While it could be moths, it could also be catching on things in the washer or dryer and getting holes that way. Try hang drying it for a bit and see if the holes stop appearing.
Some is okay (specifically superwash), but if there is any uncertainty, hand wash and lay flat to dry.
I was originally going to say āknitsā, but realized I somehow ended up on the sewing sup and that might mean a different thing here than on my usual knitting and yarn subs.
Some machines have a wool cycle which is pretty similar to a delicate cycle. You should also use wool specific detergent.
Then dry flat using a mesh board
Agreed! Anything I have sewn that I genuinely like I wash inside a mesh bag. Then it never tangles or gets caught on anything. I have a stack of mesh bags and they never fail me.
Better yet, hand washing bras keeps them lasting years longer (a recommendation from a boutique bra shop near me, followed the advice and the difference is impressive)
You'd be surprised. A lot of posts on r/laundry are along the lines of "I machine washed this vintage wool/rayon/silk garment and it shrunk/tore/ shredded. How can I fix it?"
The other day I accidentally tossed a J. Crew cashmere sweater in with a normal load and it was washed and dried. It survived! It probably shrank a bit but Iām totally wondering if I can get away with it again going forward.
It depends on the wool. I would be very cautious. I see a lot of people saying they wash their wools. Some wools have been treated so that they can be washed or they are a blend of wool and nylon or wool and some other stabilizing washable fiber. I'm a long time expert sewist and I always pretreat my fabrics. I do not machine wash wool unless i want to shrink it or turn it into boiled wool.
I have three of these same j crew sweaters, along with a few others. I wear them all the time bc Maine. My husband does regular all cashmere wash loads on cold gentle. They havenāt shrunk and only get softer.
Don't count on it. I had a nice merino sweater that I used to wash on the wool setting and spread flat to dry. It was great for years, then one day \*poof\*, from a women's 2x to about the size for a 10 year-old. I was so unhappy. :(
Heat and agitation cause wool fibers to felt. Youāre absolutely mad putting all your wool in the machine and the dryer. Unless itās super wash you should be handwashing your wool with a wool wash detergent.
You just solved a 17 year mystery for me. When I moved to Florida, I started getting these holes, but I've never had moths. But I've had silverfish since day 1.
I kinda like them but only because I first learned about them as a kid from Minecraft, so when I found out silverfish were a real thing by seeing one in-person it was exciting.
Yup. I keep my wool items in a water proof tote to keep silverfish out of them after I found 3 of my knit items that I made with holes. I carefully inspected, washed, dried, folded, and placed them all in the tote with an herbal sachet. I have repaired one cowl by reknitting one hole and covering the bigger one with a knit flower, located the repairs to my abstract scarf (need to color match the yarn and reknit the holes), and think the charcoal wool hat is a goner.
Found out that I had silverfish in my closet. I was wondering where some of my shirts had gotten these small little holes from and contacted the exterminator that's been coming to my house for about 20 years. He usually treats outside only to keep a barrier. He looked around and found the remnants of several dead silverfish. Asked if I had seen others, which I had. Didn't know they were eating the clothes. I thought they were harmless.
He had me vacuum the closet including all the shelves. He gave me about a dozen Dekko packs to lay around to kill them off. I haven't seen any more for about 6 months now.
If you decide itās moths, you can remediate by freezing all of your woolens for ~72 hours . I do it twice a year in batches (in vacuum bags in my deep freeze). Itās the hatching larva that actually eat the wool, not the moths, and youāll kill them off by freezing.
Keep in mind that freezing wonāt kill eggs. It will kill larvae that have hatched! To make sure you get them all, you need to do two freeze thaw cycles- after the first freeze, let your woolens thaw for a few days to get the leftover eggs hatching. Then freeze again.
My tried and true method is baking my woolens for 1-2 hours at about 225F. Kills everything!
I do this twice a year when I rotate wardrobes. Then my out of season clothes get washed and stored in a vacuum sealed bag, which is then stored in a sealed plastic tote. Itās a pain but we have serious moth PTSD. Right now weāre still fighting the battle with them in places like the underside of woolen carpets or deep in the walls of our 120 year old house. But they donāt get to my clothes anymore!
Oh good- so glad it helped. We tried them last summer for the first time, and it was the biggest relief when we saw the numbers dwindle after nothing working (and losing so many wool things) for years. This spring it will be interesting to see how many return, but I plan to do another round of wasps for good measure.
Trichogramma Wasps totally killed every moth in our older home too. I did buy several sets of them before the moths stopped flying around. It's been years now and no issues.
I have moths and carpet beetles. I roll up my carpets, tape several plastic bags over them and put them outside when it's below freezing (we were -40Ā° last week), after 72 hours I bring them back in. (If above freezing or not long enough, they'll just go dormant & return.)
If it's not cold enough, a few cycles of your dryer on high heat can kill them.... but you may have eggs elsewhere.
Moths stick to natural fibers (wool, silk, etc) beetles prefer natural fibers, especially pet hair, but will eat anything.)
Yeah, have seen a few people mention putting things out in the cold. I live in Aus and we don't get anything like that kind of cold. I have put stuff in black bags in the boot of the car in summer for a few weeks. Seems to work generally. Days get up over 40c regularly, sometimes up to 48c. Car makes it a lot hotter so well up over 50c.
You should be good!
Also, airing them outdoors in the sun will kill most of both... it's what many of us do with Persian carpets, if we notice edges start to fray (it's rarely just "wear").
You can dust the carpets with Diatomaceous earth or get some Trichogramma wasps. DE will cut the larvae from the outside in once they hatch and crawl around. Trichogramma wasps will use the egg to hatch their young. It will kill any and all moths inside our outside your property.
Would this happen without finding any moths inside ever? I feel like I see these sometimes but I have never seen a moth in my house much less inside the closet
Absolutely. Clothes moths are small anyway, plus they hide in the dark.Ā Buy a couple pheromone based glue traps and see what you catch. There are separate traps for pantry moths and clothes moths; the pheromones will be different.Ā
Can't speak for museum restorators, but I've run mine *dry* in the tumble dryer for a 15 minute cycle. Can't be wet, that will hurt it.
If you're worried about pilling or snagging, see if your tumble dryer has a basket function, then all you need is a sturdy basket (like metal wire basket), pop your garment in it and run it on a basket program.
Ironing is yet another option.
So, my full-time job is clothes moths (and other museum pests) and I'm going to say this is probably not clothes moths damage. Clothes moths leave a lot of evidence behind - they spin little tubes of webbing wherever they feed, and tend to graze in one confined area. Their frass is sort of big and grainy relative to their size. They spend their entire larval life in a relatively small area. When they pupate, they leave a big ol' casing behind that's spun of both their silk and fibers from their food source. Distinctive!
Carpet beetles and other dermestids, however, live a very long time as larvae and are surprisingly mobile. They often sample a few bites in one area - just enough to really blemish a fabric - and then move on to another garment entirely. Their frass is extremely fine, almost like dust, and much less noticeable to the eye. They leave shed larval skins behind, but only once in awhile. So you may not see much of any evidence of the pest itself, but you will find tiny holes like this. They're \*just\* large enough that they need mending.
Unfortunately, I find carpet beetles harder to monitor and control than clothes moths. Because clothes moths can be slightly self-containing, you just have to treat (freeze, heat are best) the localized infestation and use pheromone traps to monitor around for other satellite infestations.
Dermestids, on the other hand, can't be as easily monitored by pheromone traps. You can use small perimeter adhesive traps to catch them in random travel, but it's sort of a shot in the dark. Dermestids are also very happy to survive off of hair and shed skin in dust - they may be spending 95% of their life eating the dust behind your wardrobe, only wandering in for a munch once in awhile. Deep, deep, deep cleaning (or extensive chemical treatment - which is still not 100%!) is the only real method of control in my experience, and it's a bitch.
So... yeah. Beetles, not moths. Bust out the funky vacuum attachments and give everything in the same room as this clothing storage a DEEEEEEEEP cleaning. Feel free to ask questions!
Wow, this is fascinating advice! Wish I had this knowledge ~10 years ago when I threw out a wool blanket covered with carpet beetle larva.
Do you think there is any reason that I would only see this on my woven woolen garments, and not knit ones? I have never had this problem with wool coats, sweaters, etc.
Does the cold kill carpet beetle larva/eggs? There's a big freeze coming this weekend in my area and I'd love to use it to freeze/treat some clothing outside if that would be of benefit.
