Thanks for the responses. Good questions. Some are planted under a Bradford Pear tree, pretty much full shade; while others are planted under a large pine tree and in some canna lilies. Soil is about 6.5 ph and was amended three years ago with peat, potting mix, and Black Kow. Osmocote has been added to the beds about once a year. I have a soaker hose snaking through all beds which gets connected several times a week. Plus, the lawn irrigation system soaks them from the top twice a week. The beds never seem to be dry. As to dormancy, the zone is 7b to 8 and we do have some freezing temps during the short, 2 month winter. The hostas certainly disappear late Fall to early Winter and don't show up again until April. I'm concerned with 5 to 10 plants out of 80+, the others seem pretty happy. As to whats left, basically they are minature plants whose leaves just seem to fall off or otherwise disappear. Great Expectation went to bed last year as a normal leafed plant, woke up this Spring as a small leafed fellow (1-2 inch leaf length) and finally just disappeared. The soil in general is sand with loam and sticky black mud mixed in. Seems to grow other stuff pretty well although unammended it does hold water when it finally does get wet. I'm mystified. John

It might be the textiles. Certain spins of cotton shrink even in cold water. Rayon is less likely to shrink, but can. It shouldn't be the detergent or water quality. Those can affect color, but don't generally do anything to shrink. Are you sure that the two sweaters were identical in size when they were brand new? Different colors are often made with different fibers in different factories. Blacks in general tend to be a bit smaller new. This might be from dyeing them after sewing (i.e., garment dyed). Blacks are usually a multi-stage dye process where they overdye the ones that didn't come out right from a lighter color vat. They are processed more, often with heat, which leads to some pre-shrinkage, so your cold wash might be keeping lighter colors from shrinking but the blacks might have already shrunk. Another issue is finish. Once the garments are made, they're often processed with sizing or other treatments, and are blocked, which stretches them to maximum. They look crisp and nice in the store. After a few washings, the sizing is all washed out and the garment goes limp and shrinks a bit. Therefore, the blocking and sizing might have made the black seem the same size as the gray, but if the gray wasn't as heavily processed it might actually be larger in the long run. As I said before, this is something known about blacks. They tend to be smaller for ostensibly the same garment. This is one of the differences between a $10 shirt, a $75 shirt and a $250 shirt. I'd expect it of the first, I'd be annoyed by the second but not too surprised, and I'd take the third back and demand a full refund even though it had been worn and washed several times, because better quality and no surprises are supposed to be what you're paying for with an expensive garment. But then, the expensive ones usually just say "dry clean only" so that they're not responsible for laundry mishaps that are caused by the manufacturers' quality problems. With natural fiber sweaters, you're best off washing in cool water, and laying flat to dry on some layers of towel. Shape the sweater to the way you want it to hang. Usually, hanging sweaters to dry can cause them to droop and sag, though sometimes being free can make a loose twist draw up. If you lay it flat you might be able to use the friction from the towel to keep it spread the way you want it.

I'm brand new to this forum, but I believe I can answer your question. There are quite a few fabrics that have wool content that can be washed, but I would first test a small piece of the fabric to be sure. You should process it just like you would if you were going to wash it with your other clothing. If it shrinks, then you can bet it is fabric that needs dry cleaning. For lining your skirt, you use the same pattern and cut a lining material such as a polyester blend that your fabric store can show you a selection of. There are many blends of fabric available, but you want to get a complimenting color to your fabric. The lining is usually attached at the waist band, and stitched with the zipper also. Hem it just as you would the outer skirt, but put it about an 1" to 1 1/2" above the bottom hem, this way you will have give to the skirt and with the lining you don't have to wear a slip. Good luck.

Definitely sounds like a soil and light issue. I had a very similar problem - my old place had a great spot for growing and plants did fantastic. Then when I moved I didn't realize how drastically different the conditions were and my succulents started dying slowly over a two year period (some faster). Recommend making your own soil mix with very low water retention for indoor growing in lower light. It's not that hard and there are many good options (perlite, gritty mix, etc.). If you stick with your current mix, it will be very difficult to manage watering properly. A brighter spot may be also helpful, but depends what you have available.