need tips for keeping down comforter in place inside duvet cover
aboc1212
14 years ago
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Comments (22)
rjinga
14 years agoRelated Discussions
Down comforter - washing tips?
Comments (10)I have washed my down comforters and other items for many years. From an old thread: Purchase special down washing soap from a camping store or use Cuddledown down-washing product. In a pinch you can use sweater washing products without built-in f/s, but NOT liquid Woolite. The ban on Woolite applies to FL's as it is very sudsy. If you were doing this in a TL, Woolite would be OK. Do not use regular laundry detergents, especially anything with enzymes (like Cheer for instance) which will be very hard on the down. Most regular laundry detergents have various additives that could be very damaging to the down by stripping it. The special down soap is worth the trouble to locate. I have had very good luck with stuff from Cuddledown, and they sell by mail order. I prefer a product called Downe, but it may be hard to find. First inspect the comforter very carefully to locate and repair any tiny tears or seam rips. If you don't do this beforehand you will be picking the down off the inside of your machine. Pretreat any especially grimey areas with a bit of the liquid down soap. If the spots are really bad, push the down away and use a liquid spot cleaner product just on the soiled area of the shell. Rinse well in a bath tub to remove as much of the pretreater as you can as it will be hard on the down. Take the comforter down to your washing machine and stuff it in. Do not be worried if it barely fits; it's full of air and when that is pressed out, it will wash just fine. Run a cold, rinse-and-spin cycle (or whatever passes for that on your machine, even a quick wash program). DO NOT ADD SOAP at this point. Keep repeating this cycle until the machine has completely saturated the item and the spinning action has collapsed the down and driven the air out of the comforter. It should look quite smashed. It is now ready to be washed. Set the machine up for a short to medium length wash period with a high water level, at mildly warm temps with gentle action, with as many rinses as possible and an energetic spin cycle. Often gentle action comes with an attentuated spin cyle. If that's the case, don't worry about it. After the gentle wash cycle is completed, leave the item in the machine and perform a high-speed spin-only program to drive out as much moisture as possible. Use only a small amount of the down soap, as it often is quite foamy. Use NO fabric softener, though a bit of vinegar won't hurt. When you retrieve your comforter after the wash cycle it will look utterly awful, but that's OK. In fact, if it doesn't look like you've pretty much ruined it, it probably isn't clean! I generally try to do comforters on warm breezy days as I like to alternate machine drying with line drying. However I always start with a period of machine drying. When you purchase the down soap you should also get some fat nylon rings. These are necessary to bang up the wet down clumps and add some necessary static electricity at the end to regain maximum loft. Some people use clean tennis shoes or tennis balls, instead, but I find the rings more satisfactory. You can put them in clean cotton socks if the banging is annoying. You can also get these rings at pet stores that sell Nylabone dog toys. Run the dryer at low temps for an hour or more. Pause it occasionally to check that things are going well and to shake out the comforter. After an hour I would hang mine out in the wind, and alternate between periods of 2 or 3 hours outside and another hour in the dryer. The shell will dry hours before the down will, but you absolutely must soldier on and get the filling fully dry. You can pause the half-dry comforter overnight if you don't want to run it while you're sleeping. Just hang it somewhere outside the dryer and arranged relatively loosely. You do not want to allow any opportunity for the down to get moldy before it is completely dry! You will know when it is fully dry because the it will regain its original loft and a careful "feeling" of it will reveal no little bumps of clumped (and therefore still damp) down. Home-washing of down items is a lot of work, but the advantage is that they are cleaned without drycleaning solvents. Properly done they will wind up clean, soft and sweet-smelling. HTH, L....See MoreComforter or Duvet cover?
Comments (44)Here's how I solved my Duvet problem....I also put a sheet under my Duvet cover.............. I was finding it difficult when sleeping with the Duvet and the cover being used as a blanket , then, in the morning it was my bed cover....I'd be all wrapped up in it & it would get twisted as a blanket would.. I felt my bed was never completely made..How I solved this problem was...I bough & put on my Duvet, a White cover. Then I purchased 2 fancy Duvet covers , I like a change... I have the Duvet with the white cover tucked in at the foot of my bed...When I make my bed in the morning, I pull the Duvet up as you normally would..Then.., I just lay my fancy cover right over the top of the White one,,I also tuck that in at the foot of the bed. You would never know that the Duvet itself isn't stuffed into the fancy cover.. At night, I take the fancy one off & sleep with the white one that is permanently on the Duvet. That's the one the gets washed every so often.. You still can't get away from that lumpy look but I don't think its quite as bad when covered with the fancy one,,,..I guess there's no way of getting away from that completely.....It's a matter of getting used to.. Works for me.........See MoreDuvet covers and comforter questions
Comments (27)I am from england and a duvet to me means the fluffy down filled blanket an the cover what goes over it. As other ppl have said u can get different weights of these duvets an it wouldn't matter how fluffy the duvet is as long as it's the same measurements, the cover shouldn't rip as long as it's a duvet you are putting in it. The fastenings usually go at the bottom of the bed basically for cosmetic reasons and also I have found when fastenings have been at the top I tend to somehow end up with my arms inside the cover! I also don't like feeling the fastenings when I am trying to get comfortable. Not sure if that helps but that's how we do it here....See MoreDuvet cover without comforter
Comments (24)We have a beautiful chenille duvet cover that I use in my bedroom for fall/winter. As a woman of a certain age I had to stop putting the comforter inside because I got too hot despite the fact that we love a COLD bedroom. Now it's used like a blanket/instead of a blanket and tucked in all around. The down comforter is folded at the end of the bed to pull up when needed. Now my bed not only looks well made but is actually comfortable when sleeping in....See Morevavavoom
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