How to Wash Feather Pillows
Nothing cradles and contours to your head like a fluffy feather pillow. But the feather-stuffed pillows are like everything else; they need an occasional cleaning. Washing them in your home washing machine is the best and most cost effective way to clean feather pillows, and it won’t harm the feathers if you follow these precautions.
Check the Seams
Take a moment and inspect the seams around the pillow to make are all intact. If there are any loose seams or stitches, repair before washing. Push any protruding feather tips back inside the pillow.
Bag It
Place one feather pillow inside a clean white pillow case or laundry bag. Use three safety pins to secure the open end of the bag. This will prevent a feathery disaster inside your washing machine should a pillow seam come undone or a rip occur during the wash cycle.
Wash Cycle
Wash at least two feather pillows at a time for machine balance (but no more than two at a time), with each pillow secure in it’s own pillow case or laundry bag. Place pillows inside washer, set on delicate cycle and fill machine with cold water. Pour the required amount of liquid laundry detergent into a glass, then finish filling the glass with cold water to dilute the laundry detergent. Pour detergent into wash water and let pillows go through wash cycle.
Rinse and Dry
Run the feather pillows two rinse cycles (do not add liquid fabric softener). After the last rinse cycle, run the pillows through two spin dry cycles to remove as much water from the feathers as possible.
Toss pillows (no more than two at a time) into the dryer to finish drying. Add a dryer sheet if desired. Run dryer on low heat and place two clean tennis balls inside dryer to fluff pillows as they dry. Open the dryer door, remove feather pillows and fluff by hand several times during the drying cycling. Use fingers to manipulate feathers and break up clumps as the pillows are drying, Feather pillows will take longer to dry than a normal load of laundry, be sure the feather pillows are totally dry before returning them to the bed. Partially dry pillows can placed in the sun on an outdoor clothes line to finish drying.
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