As soon as a person purchases bedding, he is faced with the choice of whether to buy a pillow made from natural or synthetic filler. When choosing natural feather filling, the buyer should immediately think about cleaning and caring for the product.
Good, long sleep is the key to healthy functioning of the body. For a good night's sleep, it is important not only to choose a comfortable bed and mattress, but also to choose comfortable pillows. Most often, the filler in a pillow is a mixture of bird feathers, and this is no coincidence - it is a feather pillow that is best suited for a person’s comfortable sleep and relaxation. The main question remains: “How to wash a feather pillow at home?”
Wash
Unfortunately, the downside of a feather pillow is the fabric, which easily collects and passes dust through itself. Dust quickly settles on the feathers, which in turn leads to the proliferation of small mites and other harmful microorganisms. In order to prevent such an illness from occurring, you should properly care for your bedding and wash it regularly.
There are several simple ways to wash a feather pillow at home:
- Handwash. Hand washing feathers involves cleaning the feathers separately from the quilt. The first step is to unpick the bedspread, take out the down and feathers and place them in gauze bags or pillowcases. Then they are sewn up and the feather is washed by hand in warm water. To rinse the feathers thoroughly, you should change the water more often.For greater freshness, you can add conditioner, then properly squeeze the gauze bags or pillowcase.
- Washable in a washing machine. A more convenient and less painstaking method is machine washing. The main difficulty is choosing the washing machine mode. Just as in the first method, the feathers are taken out and firmly sewn into bags. The delicate mode is set and the temperature is no more than 40 degrees. Washing is done with a liquid product that is used for wool or for delicate washing; even baby powder and dissolved laundry soap are suitable. Spin in a soft mode, and conditioner is added during the second rinse. The downside of machine washing can be a loosely sewn pillowcase or a torn gauze bag - the filling will simply spill out and clog the filter of the machine.
- Steaming. An alternative to regular washing of feather pillows is steaming, which kills bacteria that have formed inside the pillow, renews the fabric of the pillowcase, and removes dust and odors. This method generally refreshes the appearance of the product, but of course it should not replace a full wash. For effective steaming, the pillow is hung and secured with clips, treated on several sides with a steamer 1-2 times and left until completely dry. During drying, you should also beat the filler.
Cleaning Tips
Cleaning should be done every two years to prevent dangerous dust microorganisms from harming the owner of the feather pillow. If an unpleasant odor appears, you can confidently say that the product is dirty.The process of washing and drying is quite troublesome, but this will help avoid allergic reactions and greatly improve a person’s well-being during sleep. With proper care, feather pillows absorb moisture well and easily restore their normal shape; the filling does not clump, unlike synthetic fiber. It is worth noting that goose feathers take longer to dry than duck feathers, so additional drying and fluffing may be required.
Replacing the old bedding with a new one will help with high-quality bedding care. When choosing a new napkin, attention is paid to the density of the fabric. Typically, a fabric called teak is chosen, which not only looks aesthetically pleasing, but also serves a practical function. You can buy a ready-made bedspread, or sew it yourself - stores offer a wide selection of colors to suit every taste and color. To ensure that dust penetrates into the pillow as little as possible, all seams should be sewn up with special care. For greater effect, another extra pillowcase is put on top, and the new pillowcase is rubbed from the inside with laundry soap. The measures taken will also help the down and feathers not to get out and last the pillow much longer.
The more the down and bird feathers are separated from each other, the better. When hand washing, feathers are soaked in a special product for several hours - this helps to better remove dust and unpleasant odors. Knowledgeable housewives who prefer machine washing place tennis balls in the tub with the pillows. This is much simpler and more convenient, although drying will still take a lot of time, usually the whole day.
It happens that the pillow has been lying somewhere on the mezzanine and has not been washed for a long time.In this case, it is still better to take it to the dry cleaner, where it will undergo serious processing and even be disinfected with ultraviolet radiation. At home, we wash pillows that are constantly used in everyday life and are not so dirty.
Drying feather products
It deserves special attention, since a poorly dried pillow from the inside can become moldy, spoil the pillowcase with dark spots, and at the same time spoil your mood. In the hot season, it is enough to hang the pillow on a clothesline, secure it with clips and fluff it from time to time. In cold weather, the bedding is dried in the same way as in the summer, but for complete drying, after the clothesline you need to put the dried pillow on the radiator or treat it with hot air from a hairdryer, straightening the feathers from time to time.
Drying feathers separately from the bedding takes much more time: after spreading the feathers on a wide pillowcase or newspaper, you should beat the lumps from time to time so that the bird feathers do not stick together and can dry thoroughly. This may take about a week. Once the filler is completely dry, take the napkin and fill it evenly with feathers. It is important to remember that good drying occurs only through hot air and ventilation. If drying occurs on a pillowcase, then it can be tied with a strong knot and hung in a place where the pillowcase with feathers will be in a warm, ventilated room and will fluff well.
During drying, it is important to constantly beat the feather filler, and carry out the drying itself on the battery. After the bird's down and feathers have dried, you can stuff the pillow again, first laying out a large sheet or newspaper.Some feathers, no matter how hard you try, will still fly apart. A vacuum cleaner with a clean dust container will help you quickly collect the filler, so the collected feathers can be returned back to the pillow. The feather filling is sewn into the pillowcase and a new pillowcase is put on top. The pillow is ready.
The process of washing and drying, in a word, cleaning feather pillows is quite painstaking and time-consuming. It is best to work on pillows in the summer or late spring, when the sun is warm. It will be possible to dry the insides of the bedding outside, which is several times easier and faster, especially when the weather is windy. In the autumn-winter season, you should be patient and try to allocate enough time for labor-intensive washing, which can take the whole day.
