Down. Tips for down fabric, material care - Continued

Small down filled items can be cleaned and washed in the washer if the shell fabric states that you can. Materials that cover the down fill will clean up nicely and then you should lay out the down to dry or you can hang it and re hang in various directions so that you don’t stretch out the down material. Keep in mind that when you are air drying any type of down filled material, it can take a few days before you are going to be able to dry a down filled material completely. Be patient and continue flipping over your item, so that it will dry completely.

It is important to not put your down filled materials in a top loading washer. Top loading washers are harder on fabrics which can pull the down material and filling causing blankets, pillows, or coats to be misshaped. Using a top loading washer to clean your down filled items can shorten the life of an item to about twenty five percent if you are not careful. 

Dry cleaning is always an option for down filled products. Heat methods of dry cleaning will bring out stains and sweat marks so you might want to opt for a non heat type of dry cleaning method for your down filled products. 

One last thing about cleaning down filled materials: do not wring out down filled materials that you have washed. If the down filled materials and fabric are stretched when you wring it out, the material will stretch and be out of shape when it finally does dry.