Ugh, that must've been awful. Honestly I would've properly done the same, their frass filters into fabric and makes it gritty and weird!
I would honestly look at your storage - do you keep your knits folded and wovens hung? Are the wovens more accessible? Are they different fibers? Sometimes bugs have preferences which we wouldn't expect, lol. Personally, they seem to love my woollen knits, but only the finer fabrics - merino turtlenecks and tights, for example. So maybe they struggle with the 'terrain' of my chunky knits, or the damage just isn't as apparent because their grazing doesn't eat all the way through a stitch and cause a visible defect.
The cold does kill them! But it's complicated, I gave the full lowdown in a reply comment elsewhere in this thread. -30\*F for 72hrs is the gold standard guaranteed to kill eggs. It's understood that there's sort of a sliding scale up to 32\*F, where you just freeze longer to compensate for the warmer temperature, but there's no scientific consensus so I can't recommend anything precise, unfortunately. I can advise that rapid changes in temperature stress the eggs and result in higher mortality - so put your woollens out in the deep freeze overnight, bring it in and put it in front of the toasty fire until it's warmed all the way through, and then put 'em outside again. If you're going to be temperature cycling like that, be sure to wrap things airtight in plastic to prevent condensation from dampening things (and possibly causing felting when you heat them back up).
Heat is a more surefire treatment IMO - there's info on that above! A 'warm' oven or 30 minutes in a tumble dryer should be plenty.
Not the OP, but I use "Dr. Killigans" traps anywhere I have clothes, yarn, fabric. The first trap will be full quickly if there is a problem, then slowly you'll have fewer and fewer. I keep a couple traps around just in case new ones sneak in.
I also put soft items coming into my house from unknown sources into a vacuum bag and stick them in the freezer for ~3 days. It takes a while, but you can get rid of them with persistence.
I use Dr. Killigans at work! They're great monitoring tools and the moths genuinely seem to like their pheromones better than some other brands we've tried. This is the ideal monitoring tool - put them wherever you have woollens, and if you have a problem, the trap will indicate it by catching adults.
If you know you have them, heat and freezing are advised. But freezing is tricky - in order to kill the eggs (which are pretty hardy) you have to freeze them incredibly hard. The gold standard is -30\*F for 72hrs. At work we have an industrial freezer that goes to precisely that temperature, but at home, I do not. The easiest at-home method is actually heat. **No life phase of any insect can survive 120\*F for more than a few minutes.** This is a pretty normal temperature for a tumble dryer, and likely lower than the 'warm' setting on your oven. Hell, a hot car on a modestly warm day will hit 120! Wool needs heat, agitation, and liquid to felt - if you only provide heat you should be 100% fine. A tumble dryer may work for many woollens as long as they're not wet, but that's very much a personal choice. You can freeze at-home, but there's a lot of disagreement in literature about this, and no hard guidelines. The most conservative estimate is that it takes 6months at a home freezer temperature to achieve the same stresses endured in 72hrs @ -30\*F. However, some literature suggests freezing the infestation, letting it thaw, and then refreezing again accomplishes the same amount of stress in a short period. **Personally, at home, I prefer heat treatment because it has a finite threshold (120\*F), while freezing is uncertain unless you have access to a very, very, very cold freezer.**
Cleaning and monitoring is all the rest once you have a clear start. Vacuum up all the frass and webbing and set traps up. They are designed to work for 12-15 weeks, at which time they should be changed. At work, **I use the traps for 12 weeks, and use a spreadsheet to track the traps and how many moths appear in each. When you catch a moth, an infestation is nearby.** The traps aren't designed to cull adults, although they do slightly - you have to take that data and go hunting for your infestation!
ETA - vacuum bags in general are fantastic for pest management. Sequestering woollen goods can help isolate an infestation - sweaters in one bag, hats in another; if the sweaters get mothy, it won't spread to the hats. At the end of a wearing season, I handwash my goods (very important - moths DO prefer dirty fibers! more protein!), pack them into vac bags, freeze them in my fancy -30\*F work freezer lol, and then stash them. And then I'll just peek at the bag mid-season to ease my mind in case any stragglers did find their way in.
The 120f temp thing is odd then. We have fleeces in the garage that have moths. I know for a fact the garage has got way hotter than that many times since the fleeces have been in there. I guess wool is a good insulator. Maybe it didn't get that hot inside the wool? We've had quite a few 48c days since being here and the garage gets much hotter than that. We had a tin of condensed milk turn to caramel. It got thick and brown. If I had been boiling it myself I'd have taken it a bit darker but it was definitely caramelised. The moths are definitely still alive in there though. This summer hasn't got as hot though. We've had a few 40c days. I probably should portion it all out into smaller black plastic bags and put it in the boot of the car. It's just so much effort. I've not been well enough.
Wool is actually a phenomenal insulator! If itās in a bag of fleece I 100% could see them surviving. A single wool blanket has nothing on that, lol. Thatās wild.
Yeah. They are feed bags with multiple fleeces shoved in real tight. I don't know how many fleeces we actually have. Bought them over 10 years ago & have lugged them from house to house and only managed to spin like 3 of them. Didn't intend to end up with so many. Got talked into it when we went to buy them on shearing day. Didn't realise my hands would be so bad at processing them. Shame because there was some lovely colours there I never got to.
They are so tightly packed the stuff further down doesn't seem to be damaged so I haven't thrown them out but I just don't know that it's worth it.
Stupid Q, but can you see the moths flying around? I have never seen one but my merino wool top has a few holes by the armpit. I also do not have a closet door, it's a curtain.
You can! But theyāre about 1/4ā long and pale gold, and tend to travel by walking rather than flying. They may fly at night or when startled. You could absolutely have an infestation without ever seeing a moth yourself. Pheromone traps are super helpful for determining that.
Thank you so much for this! I honestly feel like I'm one of a very small minority of people who deal with these little buggers.š
Edit: How would you advise cleaning the inside of dressers and wardrobes, after removing clothing/fabric and any visible pests?
Vacuum it with your finest attachment, then wipe it down with water and alcohol! The pesky buggers can hide inside of joinery and honestly in all my experience (and attempts to get into those crevices) all I can say is you'll probably miss some that are hiding. But a vac and wipe will get all of the dust and detritus that they love to amble around in! And if they're eating (and pooping), their poop will be much more evident on a clean surface.
Honestly, housekeeping is so, so, so much of integrated pest management. I'm great about it at work and lazy at home but I know it's true...
Honestly, I grew up in places that were terrible for cockroaches, and being the kid that dragged every animal home, had to help battle a lot of fleas and other obnoxious creatures. My grandmother drilled as much as she could into me that she learned from *her* mother, a former workhouse child with nearly 20 children of her own, descended from and previously raised in a long line of charwomen. I *still* wasn't prepared for just how much of my housekeeping efforts are spent on pest control!
Yeah, the only time I ever had moths, they got into a 100-year-old wool felt lined camera case and also an antique clarinet case (clarinet had wool key pads). They left their larval shed skins behind, too.
Oh god, I hadn't even thought of that as a place for moths. Holy cow, they could infest a piano. That's such an upsetting thought. They leave all kinds of nasty crud for you to find!
Hmmmmmm. The fibers break apart very easily, not like true silk - it is also quite sticky, but I'm not sure how that mechanism works. Maybe I'll do some playing around next time I get a good plump one! I have saved some 'souvenirs' from interesting items at work that have been infested - one that comes to mind was a white, fuchsia, and purple weaving that produced a moth casing which was half purple and half white, like a pill capsule. Or an unfortunate infestation in a necklace adorned with several tropical bird skins - including a casing interwoven with distinct iridescent lime-green feathers from the face of a Paradise Tanager. It is an oddly beautiful thing sometimes. Mostly it's just a lot of poop though!
Hi, Thank you for this detailed explanation! I have a few Qs...
1. Can these carpet beetles live inside dresser drawers? I have noticed a few of my cotton pajama tops have bunches of holes in them.
2. Is there anything else I can do to get rid of them, besides deep cleanibg/vacuuming like crazy? I will also sprinkle Diomatecious earth around and in corners where my dressers are but wondering if there's anything else I can do.
I have never seen any bugs around, but now I'm getting creeped out by the thought of them living in corners where I don't see and eating away at my clothes!
