I don't know about cleaning, but I just patched a quilt for my niece. This quilt was made by her great grandma and their dog got ahold of it. I posted here and got a lot of great suggestions. What I ended up doing was making a patch and with appliqued flowers. The rip on the front was at lest 12" and probably 5" wide. I would put a picture but I didn't take one when I was done. Good luck