How to Clean Your Pillow
Mitch Johnson
We would question sometimes, if there is any possibility that we can
launder our pillows at home without damaging the shape of the pillow or
making them hard. Some guidance will help you solve this problem.
FEATHER PILLOWS have been called the most neglected of household
furnishings. Many women who are careful about other matters never seem
to think of having their pillows laundered or of washing them at home,
yet good modern laundries will do them nicely for you and renovate them
too if you want this done. In renovating a pillow, as opposed to simple
washing, the feathers are taken out of the ticking and washed
themselves. New feathers or down are then added if they are needed.
Pillows that have lost their spring, that sag, or lump in one end when
shaken, need renovating.
TO LAUNDER YOUR PILLOWS AT HOME you can use your electric washer, but
wait for weather that is sunny and clear. Don't try to do more than one
or two a day because they take quite a long time to dry. Wash one
pillow at a time. These are the steps:
Press the air out of the pillow if the ticking is light. If it is
heavy, open the end seams a couple of inches and squeeze the air out.
Then baste the opening securely or pin it with a safety pin. Use warm
water and a good mild detergent, or soap flakes plus a little softener
if the water is hard. Run the machine for fifteen minutes. Rinse the
pillow at least twice and spin it for at least 15 minutes to extract as
much water as possible. Your pillow, when you take it out, will look as
depressed as a wet cat, but do not be alarmed. Put it to dry on a
clothes rack in the open air. From time to time turn it and fluff it
up. It will puff up as it dries and become fat and bouncy. Do not use
the pillow until you are sure it is absolutely dry in the center.
IF YOUR PILLOW NEEDS NEW TCKING, or if you want to do an especially
thorough job, you can take the feathers out and wash them separately.
This sounds fantastic, but it really isn't. Uncle Sam himself tells
how, in a release from his housekeeping area of government. You rip out
the stitches to make a sizable opening in one corner of the pillow and
baste a pillow case or muslin bag securely around the opening. Shake
the feathers into that, stitch up the end, and so to the washer. Wash
the ticking separately. To help keep the feathers from working through
the ticking, coat the inside with a good thick solution of starch. When
the feathers are dry, put them back in by reversing the operation
described for getting them out. If you want to use new ticking you can
buy it by the yard.
Use the electric washer to launder your pillows one at a time on a
sunny and clear weather. Use the mild detergent or soap flakes plus
softener.
Mitch Johnson is a regular writer for http://www.curtains-n-drapes.com/
. His articles have also appeared on http://www.guidesforbedding.info/
and
http://www.guidestobedding.info/
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