Primarily, there are two ways you can actually wash a duvet at home. First is the washer and second is by hand.
Many reasons can actually come up and prevent you from washing your duvet in the washer, and also employing the services of a professional, in that case, you’re left with only the bathtub as an option, and how do you clean a duvet effectively and efficiently in it?
Here’s how.
Washing duvet in the bathtub
Check that it’s washable at home
It is of paramount importance to check the fabric care label on your duet to find out whether or not it is washable at home. If you see instructions like “dry clean only” or “do not machine wash”, it’s better to take it to the dry cleaners.
On the care label also, are the proper instructions on how best to clean that specific type duvet that you have. Make sure that overrides any information we’ll be giving you here.
Treat stains on the duvet
If you happen to have stains on your duvet, now is the right time to treat them. Allowing stains to persist on your duvet till the dryer, will cause them to become permanent.
So after verifying that your duvet can be washed using the washing machine and therefore by hand, proceed to tackle the stains using the following method.
As most stains on duvet are likely from everyday scenarios like spills and blood. A decent mild detergent should do the trick.
Create a concentrated solution of mild detergent and water, and apply that to the stain area. Work it in using a soft brush or cloth and let it sit for some time. Rinse using cold or warm water and proceed to wash using the instructions we’ll be providing.
Before we move to any washing instructions, it’s good to know that stains that form on the duvet are best treated immediately. When you let stains sit for some time, they become very difficult to remove.
So if your mild detergent solution doesn’t work to get rid of the stain, you can try a professional stain removal product, but make sure to test it in an inconspicuous area of the duvet to find out how it will react with the product. Make sure there isn’t any warning issued out by the fabric care label against the use of stain removal products.
Fill up you bath tub half way
So after you’re done treating stains, or don’t even have stains to begin with, go ahead and fill up a bathtub with cold water and add an appropriate amount of liquid detergent. Make sure to use the right dosage to prevent excessive formation of suds which can coat the fillings inside and reduce the loft of the duvet.
For cotton or linen duvet, you can use hot water for disinfection. For polyester and other synthetic fibers, the highest water temperature you should opt for is warm water. Blends made up of cotton and synthetic fibers (with cotton taking up the majority of the percentage) can be washed in hot water too.
Now swish and swirl to incorporate the detergent in the water and soak the duvet for up to one hour (or even more) depending on how soiled your duvet is.
If you have a silk duvet with complicated dyeing on it, don’t soak for more than 30 minutes as the colors might begin to come off.
After soaking, lightly scrub linen and cotton duvet in the bathtub. For other fabrics, toss them about in the tub to release soiling. You can also try this technique. Pull a portion of the duvet and plunge it back with a bit of force to aid soil removal. Keep doing this until you’re satisfied with the result you’ve gotten.
Now replace the wash water with a fresh one and rinse the duvet using the same technique. Do a second rinse to properly remove suds, because too much of them can coat the down or feather fillings inside and affect the overall fluff of the duvet.
Now drain the rinse water and press out as much water as you can (you can even ask the kids to help out by gently stepping on the duvet to release water). Now take the wet duvet to the dryer and run a cycle with medium heat.
Take out the duvet and fluff it up and then put it back in the dryer for a second cycle on low heat. Depending on the size of the duvet you have, you may need an additional cycle.
For a third cycle, still take out the duvet and fluff it up, then put it back in the dryer and run a cycle with low heat. Now take out the duvet and put it out on a clothesline to dry flat. The uv rays should freshen it up and dry out any little moist spots left in the duvet.
You can also choose to air dry, but make sure to spread the duvet on a clothes rack and avoid drying it by letting it hang from both sides on a line. The weight of the down with water can stretch the internal baffles in the duvet and cause tearing, and when there are no baffles, there technically isn’t a duvet!
When air drying also, make sure to fluff up the fillings using your hands midway drying. Because air drying doesn’t employ motion, like in the dryer, it’s easy for fillings to dry into clumps.
Final Thoughts
You can watch a duvet at home using the bathtub, but the method is a bit labor intensive.
Start by reading the care label to ensure the duvet can be washed at home in the first place. Then treat stains and soak the duvet in a solution of mid detergent and water mixed up in the bathtub.
Let sit for a long time, preferably one hour or more so the soiling and stains release, then agitate using the pull and plunge technique to remove the dirt.
Rinse and then take it into the dryer to dry or outside on the clothes rack or line to air dry.
