i washed my feather pillows and now they smell?

Question

i washed my pillows and dried them on regular and they came out and smelled really bad but i didnt put them back in right away and now they still stink, what can i do

i dried them for a total of like 4 hours now... i wish i woulda asked before

Answer 1

You most certainly can wash feather pillows, but it takes patience and quite a bit of time. You probably scorched the feathers on a regular dry cycle , but if you want to try to save them try this. Rewash them in plenty of warm water with 1/2 of the required amount of liquid detergent than you would normally use. Add a bottle of witch hazel to the rinse water in the rinse cycle. The witch hazel kind of conditions the feathers and removes excess soap and facial oils from the pillow.

Now take them out of the washer and shake, shake, shake until all the feathers are loosened and there are no clumpy places. Reset your washer cycle back to spin and spin them an extra time.

Put them into the dryer, add a dryer sheet for fragrance if you wish, on the lower heat settings for 15 minutes. My dryer actually has a cool air cycle which I use in alternating rounds. Remove them and shake, shake ,shake. Put them back into the dryer for additional 15 minutes, shake shake etc. Continue this until they are completely dry. It may take a couple of hours. Do not let them sit in a damp pile as the feathers will clump.

Most people do have their feather pillows professionally cleaned, but some of us still use labor intensive methods. Washing and drying feather pillows is definitely time consuming.

Answer 2

How To Wash Feather Pillows

Answer 3

Washing Down Pillows

Answer 4

Each July I wash all my duvet s and feather pillows and sun dry them on a hot drt day. It takes very little to fluff up a good down-filled item be it a jacket or bedding. You just dig you hands in and smush any clumps, then fluff and flip. Do this a few times over the day. I have one pillow that is half feathers and half foam. It s from Walmart. I washed it as per usual and it came out fluffy but smelling badly of feathers. If I cannot deodorize it, it will have to go. But I would say, if you are going to throw something with feathers out, wash it first as per above and perhaps, like me, you will have years of fresh happy bedding. I use a very gentle eco-friendly detergent, not a commercial detergent. I think it helps the down to stay soft. I use cool water. There are definitely feathers in my duvets but they have no smell. It s just the larger feathers in the Walmart pillow that smell after washing.

Answer 5

Get rid of them and get new pillows Ur Not supposed to wash feather pillows

Answer 6

You can wash them if you do it right. Use a lot of fabric sheets in the dryer but make sure you add tennis shoes or tennis balls with them to help bounce out the fluffiness in the feathers. You can also try using that over the counter dry cleaning product they have in the laundry aisle.

Answer 7

you're not supposed to wash anything with feathers in it. i tried washing a down comforter, king sized, in my washer a year or 2 ago, and it totally ruined it. it says on the tags for anything with feathers that you need to dry clean it

Answer 8

mine sure smelled really bad after washing and drying not sure anything will help them now

Answer 9

you cant wash feathers... because they dont dry right... you have to dry clean them

Answer 10

tumble dry them for a long time with extra fabric softener sheets.