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I have a lot to say about Sewing Summit from last weekend, but I wanted to post this before the days get too cold and short here in the northern hemisphere.
One of the things I like to do this time of year is to clean all of our pillows. This is the time of year that I want to get my home clean and ready for months of being cooped up inside. If you follow me on Instagram, you may already know that I have been purging and cleaning. Here is how I clean my pillows, both for the bed and on my couch.
In the morning, fill your washing machine with enough cold water for a large load. Place your pillows into your washing machine. If you have a top loader, make sure that the load is balanced (usually four throw pillows or two bed pillows).
I put in two tablespoons of my favorite detergent (at the moment, it’s Gain, so nothing too fancy). Then I set the machine to a long wash on heavy duty.
When the wash is done, place your pillows outside on some sort of surface that allows air to flow around the entire pillow (like a screen or lawn chair). I placed mine in direct sunlight. Afterall, nothing cleans like sunshine. 🙂
When the day starts to wane and the sun and or warmth is gone, I place my pillows in the dryer on low heat and let them tumble with a CLEAN tennis ball. This keeps the feathers from clumping up too much as it bounces around the dryer drum.
Once your pillows are dry, pull them out and fluff them up a little. Mine are usually pretty fluffy already.
And voila! You have clean pillows for a good night’s rest.
I’ve done this to each of my pillows twice now and haven’t noticed any difference in loft or fluffiness. I have definitely noticed that they seem cleaner, though!
You can see my tips for cleaning floors inexpensively & safely here.
You may also be interested in my tutorial for a space saving DIY ironing board!
Ooh thanks for the tip! I need to do ours badly!
Why a tennis ball?
I use 2-3 tennis balls which help fluff up the down. Works great for jackets too. You do need to open the dryer and check on the balls and sometimes re-arrange them so they are rolling around and not stuck in one spot.
Look at you, smarty pants girl!! What a great idea.
the tennis ball helps keep the stuffing more even —
had to say — love the embroidery on those pillow cases… ♥
Are the pillows feather or down? That’s what we have and they take forever to dry!
great reminder! i need to do this! so, why the tennis ball? i’m curious! i love your aqua bed too! 🙂
Wow! I can’t wait to do this, I didn’t realize it was so easy. Thanks for the tip.
I’m doing this right now and thought there may be some merit to filling the washer with water BEFORE adding pillows like you directed. But honestly it was a huge struggle as no matter how long I held them under the water they filled with air and now they look like big balloons not even staying fully immersed. Is there a reason to not loading them first?
I use an old sneaker in the dryer. It gets the job done.
Is that 2 tablespoons per pillow,or for the load?
I like hanging my cloths out to dry on the line. At dusk,I bring them in & fluff the bedding up in the dryer……..