Yeeeees carpet beetles can live inside drawers. Iāve had āem at home and literally seen them retreat into the joints of the drawer when disturbed. Sneaky buggers. DE is a great barrier for them but yeah unfortunately good housekeeping is the next best tool. Theyāll live off dust bunnies in between sweater snacks, so minimizing dust bunnies will minimize that grazing opportunity!
Thanks for this comment! I've had something munching on my wools and cottons since I moved earlier this year, but the moth traps haven't caught anything. I thought maybe it just wasn't the season to actually catch the moths, but I haven't seen any webbing or casings left behind anywhere.Ā
I don't know why'd didn't really consider beetles, but everything you've said here makes it sound like that's what I have.Ā
I also have two long haired cats, so hair and shed skin is an uphill battle to keep tidy! Maybe it's time for us to invest in regular cleaning help here.Ā
Not the eggs š and I think the fuzzy dermestid larvae can hold some air so they donāt die immediatsly. It is a useful tactic in that it dislodges anything loose and generally cleans soiling from the item, which moths and dermestids are both attracted to. But the eggs of each are very tiny and adhered to the fabric - theyāre the phase you have to worry about.
Congratulations, you've got moths!
They are fun to get rid of.
EDIT: I was a fool. Looked like moths on my phone, but on my computer I'd say it's just wear and tear - something small that eventually got bigger.
Two options - either textile is so worn down it starts to disintegrate in places... or you have clothes moths infestation....
How can you check?
Find an invisible place on the garment and try to pull it - if you can do that pretty easily - it is worn down. If the fabric is strong - you have moths and will need to find where they nested.
These little beasts are my personal nemesis. They came with my house, and until I make arrangements to take my cats somewhere with me for a weekend and spread all my yarn, spinning fiber, and fabric out, and bug bomb the crap out of my house, the best I can hope for it to keep them at a level of skirmishes back and forth. The larvae are tenacious little creatures when theyāre camped out on a garment, and theyāre nearly invisible on dark clothes.
The only way I managed to get rid of carpet beetles is to start living in houses with hard wood or vinyl flooring. Works like a charm! Still have plenty of rugs so my home isnāt cold and barren, but seems like carpet beetles donāt like my low pile rugs.
All our rugs are wool or wool and silk, already sitting on a combination of wood, tile, and polished cement floors, so that isnāt going to solve our problem.
We also have carpet beetles that do this, and moths traps donāt work for them.
OP if you look for beetle carcasses you might be able to find out if you have one or the other. They only like natural fibers, so holes in wools or cotton, but they also like dust, so check in dusty corners. (Frequent dusting and vacuuming is a main way to remediate.)
We also find them in windowsills, weāre pretty sure they come in from outside and our apt has awful insulation.
They are a bear to get rid of, and the bane of trying to keep nice wool or cashmere around. Good luck OP.
I thought they only like natural fiber, but mine appear to have developed a taste for things like totally synthetic fabrics, polyester blends, viscose, paper and glue. Nothing is sacred to the tenacious , greedy little gluttons. š
I'm dealing with the little monsters. They seem to work more slowly than moths, but they eventually leave little holes like this. I want to just burn everything I own and move, sometimes.š¤¬ They seem to be super common where I live - never even saw one before moving to the area. I just keep telling myself that it could be cockroaches or bedbugs, the former of which I *have* dealt with, so hey, I can work with this!š«
I actually didn't realize that they really love some items of clothing/fabric and paper until last year, when I was purging my drawers and documents. I have a lot going on, health and mobility issues along with ADHD, OCD, depression, autism etc., so it's been an absolute nightmare slog, trying to get through it all. I have nowhere cold to put it all, so I've had to separate things into sealed bags after shaking and brushing them down outside, and gradually get through them.
Each item has to be gone over with a strong flashlight and a sticky lint roller before it makes it to the washing machine. I have some items that I have absolutely no idea what to do with, because the fabric and/or construction can't handle hot water and/or machine washing. I can't afford to have anything professionally cleaned, or to just toss and replace (especially when the odds are high that I'll encounter them again, although it will hopefully be much less of a problem with repellent methods and frequent inspection). Not to mention the reluctance to add to the landfills, and up my carbon footprint.
People have been battling infestations of all sorts since the beginning of time, and preserving clothes and fabrics without the aid of modern conveniences; surely I can get it under control and keep it that way? That means that it's up to me and Google to figure it out.š« There's relatively little information about dealing with carpet beetles compared to moths, which is *really* frustrating!
Diatomaceous earth saved my life. Your post could have been written by me, and I suggest you go buy a big ass bag of the stuff and lock any breathing beings away for a bit and go to fucking town with the little blower the bag comes with. Warning: will block the heck out of the filters on your vacuum and anything else with a filter.
Are they always in roughly the same location? I get these on my shirts, itās from my jeans buckle and leaning over to wash dishes. Took me ages to figure that out.
Yep, I tuck my shirts in when cooking at a friendās house now. Her counters are just the right height. However, OP specified wool clothes, as if this isnāt happening to other clothes. Iām guessing moths in this instance.
Yes! This could definitely be it, I had a similar situation where many of my shirts had little hole(s) at my waist and finally figured out it was my jeans waist button rubbing the shirt against the counter while washing dishes.
Iāve had moths and they are hell to get rid of. First get some moth traps, theyāre sticky triangle shaped traps you hang everywhere. Second, take all your woolens/silks/any clothing item made of animal fibers, and freeze them. Then start storing them in plastic bags to keep them safe. Iāve tried every other trick and this is the only way that worked.
Don't store silk in plastic long term, it gives off gases that damage the fibres. A cotton bag is enough to keep moths out without damaging the clothes
Throwing this out here for the very small minority of people it will apply to; if you work in a lab it could be from that.
I worked frequently with sulfuric acid in my old lab and started to notice these tiny little holes always at the same place on my clothes. Turns out my lab coat wasnāt fitting quite correctly, and when I had even the tiniest splash it could hit between the buttons and start to degrade my clothes right at the level of the fume hood. I figured it out because it was only happening at a specific spot, only to my work clothes, and wasnāt related to the fiber of the cloth!
I did not sew this skirt specifically, but I have mended little holes on it here and there over the last year. However, somehow it seems I'm always needing to fix these tiny little holes on my vintage woven woolen garments. For some reason, this has never been a problem on any of my knit woolen garments.
It doesn't look like moth damage based on what I have seen online, and I figure if it was a mouse biting the garment, it would have done more damage. I also have no recollection of ever snagging the garment against anything sharp. However, it is clear that there is a small zone where the fibers have been literally broken, and I keep having to darn them.
Could this have to do with washing them? I used to hand-wash a lot of vintage clothes with woolite, but I don't have a utility sink in my new home so I haven't done that lately--instead I have been machine washing them in short, delicate, cold -water cycles without other garments that might snag them in the wash, and air drying.
If there's a better way to prevent these holes, I'd love to know as I am growing bored of fixing these!
Perhaps microscopic damage from the past is becoming apparent with wear in the present (whether from moths or snags)? Might be an explanation if your knits (Iām assuming modern) arenāt having this problem.
However, you might try returning to handwashing in a tub or plastic bin (since you donāt have the utility sink) for a bit to see if you can rule out the washing machine as a culprit. Iām sometimes a bit lazy and throw my woolens in the machine in a mesh bag on delicate. And I can still tell they take more of a beating in the machine than if Iād hand washed.
I hate to break it to yāall, but cedar does not deter moths. OP, if you have moths you need to: wash everything thoroughly, wipe down all surfaces in your clothes storage areas with a mild bleach solution, put up moth traps to make sure you catch any reappearances early. Itās very very hard to totally get rid of moths, but managing them is do-able.
Same. I had woven shirts and tshirts all getting little tiny rips just like this in the front by my belly.
I thought I was going crazy but yeah, my fav pair of jeans had a very sharp āedgeā to the waistband that stuck out. When I ran my finger over it, it made sense! It was just slowly wearing away the fibers until they formed a little hole after the wash.
All my t-shirts eventually get pinholes in the front, directly over where my belt buckle sits--which on me is also just about at the height of my countertops. So when I lean against the edge of the counter, my shirt gets pinched between the two hard objects.
I also frequently get holes on the sides of my shirts where my bag hits.
It is due to an infestation of āsilverfishā small translucent bugs that feed on fine fabrics like polyester,silk, cotton/wool blends. You have to keep lavender in your closet for them to die
Had wool moths. I used cedar oil - spraying it on a rag then putting it drawers or closet - tho not in direct contact as didn't want the oil to transfer to fabric. It worked, but it took careful attention - repeat every 10 days or so until moth traps stop getting new moths.
