Recently, I had to wash some pillows that were sitting on the couch. When we were gone over the weekend, the cat decided to have an accident on our leather couch. Thankfully, the leather couch is easy to clean using some pet cleaner (smell removal) and soapy rags. Unfortunately though my large decorative white pillows were sitting on the couch at the time allowing the to get both of the corners of the pillows messy.
Disappointed, I had to figure out a way to clean them. I usually throw things out that the cat will stain but I had bought these large pillows special for lounging on the living room floor. Now granted they needed cleaned anyways because they had been colored on and stepped on with muddy shoes. My son often uses these pillows to "plop" on the floor, as a stool to get on the couch, and sit in front of the television with his snacks (they are like a big beanbag chair). So I did some research on how to clean these large, white pillow-cased, polyester pillows.
Once I found a solution for these polyester-filled pillows, I decided to test it out and clean one pillow. I can say that this is mom approved and it worked. And I have clean pillows again, thankfully since they were unusually large and well used by all - including the cat!
First, I took the white pillow case off the polyester pillow and threw the pillow in the washer (thankfully it was all white so that I could use bleach). I added some detergent and some bleach. I started the washer on cold water and let it fill up and turn for a few minutes. Then I turned the washer off, turned the dial on rinse, and turned it back on to finish washing.
Once the pillow was washed in the dryer, I put them into the dryer with a white tennis shoe and some softener sheets. Once the pillow came out dry (I did let it air dry some too), I finished fluffing up the pillow some more making it ready to use again. I repeated these steps for the other pillow and then then washed the pillow cases separately. Thankfully the crayon and muddy stains came out along with the smell of the cat urine.
Although this process worked and the pillows turned out clean and in the same condition, I did learn some valuable tips along the way. Next time I wash those pillows or any polyester-filled pillows, I would take them into laundry mat to use a front loading washing machine. My machine was too small to put both pillows in at the same time which would help balance them better during the wash. Washing these in my small machine wreaked some havoc during the spin cycle. Next, I would put the soap in the machine using small amounts, allowing the water fill up before I put in the pillow. This will help reduce the suds and the need to rinse the pillow many times. I probably would also turn off the washer and let the pillow stand in the soapy water for extra cleaning and soaking. Finally, you may still want to rinse multiple times as well as dry as much as needed. My pillows filled up with a lot of water requiring a few extra rinses as well as a couple cycles in the dryer.
I do plan to use this process again for my pillows. However, I hope the cat does not require me to do it again soon. Perhaps the most useful tip is cover your couches with tarp before you leave town for an extended trip. With that said, happy cleaning!
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