours, readers!   Share all of your pilling-avoidance and pilling-removal tips in the comments.