quilt care
Caring for fine textiles… including pillow covers
Overview
Get out your washboard! Just kidding. Keyword: gentle. This is not an extreme sport (excepting pillow fights).
These care guidelines do not, and realistically cannot, cover all variables. Please consult professional cleaners, conservators, or other knowledgeable quilt makers if you do not feel confident about any of the following laundering suggestions.
If your quilt, pillow cover, or other item arrives with special laundering notes, please adhere to them. There are certain fabrics (ie indigo, wool, among others) that require specific attention. These details will always be indicated in the item description on the website prior to purchase and will be included with your shipment.
Remove inserts from their pillow covers and wash the cover only. See details further down about how to get the insert in and out of its cover.
Hand wash recommended
One item at a time unless multiple items are truly similar in color and fabric content.
Use cool to just warm water. Add your washing agent to water and suds it up. (See further down about washing agents)
Add your item to sudsy water. Soak for 20 minutes to one half hour with gentle agitation every now and again.
Drain wash water. Squeeze wash water from your item. For rinse, use water that is same temp as wash water you just drained. Avoid temperature extremes; keep temps consistent when washing textiles.
Submerge in rinse water and agitate a bit.
Repeat wash and/or rinse steps as needed.
Squeeze as much water out as you can by hand. To prevent distortion do not wring, twist, or lift by corners or edges.
Place on layers of towels laid out to accommodate dimensions of your item. Roll everything up inside the towels and knead the bundle with your (clean) bare feet so the towels soak up excess moisture.
Lay flat to dry. Proceed to pressing.
Pressing
Air drying tends to leave fabrics feeling stiff. Pressing while just slightly damp will remove the remaining moisture and relax the fabric back to a softer state. If your item is entirely dry when you go to press it, spritz with some distilled water and iron with a muslin cloth or bed sheet between the iron and quilt/cover/item. Pressing gives a satisfying finish to complete the process. And voilà!
With zippered pillow covers, avoid zipper while pressing. You can press pillow cover seams again once the insert is back inside its cover. Stand the pillow on one seam end and run iron gently up and down one seam at a time, and rotate.
Washing agent
My current preferred laundering agents are products from The Laundress (No 10 scent) and, from SOAK which has the bonus that it DOES NOT REQUIRE RINSING. You can also use your personal choice of gentle soap/detergent with care.
Available at select shops and online. A little goes a very long way with all washing agents of any brand! Both websites offer advice for dealing with particular stain issues should you run into such needs, urgent or long-standing.
Machine wash not recommended (machine drying is never recommended)
Machine washers and especially dryers tend to be harsh on fabric, even more so with repeated use over time. If you choose to use machines please select the most gentle settings all around, wash with a few additional, low-lint, soft items of like color, and use a gentle washing agent
Dry cleaning not recommended
Removing zippered pillow covers (and how to put them back on again)
Removing the insert is not a matter of just tugging it out. Doing so causes frustration and puts strain on the zipper ends. You want to avoid those by doing the following:
Open up the zipper.
Lay your whole self firmly on the pillow with opened zipper to flatten and squish as much air out of the insert as possible.
The goal is to make the insert as “small” and narrow as possible, to avoid putting excess strain on either side of the zipper opening. Reach inside with both hands to squish and roll the insert into as narrow a tube as possible so it can slip freely through the zipper opening.
Putting the cover back on again is the reverse of taking it off plus adjusting and fluffing to get it all back into shape
Flatten the air out of your bare insert and roll it into as narrow a tube as possible and slip it into the pillow cover with the dimensions oriented correctly.
Now align the corners into place. Keep the zipper open because you will want to get inside to continue sorting things out for a bit.
Take hold of the two corners on the opposite side of the zipper side and shake the insert and cover as they are held together to get the pillow to begin falling into place.
Go in and re-align corners and sides as necessary and continue to hold two corners and shake it all into place until it finally feels settled enough that you can close the zipper.
Then thwack, fluff, and pouf it into submission. Essentially you are bringing air back into the insert and re-distributing the feather/down content to the way you like it.
You can press the seams again as noted above in “Pressing”.
A few more textile notes to keep in mind
You can gently vacuum the surface of your textiles if you’re not feeling the need for a complete wash.
Lint brushes: Avoid using the tape-based versions because they leave a residue; use the less-expensive coarse cloth type instead, or a higher end brush specifically made for garment care.
Best not to store textiles in a sealed environment such as plastic bags for extended periods. A plastic bag is fine for protection during transportation but damaging for lengthy storage. Fabric needs to breath.
Avoid prolonged direct sunlight. It can fade colors and break down fibers more rapidly.