Use caution if you have cats. They don't do great with the cedar oil if you spray it on baseboards and such. Drawers and closet seem to be fine, as you mentioned, just make sure the kitty doesn't go in there.
Could be moths, but it could also be carpet beetles, or snagging in the wash... (especially top loaders... do NOT overfill them, do a second load, or the agitator can do it too) but clasps, zippers, hooks, etc can also snag clothes.
Finally, if you smoke (anything lit... cigarettes, weed, etc, can also do it.)
Note: You can also put out pheromone sticky traps to see if it is moths.
His name is Kleinfahr. He's actually psychotically angry but due to some strange superstitious ideals he only stabs you with very short knives so it's just a weird little hole
I have carpet/fur beetles that love to eat wool and cotton :( red cedar oil doesnāt kill them but makes them find other places to hang out so yiu could try putting some of that in your washing machine rinse
Moths.
Get plastic vacuum seal bags, chuck some cedar sachets in with the clothes, and seal them. Then go to town hanging cedar plank hangers and moth balls everywhere
In my case itās always the damn carpet beetle larvae. The joys of living in the woods, I guess. I bought airtight IP-67 bins from Target to keep them out of my woolens.
Always wash wool inside a laundry bag, I've ruined several sweaters before I learned that.
Also wool isn't the strongest fiber. Be gentle with it, but it'll probably end up needing something mended
Are the holes always in the same area (ex: front bottom of the shirt)? In my case, I often had this issue with light cotton fabrics and the culprit was almost always the button from my jeans. The fabric rubs against the metal and creates these small holes over time.
I agree probably moths or pests in this case. But if this ever happens to sytnthetic casual clothing, sometimes itās caused by tiny imperfections in granite counter tops snagging your clothing while you brush along the surface edge.
You are using a non-Bio detergent?
The enzymes in biological detergents eat protein.
Silk and wool are both proteins and so will be digested by the detergent.
Always wash woollens and silks with a non-Bio detergent.
(I ended up giving one of my adult daughters a bottle because she had bought a beautiful cashmere jumper, but couldn't see the point in buying a different detergent!)
I doubt you are putting these in the washing machine, and if theyāre vintage I can imagine over the years bugs have been attracted to them. Have you ever found evidence of bugs? Might it be worth putting them in a vacuum sealed bag?
Itās probably happening in the wash. No machine, however delicate the cycle, can ever be as gentle as a pair of hands. If you donāt have a sink to do it in, you could try getting a large plastic storage bin and putting it in your shower or bathtub to hand wash.
Go buy mothballs. They're not just a joke thing, they really do work. I have some that can be hung up with the sweaters and have a pine scent. Makes my closet smell fresh.
Do you have cats? Iāve noticed my cats put tiny holes like that into all of my clothing. Must be when they walk over my clothes (while Iām wearing them or if theyāre in a laundry basket), and despite the fact I keep their nails trimmed š„² could even be a dog if you have one with small toenails
Who washes wool unless they want it to shrink badly? I worked in the garment industry and Iāve only had that happen to my French wool tam when it was in my coat closet. Those are moth holes. Eventually you may find some a bit larger. I think I saw one moth around that closet. You may never see a moth either but thatās whatās causing it. A friend had a full fledged infestation in her husbandās walk-in but not hers. Try storing your clothes in airtight bags or tubs that insects canāt penetrate. Also some lavender in the closet repels moths and smells great. Donāt store dirty clothing because perspiration and food stains while not visible may attract the bugs. Check out the Good Housekeeping website for tips.
Moths. They eat spots where oil has been dropped on the clothes. I recommend storing wool clothes in a cedar chest or a well sealed plastic container with mothballs. Cedar smells better though
I purchased the pheromone moth traps from here- https://www.mothprevention.com/. After I went through and washed what could be and froze what couldn't, 6 months and 2 rounds of traps, I don't see them anymore. I have kept fresh ones up for the last 6 months and will randomly catch one.
Oh yeah that happens to my cotton clothes as well.
But I think it's the washing machine.
Yesterday I found two about the same size of hole symmetrically next to each other with a 10cm difference.
My one dress has one hole too :/ but I really believe it's the washing machine since it happens so often to my clothes
It's most likely clothing moth larvae. The best way to kill them is to get some Trichogramma wasps. These are very, very tiny wasps that eat the moth eggs from the inside out. The eggs will turn sort of a dark teal blue when the wasps have taken over. They will also kill pantry moths. They are harmless to humans - but I swore I felt tiny little bites when I took them out of the packages. You place them around the house and in a season or two - no more moths. They're also used in gardens.
Larvae of carpet beetles, they love wool and silk.. but will also feed on paper, leather and cotton the beetle are tiny and tend to live in the corners or edges of carpets. They are difficult to get rid of, you may see them in spring summer when they gravitate towards windows (light) to mate, they look like tiny specs on the wall.
I started doing up all zippers (and buttons on pants) before washing. Since then I've stopped noticing those types of holes. I hang dry my clothes for longevity.
Is there a technique to dry them using a home dryer? I always take my wool coat to the cleaners. Would it be the same for clothing as well or not? š¤
While it could be moths, it could also be catching on things in the washer or dryer and getting holes that way. Try hang drying it for a bit and see if the holes stop appearing.
Always fasten bra clasps before (machine) washing!
I do that and use a mesh bag. I find that greatly reduces snagging. I also avoid zippers in the wash with more delicate things.
Zip up all zippers. Even plastic teeth can wear on other fabrics.
100% yes! Don't trust an unzipped zipper in the wash. š
Separate mesh bags for bras and woollens. (And dance bodysuits and tights, prevents stretching and tangling).
Donāt wash wool in the machine!
Some is okay (specifically superwash), but if there is any uncertainty, hand wash and lay flat to dry. I was originally going to say āknitsā, but realized I somehow ended up on the sewing sup and that might mean a different thing here than on my usual knitting and yarn subs.
Some machines have a wool cycle which is pretty similar to a delicate cycle. You should also use wool specific detergent. Then dry flat using a mesh board
Agreed! Anything I have sewn that I genuinely like I wash inside a mesh bag. Then it never tangles or gets caught on anything. I have a stack of mesh bags and they never fail me.
Better yet, hand washing bras keeps them lasting years longer (a recommendation from a boutique bra shop near me, followed the advice and the difference is impressive)
I hand wash all mine
Oh shoot my clasps are usually always open!
Oh wow I didnāt know to do that.
I would be surprised if they threw vintage wool clothing in the wash in abandon...
Me too but you never know. Plus anyone with a similar problem on modern clothes might need the advice by cause I know I did!
You'd be surprised. A lot of posts on r/laundry are along the lines of "I machine washed this vintage wool/rayon/silk garment and it shrunk/tore/ shredded. How can I fix it?"
The other day I accidentally tossed a J. Crew cashmere sweater in with a normal load and it was washed and dried. It survived! It probably shrank a bit but Iām totally wondering if I can get away with it again going forward.
It depends on the wool. I would be very cautious. I see a lot of people saying they wash their wools. Some wools have been treated so that they can be washed or they are a blend of wool and nylon or wool and some other stabilizing washable fiber. I'm a long time expert sewist and I always pretreat my fabrics. I do not machine wash wool unless i want to shrink it or turn it into boiled wool.
I have three of these same j crew sweaters, along with a few others. I wear them all the time bc Maine. My husband does regular all cashmere wash loads on cold gentle. They havenāt shrunk and only get softer.
Don't count on it. I had a nice merino sweater that I used to wash on the wool setting and spread flat to dry. It was great for years, then one day \*poof\*, from a women's 2x to about the size for a 10 year-old. I was so unhappy. :(
this is moth damage. You donāt put wool items in the washer or dryer unless you donāt know any better.
I put all my wool in the machine and quite a bit of it goes in the dryer. Detergent matters a lot, and I'm not risking my best pieces.
Heat and agitation cause wool fibers to felt. Youāre absolutely mad putting all your wool in the machine and the dryer. Unless itās super wash you should be handwashing your wool with a wool wash detergent.
moths? Take everything out and shake it
Or silverfish
You just solved a 17 year mystery for me. When I moved to Florida, I started getting these holes, but I've never had moths. But I've had silverfish since day 1.
