I keep my sweaters in a cedar lined drawer under our bed, and have little packets of herbs that are supposed to help. But I pulled out a red sweater to wear tomorrow, and there’s a hole in it. Just a small one, but it’s in a place people would notice it. I’d say they got 5 or 6 sweaters over the last year. Very frustrating. Any tried and true recommendations for keeping them away?
I guess I could look at this as a positive and say I have an excuse to go shopping, but I actually ventured to the mall today, and I was uninspired.
Just want to say I’m so sorry. I love wearing cashmere. I bet one random moth got in there. I have no knowledge what to do. My sister always tells me to use garlic.
Thanks. VERY frustrating. But I’m trying not too stress too much. Only one was really really new, but they cost a small fortune, and should last a very long time.
I am told you can put them in a plastic bag and freeze them, I often do that with mine when I travel.
If I suspect moths, I immediately put woolens in the freezer. You have to kill the eggs.
My dry cleaners says the moths go after spots where we spill food. I take all the woolens to the cleaners at the end of the season to be cleaned and store.
Last time, I took everything out of the drawers, vacuumed them and wiped them out with cleaner.
I use those cedar blocks. They seem to like cashmere the best. It’s a battle. Good luck.
If anyone has had success with moth traps, what brand??
adding: are you sure it’s moths? Once I stored woolens in boxes under a bed at my parents’ home and carpet beetles ate them all up. yuck. I had never even heard of them before.
At the risk of being beyond my “expertise” here, I’m told that moths actually aren’t eating the sweater material for its own sake, but are consuming spills of small drops of things like soda fizz, or any other tiny food detritus that hits the sweater. And the conclusion from that is that everything has to be dry cleaned before its put away for any moth-proofing to be effective.
Maybe you’ve already been religious about this, but its happened to me quite a bit (and I’m not religious about the dry cleaning). It does seem that the moths prefer the front of the sweaters and the sleeves, which are the likely places for small spills and spray residue.
One opinion.
BTW, sweater holes aren’t all that hard to mend. You need the same color thread. Just google how to mend a hole in a sweater and you’ll find many tutorials. ANd then experiment. You have nothing to lose as the sweater is already unwearable, so it’s worth a try. I’ve mended many sweaters over the years. Dont pull the thread too tight (to avoid puckering).
Good luck.
Thanks for the suggestions. I may take them to a tailor to see if a couple can be fixed.
What a bummer! That happened to a cashmere sweater I had bought my daughter. A tailor was able to re-weave, but it’s slightly visible so the sweater is now an everyday casual sweater versus a dressier one.
I wonder about silverfish. We see them a lot more than moths where we are. Where is the hole? Would a pretty scarf be able to hide it, after it was mended?
Thanks for the suggestions. I may take them to a tailor to see if a couple can be fixed. It could be silverfish. I just know something has eaten holes in my sweaters. I will also take the “positive” approach - gives me an excuse to shop the after Christmas sales.
One friend refers to holes in sweaters as a “flower opportunity”. Take another look at where the holes are, and see if any can be ameliorated with a bit of quick embroidery or a brooch.
Much more likely carpet beetles than moths, especially if the hole is cleanly eaten away. Carpet beetles are much more common. I store woolen sweaters in 2-gallon ziplocs, which keeps them out. Vacuuming in areas under furniture, etc. helps keep the population down, but you’re unlikely to get rid of them.
I handwash cashmere. I much prefer it to drycleaning. It makes the cashmere “bloom”–soften and develop a bit of a soft fuzz. It also saves a ton of $$ to handwash it. I soak in a bit of detergent and body-temp water, then roll into a towel and step on the roll to get the water out, then dry on a sweater rack.
I do what dmd does! There are 2 tricks to handwashing cashmere (i) always use water of the same temperature for both rinsing and washing (cold or lukewarm, but always stick to the same temp.) and (ii) dry as dmd suggests. Soap should take care of any critters hiding in there…
Thanks. I hand wash sometimes, with Nordstrom delicates wash, or take them to the cleaners.
Some people say you can store in plastic, but some people discourage it. I think I’m going to do that this year.
My friend’s daughter has a business based on cashmere with holes. She buys sweaters by the bin from goodwill type places, and then either mends the holes with a cashmere patches with moths on them, or she cuts them up and makes scarves, hats, headbands, etc.
Apparently, sweaters with glued on pieces of fur and glitter are all the rage now with the high-end designers! 
Just check the latest and greatest in the Worst Dressed thread.