Washing feather/down pillows

[rosarugosa]

Has anyone had good experience with this? Tips? I am leery for some reason, afraid I will ruin the pillows and never get them dry.

ETA: They won't fit in the salad spinner! :)

[CathyA]

hahaha..........Are there any pillow-spinners out there?

I washed one a couple times. Of course the important thing is getting them totally dry. That means you should shake them really good after they've been drying in the dryer for awhile. (I would probably use moderate heat and not high). Use some tennis balls to work the pillow around more (I would deal with them 1 at a time). Put your timer on and maybe every 20 minutes, take them out and shake/manipulate them well......breaking up any clumps of feathers. After you think they are dry, dry them a little longer. When you start using them again, make sure you smell them for awhile to make sure nothing is brewing in there. You could also hang them outside on a sunny day for awhile, to freshen them up.
I've washed several feather-filled things in the past, and they do fine........as long as you dry them well/fluff them during the drying.
Sometimes, I just dry them occasionally, (without washing) to sanitize them a bit. I always use pillow protectors under the cases.
Let us know how it turns out.

[rosarugosa]

Thanks Cathy. Don't a lot of feathers come out in the process? It seems like a lot of feathers have worked their way through whenever I remove the pillow protectors.

[lessisbest]

A little different method.... I use my handheld steam cleaner and steam anything that contains feathers (doesn't need to be saturated with water that way), then tumble in the dryer; and the last step, pin to the outdoor clothesline and sun it (both sides).