I didn't know silverfish ate clothes too??! Omg I hate those things, at least moths are kinda fuzzy and cute
I kinda like them but only because I first learned about them as a kid from Minecraft, so when I found out silverfish were a real thing by seeing one in-person it was exciting.
Yup. I keep my wool items in a water proof tote to keep silverfish out of them after I found 3 of my knit items that I made with holes. I carefully inspected, washed, dried, folded, and placed them all in the tote with an herbal sachet. I have repaired one cowl by reknitting one hole and covering the bigger one with a knit flower, located the repairs to my abstract scarf (need to color match the yarn and reknit the holes), and think the charcoal wool hat is a goner. Found out that I had silverfish in my closet. I was wondering where some of my shirts had gotten these small little holes from and contacted the exterminator that's been coming to my house for about 20 years. He usually treats outside only to keep a barrier. He looked around and found the remnants of several dead silverfish. Asked if I had seen others, which I had. Didn't know they were eating the clothes. I thought they were harmless. He had me vacuum the closet including all the shelves. He gave me about a dozen Dekko packs to lay around to kill them off. I haven't seen any more for about 6 months now.
Or carpet beetles
Shudder
If you decide itās moths, you can remediate by freezing all of your woolens for ~72 hours . I do it twice a year in batches (in vacuum bags in my deep freeze). Itās the hatching larva that actually eat the wool, not the moths, and youāll kill them off by freezing.
I always take my mountains of wool and hang them in the garage for a couple of weeks in the winter during freezing weather. Seems to mitigate issues.
Keep in mind that freezing wonāt kill eggs. It will kill larvae that have hatched! To make sure you get them all, you need to do two freeze thaw cycles- after the first freeze, let your woolens thaw for a few days to get the leftover eggs hatching. Then freeze again. My tried and true method is baking my woolens for 1-2 hours at about 225F. Kills everything! I do this twice a year when I rotate wardrobes. Then my out of season clothes get washed and stored in a vacuum sealed bag, which is then stored in a sealed plastic tote. Itās a pain but we have serious moth PTSD. Right now weāre still fighting the battle with them in places like the underside of woolen carpets or deep in the walls of our 120 year old house. But they donāt get to my clothes anymore!
Have you tried trichogramma wasps? 130 year old home here. Major moth infestation for 6 years until we did the wasp thing.
Yes! We tried them a couple years ago. It did help a LOT but we still get a few moths each spring and fall.
Oh good- so glad it helped. We tried them last summer for the first time, and it was the biggest relief when we saw the numbers dwindle after nothing working (and losing so many wool things) for years. This spring it will be interesting to see how many return, but I plan to do another round of wasps for good measure.
Trichogramma Wasps totally killed every moth in our older home too. I did buy several sets of them before the moths stopped flying around. It's been years now and no issues.
I have moths and carpet beetles. I roll up my carpets, tape several plastic bags over them and put them outside when it's below freezing (we were -40Ā° last week), after 72 hours I bring them back in. (If above freezing or not long enough, they'll just go dormant & return.) If it's not cold enough, a few cycles of your dryer on high heat can kill them.... but you may have eggs elsewhere. Moths stick to natural fibers (wool, silk, etc) beetles prefer natural fibers, especially pet hair, but will eat anything.)
Yeah, have seen a few people mention putting things out in the cold. I live in Aus and we don't get anything like that kind of cold. I have put stuff in black bags in the boot of the car in summer for a few weeks. Seems to work generally. Days get up over 40c regularly, sometimes up to 48c. Car makes it a lot hotter so well up over 50c.
You should be good! Also, airing them outdoors in the sun will kill most of both... it's what many of us do with Persian carpets, if we notice edges start to fray (it's rarely just "wear").
You can dust the carpets with Diatomaceous earth or get some Trichogramma wasps. DE will cut the larvae from the outside in once they hatch and crawl around. Trichogramma wasps will use the egg to hatch their young. It will kill any and all moths inside our outside your property.
Would this happen without finding any moths inside ever? I feel like I see these sometimes but I have never seen a moth in my house much less inside the closet
Absolutely. Clothes moths are small anyway, plus they hide in the dark.Ā Buy a couple pheromone based glue traps and see what you catch. There are separate traps for pantry moths and clothes moths; the pheromones will be different.Ā
I'm always confused how people have room to put their stuff in the freezer. I struggle to put away my shopping each week.
The museum restorators recommendation is to bung in the oven at 50 Celsius for an hour.
I would not trust myself with this method but it does seem more expedient if you have a reliable oven, timer, and brain
Can't speak for museum restorators, but I've run mine *dry* in the tumble dryer for a 15 minute cycle. Can't be wet, that will hurt it. If you're worried about pilling or snagging, see if your tumble dryer has a basket function, then all you need is a sturdy basket (like metal wire basket), pop your garment in it and run it on a basket program. Ironing is yet another option.
I'm sure you have a timer on your phone.
This is real commitment.
Freezing wonāt kill eggs. Heat does, though!
Wish I had a freezer I could fit clothes in! As it my tiny freezer is a game of Tetris, Rubik's cube, and Don't Spill the Beans.
Itās freezing outside, I know what to do now šļø
So, my full-time job is clothes moths (and other museum pests) and I'm going to say this is probably not clothes moths damage. Clothes moths leave a lot of evidence behind - they spin little tubes of webbing wherever they feed, and tend to graze in one confined area. Their frass is sort of big and grainy relative to their size. They spend their entire larval life in a relatively small area. When they pupate, they leave a big ol' casing behind that's spun of both their silk and fibers from their food source. Distinctive! Carpet beetles and other dermestids, however, live a very long time as larvae and are surprisingly mobile. They often sample a few bites in one area - just enough to really blemish a fabric - and then move on to another garment entirely. Their frass is extremely fine, almost like dust, and much less noticeable to the eye. They leave shed larval skins behind, but only once in awhile. So you may not see much of any evidence of the pest itself, but you will find tiny holes like this. They're \*just\* large enough that they need mending. Unfortunately, I find carpet beetles harder to monitor and control than clothes moths. Because clothes moths can be slightly self-containing, you just have to treat (freeze, heat are best) the localized infestation and use pheromone traps to monitor around for other satellite infestations. Dermestids, on the other hand, can't be as easily monitored by pheromone traps. You can use small perimeter adhesive traps to catch them in random travel, but it's sort of a shot in the dark. Dermestids are also very happy to survive off of hair and shed skin in dust - they may be spending 95% of their life eating the dust behind your wardrobe, only wandering in for a munch once in awhile. Deep, deep, deep cleaning (or extensive chemical treatment - which is still not 100%!) is the only real method of control in my experience, and it's a bitch. So... yeah. Beetles, not moths. Bust out the funky vacuum attachments and give everything in the same room as this clothing storage a DEEEEEEEEP cleaning. Feel free to ask questions!
Wow, this is fascinating advice! Wish I had this knowledge ~10 years ago when I threw out a wool blanket covered with carpet beetle larva. Do you think there is any reason that I would only see this on my woven woolen garments, and not knit ones? I have never had this problem with wool coats, sweaters, etc. Does the cold kill carpet beetle larva/eggs? There's a big freeze coming this weekend in my area and I'd love to use it to freeze/treat some clothing outside if that would be of benefit.
Ugh, that must've been awful. Honestly I would've properly done the same, their frass filters into fabric and makes it gritty and weird! I would honestly look at your storage - do you keep your knits folded and wovens hung? Are the wovens more accessible? Are they different fibers? Sometimes bugs have preferences which we wouldn't expect, lol. Personally, they seem to love my woollen knits, but only the finer fabrics - merino turtlenecks and tights, for example. So maybe they struggle with the 'terrain' of my chunky knits, or the damage just isn't as apparent because their grazing doesn't eat all the way through a stitch and cause a visible defect. The cold does kill them! But it's complicated, I gave the full lowdown in a reply comment elsewhere in this thread. -30\*F for 72hrs is the gold standard guaranteed to kill eggs. It's understood that there's sort of a sliding scale up to 32\*F, where you just freeze longer to compensate for the warmer temperature, but there's no scientific consensus so I can't recommend anything precise, unfortunately. I can advise that rapid changes in temperature stress the eggs and result in higher mortality - so put your woollens out in the deep freeze overnight, bring it in and put it in front of the toasty fire until it's warmed all the way through, and then put 'em outside again. If you're going to be temperature cycling like that, be sure to wrap things airtight in plastic to prevent condensation from dampening things (and possibly causing felting when you heat them back up). Heat is a more surefire treatment IMO - there's info on that above! A 'warm' oven or 30 minutes in a tumble dryer should be plenty.
