I just don't think before I do something . . .
All those little balls and white things are various parts of a feather pillow.
We have a very old feather pillow. The ticking cover is actually full size but the feathers only fill up about 1/3rd of the case. It is old, it smelled old. Bright thought -- I know I've read where people have washed their feather pillows. Heck, geese, duck they all get wet and it doesn't ruin their feathers. I'll just chuck this pillow in with the sheets and then air dry it. It'll smell so much better.
WRONG
Well, it could have been ok except for the "old" part. The ticking holding the feathers ripped apart in the wash. And that is what faced me when I opened the door to my front loading, high spinning washer. ACH!
Wet feathers almost every where.
My clean up plan actually worked, thank goodness.
First I cleaned out as many feathers as I could get and threw them in a trash can. Then, I put a beach towel on the floor and moved all the sheets to it. That whole pile went into the back yard where I tried to shake out as many feathers as I could. My blue shorts became nearly white.
Then I dried the sheets checking the drier every 10 minutes to clear the lint trap. And, I got my super sucker-upper vacuum cleaner to clean up the lint trap. After several vacuumings of the lint trap the sheets came out feather free and the drier is pretty much good to go.
Too bad the washer isn't as in good a shape. I vacuumed it also. Cleaned the flap as well as I could and now it is running on clean. I suspect I may have to do that a couple of times. Needless to say I won't be washing any more pillows -- well until I verify that you can wash newer pillows.
Before the exploding feathers I got several more of the Million Pieces blocks done. I've decided I need 63 and I currently have 50 done. This may actually get done in the near future. I also had some fabs picked out for the border but that won't work with the navy in the room where it is going. I'll peruse the stash again but I will probably succumb to purchasing a new border for it. Sigh.
(secretly Snoopy dancing at the thought of visiting new quilt shops!)
I recently tried to wash newer down pillows in the machine, and they ended up smelling like wet dog, permanently. I had to get rid of the pillows. I will definitely dry clean next time.
ReplyDelete8-))) Now I know what NOT to do! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI tried a similar thing with some pillows, but I have a regular tub washer. I think I ended up having loose feathers as well. It seems like they can come through the tiniest holes.
ReplyDeleteI think it is your quilter's duty to search out the quilt shops in your new area, and let them know you are now in town. They might want to start carrying pillow ticking so you can put a new ticking over the old pillow before you put it in the washer!
Seriously, sorry you have to do all the clean-up. You could use the time for more sewing, instead!