Know Everything About How to Clean Your Pillow
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. |