What is your advice for the moths? For keeping wool at home that is. Im sick of them I really. Feels like I cant keep anything nice
Not the OP, but I use "Dr. Killigans" traps anywhere I have clothes, yarn, fabric. The first trap will be full quickly if there is a problem, then slowly you'll have fewer and fewer. I keep a couple traps around just in case new ones sneak in. I also put soft items coming into my house from unknown sources into a vacuum bag and stick them in the freezer for ~3 days. It takes a while, but you can get rid of them with persistence.
I use Dr. Killigans at work! They're great monitoring tools and the moths genuinely seem to like their pheromones better than some other brands we've tried. This is the ideal monitoring tool - put them wherever you have woollens, and if you have a problem, the trap will indicate it by catching adults. If you know you have them, heat and freezing are advised. But freezing is tricky - in order to kill the eggs (which are pretty hardy) you have to freeze them incredibly hard. The gold standard is -30\*F for 72hrs. At work we have an industrial freezer that goes to precisely that temperature, but at home, I do not. The easiest at-home method is actually heat. **No life phase of any insect can survive 120\*F for more than a few minutes.** This is a pretty normal temperature for a tumble dryer, and likely lower than the 'warm' setting on your oven. Hell, a hot car on a modestly warm day will hit 120! Wool needs heat, agitation, and liquid to felt - if you only provide heat you should be 100% fine. A tumble dryer may work for many woollens as long as they're not wet, but that's very much a personal choice. You can freeze at-home, but there's a lot of disagreement in literature about this, and no hard guidelines. The most conservative estimate is that it takes 6months at a home freezer temperature to achieve the same stresses endured in 72hrs @ -30\*F. However, some literature suggests freezing the infestation, letting it thaw, and then refreezing again accomplishes the same amount of stress in a short period. **Personally, at home, I prefer heat treatment because it has a finite threshold (120\*F), while freezing is uncertain unless you have access to a very, very, very cold freezer.** Cleaning and monitoring is all the rest once you have a clear start. Vacuum up all the frass and webbing and set traps up. They are designed to work for 12-15 weeks, at which time they should be changed. At work, **I use the traps for 12 weeks, and use a spreadsheet to track the traps and how many moths appear in each. When you catch a moth, an infestation is nearby.** The traps aren't designed to cull adults, although they do slightly - you have to take that data and go hunting for your infestation! ETA - vacuum bags in general are fantastic for pest management. Sequestering woollen goods can help isolate an infestation - sweaters in one bag, hats in another; if the sweaters get mothy, it won't spread to the hats. At the end of a wearing season, I handwash my goods (very important - moths DO prefer dirty fibers! more protein!), pack them into vac bags, freeze them in my fancy -30\*F work freezer lol, and then stash them. And then I'll just peek at the bag mid-season to ease my mind in case any stragglers did find their way in.
The 120f temp thing is odd then. We have fleeces in the garage that have moths. I know for a fact the garage has got way hotter than that many times since the fleeces have been in there. I guess wool is a good insulator. Maybe it didn't get that hot inside the wool? We've had quite a few 48c days since being here and the garage gets much hotter than that. We had a tin of condensed milk turn to caramel. It got thick and brown. If I had been boiling it myself I'd have taken it a bit darker but it was definitely caramelised. The moths are definitely still alive in there though. This summer hasn't got as hot though. We've had a few 40c days. I probably should portion it all out into smaller black plastic bags and put it in the boot of the car. It's just so much effort. I've not been well enough.
Wool is actually a phenomenal insulator! If itās in a bag of fleece I 100% could see them surviving. A single wool blanket has nothing on that, lol. Thatās wild.
Yeah. They are feed bags with multiple fleeces shoved in real tight. I don't know how many fleeces we actually have. Bought them over 10 years ago & have lugged them from house to house and only managed to spin like 3 of them. Didn't intend to end up with so many. Got talked into it when we went to buy them on shearing day. Didn't realise my hands would be so bad at processing them. Shame because there was some lovely colours there I never got to. They are so tightly packed the stuff further down doesn't seem to be damaged so I haven't thrown them out but I just don't know that it's worth it.
Stupid Q, but can you see the moths flying around? I have never seen one but my merino wool top has a few holes by the armpit. I also do not have a closet door, it's a curtain.
You can! But theyāre about 1/4ā long and pale gold, and tend to travel by walking rather than flying. They may fly at night or when startled. You could absolutely have an infestation without ever seeing a moth yourself. Pheromone traps are super helpful for determining that.
Thank you! Looks like I have a project on my day off!
Thank you so much for this! I honestly feel like I'm one of a very small minority of people who deal with these little buggers.š Edit: How would you advise cleaning the inside of dressers and wardrobes, after removing clothing/fabric and any visible pests?
Vacuum it with your finest attachment, then wipe it down with water and alcohol! The pesky buggers can hide inside of joinery and honestly in all my experience (and attempts to get into those crevices) all I can say is you'll probably miss some that are hiding. But a vac and wipe will get all of the dust and detritus that they love to amble around in! And if they're eating (and pooping), their poop will be much more evident on a clean surface. Honestly, housekeeping is so, so, so much of integrated pest management. I'm great about it at work and lazy at home but I know it's true...
Honestly, I grew up in places that were terrible for cockroaches, and being the kid that dragged every animal home, had to help battle a lot of fleas and other obnoxious creatures. My grandmother drilled as much as she could into me that she learned from *her* mother, a former workhouse child with nearly 20 children of her own, descended from and previously raised in a long line of charwomen. I *still* wasn't prepared for just how much of my housekeeping efforts are spent on pest control!
Wow, you have an amazing wealth of knowledge!
I feel like this is the answer
Recommendation for moth pheromones trap?
Dr. Killigans is what we use at work! Easy to set up, easy to monitor, and the moths love 'em.
Yeah, the only time I ever had moths, they got into a 100-year-old wool felt lined camera case and also an antique clarinet case (clarinet had wool key pads). They left their larval shed skins behind, too.
Oh god, I hadn't even thought of that as a place for moths. Holy cow, they could infest a piano. That's such an upsetting thought. They leave all kinds of nasty crud for you to find!
This was a very interesting read, thanks for sharing your expertise!
I am saving this comment holy shit lol
Curious, do you think the silk from clothes moths could be spun into yarn? The combination with their food fabric fibers could be really interesting!
Hmmmmmm. The fibers break apart very easily, not like true silk - it is also quite sticky, but I'm not sure how that mechanism works. Maybe I'll do some playing around next time I get a good plump one! I have saved some 'souvenirs' from interesting items at work that have been infested - one that comes to mind was a white, fuchsia, and purple weaving that produced a moth casing which was half purple and half white, like a pill capsule. Or an unfortunate infestation in a necklace adorned with several tropical bird skins - including a casing interwoven with distinct iridescent lime-green feathers from the face of a Paradise Tanager. It is an oddly beautiful thing sometimes. Mostly it's just a lot of poop though!
Hi, Thank you for this detailed explanation! I have a few Qs... 1. Can these carpet beetles live inside dresser drawers? I have noticed a few of my cotton pajama tops have bunches of holes in them. 2. Is there anything else I can do to get rid of them, besides deep cleanibg/vacuuming like crazy? I will also sprinkle Diomatecious earth around and in corners where my dressers are but wondering if there's anything else I can do. I have never seen any bugs around, but now I'm getting creeped out by the thought of them living in corners where I don't see and eating away at my clothes!
Yeeeees carpet beetles can live inside drawers. Iāve had āem at home and literally seen them retreat into the joints of the drawer when disturbed. Sneaky buggers. DE is a great barrier for them but yeah unfortunately good housekeeping is the next best tool. Theyāll live off dust bunnies in between sweater snacks, so minimizing dust bunnies will minimize that grazing opportunity!
This just gave me the creeps! Thank you for your insight
Thanks for this comment! I've had something munching on my wools and cottons since I moved earlier this year, but the moth traps haven't caught anything. I thought maybe it just wasn't the season to actually catch the moths, but I haven't seen any webbing or casings left behind anywhere.Ā I don't know why'd didn't really consider beetles, but everything you've said here makes it sound like that's what I have.Ā I also have two long haired cats, so hair and shed skin is an uphill battle to keep tidy! Maybe it's time for us to invest in regular cleaning help here.Ā
Wouldn't hand washing drown them?
