Wash feather pillows or buy new ones?

funkyxmooover

Hello everyone!

I have a question about feather pillows that I'm hoping someone can answer. I'm 23 and money wasn't an issue until I had my first baby 4 years ago and I would have just brought a new one but now things are tighter I wanna try to save them if I can.

These pillows are my fellas. He's had them since before I met him 5 years ago and I've never seen them get a clean an it's beyond minging. I'm thinking Kim and Aggie would have a fit. So I really would like them cleaned with minimum expenditure, any ideas?

Anyway, I've looked it up and the popular theory with old feather pillows is to dump them which I kinda don't wanna do.

Also I don't own a tumble dryer.

Thankies in advance!

Meadows

My Feather Pillows Washing Instruction are as follows:
Wash at 40° in a large capacity machine. Tumble Dry on low setting until filling is completely dry.

How about a launderette?

Pink.

Hi funkyxmooover,

Quite a few Old Stylers wash feather pillows and dry them in the tumbledryer with good success. There's an earlier thread with lots of tips and advice that should help:

Washing Pillows

I'll add your thread to that one later to keep the suggestions together.

Pink

funkyxmooover

Pink-winged wrote: »

Hi funkyxmooover,

Quite a few Old Stylers wash feather pillows and dry them in the tumbledryer with good success. There's an earlier thread with lots of tips and advice that should help:

Washing Pillows

I'll add your thread to that one later to keep the suggestions together.

Pink

Wow thanks! I just had a quick read and there are some brilliant ideas. My only issue is the lack of tumble dryer so I'm thinking a day or 2 on the concertina airer in the back garden with careful pummeling now and then!

nanokitten

I'd stick them on a radiator or out on the line in the sun, If you do it on a cold damp day and they don't dry reasonably quickly (say in a day) they may end up smelling musty (which is very hard to get rid of without re washing).

pretz_2

STOP !!!!!!
if you dont have a tumble dryer i wouldn't bother trying to get them clean as the feather can start rotting once they get wet however i did have this very same problem and this is what i ended up doing

basically what i done is cut the seam on one end emptyed into a spare pillow case and place an over locking seam and a backstiched seam along the opening of the pillow case with the feathers in, then washed and dried the original pillow case sewed a zip in the cut edge and then placed the other pillow case inside so now when it does get smelly again i can just take it off the inner case and wash it.

the whole thread is here if you want some other ideas
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1843133&highlight=

hth pretz

esmf73

You could always spray with Febreeze or something similar

valk_scot

Choose a good sunny day, wash the nasty things, double spin them then peg them up in the garden. Every hour or so go out, grab a corner of a pillow and swing it round your head a few times. Re-peg. keep doing this on different corners and it will move the feathers around, stop them clumping and help the pillows dry faster.

Or (easier) scrounge a favour off a friend with a tumble dryer.

If you do decide to put the feathers into a new case you need to use downproof cotton to make the case. Do the transfer of feathers outside...this can make one heck of a mess, belive me!

If all else fails M&S do really nice synthetic pillows at two for £5, and they're washable. I'm sure you can buy pillows cheaper but these ones are bouncy and very robust.

missychrissy

I wash my feather pillows and just peg them on the line. They can take a couple of days to dry but I've always found they are ok.

Completely agree with valk-scott, M & S pillows 2 for £5 are brilliant and very comfortable. I've now relegated my feather pillows to the spare beds and I sink into my M & S ones.

hilstep2000

I take my pillows and my feather and down duvet to the launderette. They get service washed and dried, Plump up beautifully all for the cost of £12. Considering the duvet was £70 I considr it monery well spent!

Primrose

I wait for a nice sunny breezy day and wash and spin them in the washing machine. As I have a Hills Hoist I then lay them out flat on the top of that so that both the the tops and the undersides are exposed to air. If you do it first thing in the morning, with luck they should be completely dry by bed time. I don't really like the idea of dry cleaning as I don't think it gets things as clean as old fashioned soap and water.