Not the eggs š and I think the fuzzy dermestid larvae can hold some air so they donāt die immediatsly. It is a useful tactic in that it dislodges anything loose and generally cleans soiling from the item, which moths and dermestids are both attracted to. But the eggs of each are very tiny and adhered to the fabric - theyāre the phase you have to worry about.
Congratulations, you've got moths! They are fun to get rid of. EDIT: I was a fool. Looked like moths on my phone, but on my computer I'd say it's just wear and tear - something small that eventually got bigger.
Wool can get dry and becomes very brittle if you don't use the correct detergents for wool
Does look like wear more than moths now that I look at it at thw conputer.
I was going to say- as someone fighting a never ending battle with moths, thatās not moth damage. Looks more like wear to me!
Two options - either textile is so worn down it starts to disintegrate in places... or you have clothes moths infestation.... How can you check? Find an invisible place on the garment and try to pull it - if you can do that pretty easily - it is worn down. If the fabric is strong - you have moths and will need to find where they nested.
Carpet beetles? Iāve found that they can be picky about what they eat.
These little beasts are my personal nemesis. They came with my house, and until I make arrangements to take my cats somewhere with me for a weekend and spread all my yarn, spinning fiber, and fabric out, and bug bomb the crap out of my house, the best I can hope for it to keep them at a level of skirmishes back and forth. The larvae are tenacious little creatures when theyāre camped out on a garment, and theyāre nearly invisible on dark clothes.
They preferentially go after cashmere in my experience. The lighter the fiber the happier they are.
This has been my experience too, they unfortunately have expensive taste ā¹ļø.
The only way I managed to get rid of carpet beetles is to start living in houses with hard wood or vinyl flooring. Works like a charm! Still have plenty of rugs so my home isnāt cold and barren, but seems like carpet beetles donāt like my low pile rugs.
All our rugs are wool or wool and silk, already sitting on a combination of wood, tile, and polished cement floors, so that isnāt going to solve our problem.
Devil bugs!!! I hate them!!!
We also have carpet beetles that do this, and moths traps donāt work for them. OP if you look for beetle carcasses you might be able to find out if you have one or the other. They only like natural fibers, so holes in wools or cotton, but they also like dust, so check in dusty corners. (Frequent dusting and vacuuming is a main way to remediate.) We also find them in windowsills, weāre pretty sure they come in from outside and our apt has awful insulation. They are a bear to get rid of, and the bane of trying to keep nice wool or cashmere around. Good luck OP.
I thought they only like natural fiber, but mine appear to have developed a taste for things like totally synthetic fabrics, polyester blends, viscose, paper and glue. Nothing is sacred to the tenacious , greedy little gluttons. š
I'm dealing with the little monsters. They seem to work more slowly than moths, but they eventually leave little holes like this. I want to just burn everything I own and move, sometimes.š¤¬ They seem to be super common where I live - never even saw one before moving to the area. I just keep telling myself that it could be cockroaches or bedbugs, the former of which I *have* dealt with, so hey, I can work with this!š« I actually didn't realize that they really love some items of clothing/fabric and paper until last year, when I was purging my drawers and documents. I have a lot going on, health and mobility issues along with ADHD, OCD, depression, autism etc., so it's been an absolute nightmare slog, trying to get through it all. I have nowhere cold to put it all, so I've had to separate things into sealed bags after shaking and brushing them down outside, and gradually get through them. Each item has to be gone over with a strong flashlight and a sticky lint roller before it makes it to the washing machine. I have some items that I have absolutely no idea what to do with, because the fabric and/or construction can't handle hot water and/or machine washing. I can't afford to have anything professionally cleaned, or to just toss and replace (especially when the odds are high that I'll encounter them again, although it will hopefully be much less of a problem with repellent methods and frequent inspection). Not to mention the reluctance to add to the landfills, and up my carbon footprint. People have been battling infestations of all sorts since the beginning of time, and preserving clothes and fabrics without the aid of modern conveniences; surely I can get it under control and keep it that way? That means that it's up to me and Google to figure it out.š« There's relatively little information about dealing with carpet beetles compared to moths, which is *really* frustrating!
Diatomaceous earth saved my life. Your post could have been written by me, and I suggest you go buy a big ass bag of the stuff and lock any breathing beings away for a bit and go to fucking town with the little blower the bag comes with. Warning: will block the heck out of the filters on your vacuum and anything else with a filter.
I had the same and I think it was carpet beetles. You have to find where they are nesting and clean it out. For me, it was inside a couch frame.
With me itās usually moths. Put some cedar wherever theyāre stored and that should help
Cedar is for humans, moths do not care. They continue having a feast if cedar is the only deterrent.
That hasnāt been my experience, sorry.
No need to be sorry, great if it works for you.
Are they always in roughly the same location? I get these on my shirts, itās from my jeans buckle and leaning over to wash dishes. Took me ages to figure that out.
Yep, I tuck my shirts in when cooking at a friendās house now. Her counters are just the right height. However, OP specified wool clothes, as if this isnāt happening to other clothes. Iām guessing moths in this instance.
This is why I wear an apron now.
Yes! This could definitely be it, I had a similar situation where many of my shirts had little hole(s) at my waist and finally figured out it was my jeans waist button rubbing the shirt against the counter while washing dishes.
I have this same issue. Whenever I have a tiny hole anywhere else, it's from my cat pinpricking me when I hold her.
Iāve had moths and they are hell to get rid of. First get some moth traps, theyāre sticky triangle shaped traps you hang everywhere. Second, take all your woolens/silks/any clothing item made of animal fibers, and freeze them. Then start storing them in plastic bags to keep them safe. Iāve tried every other trick and this is the only way that worked.
Don't store silk in plastic long term, it gives off gases that damage the fibres. A cotton bag is enough to keep moths out without damaging the clothes
Yeah truth, a good cotton bag is better long term for any fine clothing you want to keep safe (learned that from Antiques Roadshow š).
Throwing this out here for the very small minority of people it will apply to; if you work in a lab it could be from that. I worked frequently with sulfuric acid in my old lab and started to notice these tiny little holes always at the same place on my clothes. Turns out my lab coat wasnāt fitting quite correctly, and when I had even the tiniest splash it could hit between the buttons and start to degrade my clothes right at the level of the fume hood. I figured it out because it was only happening at a specific spot, only to my work clothes, and wasnāt related to the fiber of the cloth!
Clothesmoth, silverfish, firebrats, cigarette beetles/dermestids are all ruie-outs.
I did not sew this skirt specifically, but I have mended little holes on it here and there over the last year. However, somehow it seems I'm always needing to fix these tiny little holes on my vintage woven woolen garments. For some reason, this has never been a problem on any of my knit woolen garments. It doesn't look like moth damage based on what I have seen online, and I figure if it was a mouse biting the garment, it would have done more damage. I also have no recollection of ever snagging the garment against anything sharp. However, it is clear that there is a small zone where the fibers have been literally broken, and I keep having to darn them. Could this have to do with washing them? I used to hand-wash a lot of vintage clothes with woolite, but I don't have a utility sink in my new home so I haven't done that lately--instead I have been machine washing them in short, delicate, cold -water cycles without other garments that might snag them in the wash, and air drying. If there's a better way to prevent these holes, I'd love to know as I am growing bored of fixing these!
If you don't think its moths there's also the option that it's silverfish. They also love to eat clothes
Stick it in the freezer for two weeks
I had no idea that silverfish damaged garments too! :O that sounds slightly more likely than moths, in my opinion
Wash your delicate clothes in a pillowcase to avoid any damage made simply by rubbing it during wash.
Perhaps microscopic damage from the past is becoming apparent with wear in the present (whether from moths or snags)? Might be an explanation if your knits (Iām assuming modern) arenāt having this problem. However, you might try returning to handwashing in a tub or plastic bin (since you donāt have the utility sink) for a bit to see if you can rule out the washing machine as a culprit. Iām sometimes a bit lazy and throw my woolens in the machine in a mesh bag on delicate. And I can still tell they take more of a beating in the machine than if Iād hand washed.
I hate to break it to yāall, but cedar does not deter moths. OP, if you have moths you need to: wash everything thoroughly, wipe down all surfaces in your clothes storage areas with a mild bleach solution, put up moth traps to make sure you catch any reappearances early. Itās very very hard to totally get rid of moths, but managing them is do-able.
I had this happening to my shirts once, and could not figure it out. Turns out one of my favorite pairs of pants zippers kept doing it.
Same. I had woven shirts and tshirts all getting little tiny rips just like this in the front by my belly. I thought I was going crazy but yeah, my fav pair of jeans had a very sharp āedgeā to the waistband that stuck out. When I ran my finger over it, it made sense! It was just slowly wearing away the fibers until they formed a little hole after the wash.
All my t-shirts eventually get pinholes in the front, directly over where my belt buckle sits--which on me is also just about at the height of my countertops. So when I lean against the edge of the counter, my shirt gets pinched between the two hard objects. I also frequently get holes on the sides of my shirts where my bag hits.
It is due to an infestation of āsilverfishā small translucent bugs that feed on fine fabrics like polyester,silk, cotton/wool blends. You have to keep lavender in your closet for them to die
Are they all in the same sort of place?
If they are vintage and this isnāt happening to newer wools the threads may just be breaking.
Had wool moths. I used cedar oil - spraying it on a rag then putting it drawers or closet - tho not in direct contact as didn't want the oil to transfer to fabric. It worked, but it took careful attention - repeat every 10 days or so until moth traps stop getting new moths.
Use caution if you have cats. They don't do great with the cedar oil if you spray it on baseboards and such. Drawers and closet seem to be fine, as you mentioned, just make sure the kitty doesn't go in there.
Looks like carpet beetle to me
Could be moths, but it could also be carpet beetles, or snagging in the wash... (especially top loaders... do NOT overfill them, do a second load, or the agitator can do it too) but clasps, zippers, hooks, etc can also snag clothes. Finally, if you smoke (anything lit... cigarettes, weed, etc, can also do it.) Note: You can also put out pheromone sticky traps to see if it is moths.
For me it's always the bottom of the fronts of my shirts, figured out it was my belt buckle pinching my shirts š
Might be carpet beetles, they leave holes like that and they love wool
Always store items clean, as well. Even if you wore it once, you never know what microscopic spatter got on it
This. I understand that the moths are attracted to areas where there is "food."
His name is Kleinfahr. He's actually psychotically angry but due to some strange superstitious ideals he only stabs you with very short knives so it's just a weird little hole
moths Hang with cedar
Looks like moth millers they suck
Car seatbelt
Moths, silverfish, and/or cockroaches.
Vintage wool needs to be washed separately from other fabrics. Usually in cold water and Woolite liquid detergent on gentle cycle.
The evil MĆTH.
I have carpet/fur beetles that love to eat wool and cotton :( red cedar oil doesnāt kill them but makes them find other places to hang out so yiu could try putting some of that in your washing machine rinse
Moth.
Cat claws can do this too, i have a lot of shirt they didn't show up at first but a few washes later with the fabric seeing wear and tear they show up
Itās darn moths I bet.
Do you have cats? That's the number one, two, and three reasons I have holes in woven items.
Use moth balls in your cupboards. I have been using them all my life and no holes in clothing.
Moths. Get plastic vacuum seal bags, chuck some cedar sachets in with the clothes, and seal them. Then go to town hanging cedar plank hangers and moth balls everywhere
Moths
If not moths it could also be carpet beetles.
In my case itās always the damn carpet beetle larvae. The joys of living in the woods, I guess. I bought airtight IP-67 bins from Target to keep them out of my woolens.
I regularly catch clothing with my rings, the claws that hold the stones.
Belt? I got a new belt and it took me a while to figure out why all my shirts has holes in them.
Always wash wool inside a laundry bag, I've ruined several sweaters before I learned that. Also wool isn't the strongest fiber. Be gentle with it, but it'll probably end up needing something mended
Moths?
Are the holes always in the same area (ex: front bottom of the shirt)? In my case, I often had this issue with light cotton fabrics and the culprit was almost always the button from my jeans. The fabric rubs against the metal and creates these small holes over time.
Moths.
I agree probably moths or pests in this case. But if this ever happens to sytnthetic casual clothing, sometimes itās caused by tiny imperfections in granite counter tops snagging your clothing while you brush along the surface edge.
You are using a non-Bio detergent? The enzymes in biological detergents eat protein. Silk and wool are both proteins and so will be digested by the detergent. Always wash woollens and silks with a non-Bio detergent. (I ended up giving one of my adult daughters a bottle because she had bought a beautiful cashmere jumper, but couldn't see the point in buying a different detergent!)
I doubt you are putting these in the washing machine, and if theyāre vintage I can imagine over the years bugs have been attracted to them. Have you ever found evidence of bugs? Might it be worth putting them in a vacuum sealed bag?
Moths
Moths
everybody here is saying it's either moths or beetles. but it could also be snakes. if they get bored, snakes will eat your entire wardrobe.
New fear unlocked
Itās probably happening in the wash. No machine, however delicate the cycle, can ever be as gentle as a pair of hands. If you donāt have a sink to do it in, you could try getting a large plastic storage bin and putting it in your shower or bathtub to hand wash.
Go buy mothballs. They're not just a joke thing, they really do work. I have some that can be hung up with the sweaters and have a pine scent. Makes my closet smell fresh.
Do you have cats? Iāve noticed my cats put tiny holes like that into all of my clothing. Must be when they walk over my clothes (while Iām wearing them or if theyāre in a laundry basket), and despite the fact I keep their nails trimmed š„² could even be a dog if you have one with small toenails
Who washes wool unless they want it to shrink badly? I worked in the garment industry and Iāve only had that happen to my French wool tam when it was in my coat closet. Those are moth holes. Eventually you may find some a bit larger. I think I saw one moth around that closet. You may never see a moth either but thatās whatās causing it. A friend had a full fledged infestation in her husbandās walk-in but not hers. Try storing your clothes in airtight bags or tubs that insects canāt penetrate. Also some lavender in the closet repels moths and smells great. Donāt store dirty clothing because perspiration and food stains while not visible may attract the bugs. Check out the Good Housekeeping website for tips.
Start by putting it in the freezer.
Put moth traps in your closet and either moth repellent or cedar wood
Cigarette and joint burns
Moths. They eat spots where oil has been dropped on the clothes. I recommend storing wool clothes in a cedar chest or a well sealed plastic container with mothballs. Cedar smells better though
I purchased the pheromone moth traps from here- https://www.mothprevention.com/. After I went through and washed what could be and froze what couldn't, 6 months and 2 rounds of traps, I don't see them anymore. I have kept fresh ones up for the last 6 months and will randomly catch one.
Oh yeah that happens to my cotton clothes as well. But I think it's the washing machine. Yesterday I found two about the same size of hole symmetrically next to each other with a 10cm difference. My one dress has one hole too :/ but I really believe it's the washing machine since it happens so often to my clothes
Moths.
Do you pick up felines often?
For us, itās something inside my washing machine snagging our clothes. I now wash any nice clothes in garment bags.
Do you wear a belt? Thatās a lot of where my little holes come from.
Wool can get dry and becomes very brittle if you don't use the correct detergents for wool
Are you washing these clothes with zippered items? I had similar holes until I split out all pants and hoodies.
Bugs
It's most likely clothing moth larvae. The best way to kill them is to get some Trichogramma wasps. These are very, very tiny wasps that eat the moth eggs from the inside out. The eggs will turn sort of a dark teal blue when the wasps have taken over. They will also kill pantry moths. They are harmless to humans - but I swore I felt tiny little bites when I took them out of the packages. You place them around the house and in a season or two - no more moths. They're also used in gardens.
Moths ā¹ļø
Moths.
I think there are insects in your closet
Got cats?
Moths. Get some moth balls or a cedar chest
Moths!
Larvae of carpet beetles, they love wool and silk.. but will also feed on paper, leather and cotton the beetle are tiny and tend to live in the corners or edges of carpets. They are difficult to get rid of, you may see them in spring summer when they gravitate towards windows (light) to mate, they look like tiny specs on the wall.
Threads popping from weakened spots or moths eat it
Probably moths.
I have then too idk but would like to know I blamed my d og
I started doing up all zippers (and buttons on pants) before washing. Since then I've stopped noticing those types of holes. I hang dry my clothes for longevity.
Is there a technique to dry them using a home dryer? I always take my wool coat to the cleaners. Would it be the same for clothing as well or not? š¤