I recently purchased a king size bed cover at Goodwill. Tags say it is made by Wamsutta and to Dry Clean Only, Tags also say contents are "All new material consistering of l00% polyester fiber batting, filling l00% polyester, face l00% cotton, back l00% cotton." Size is ll0" by 96".
There was one stain on it and I spot cleaned it and got it out.
Now for the question. I paid $5.00 for it and I am really, really cheap. I don't want to pay a fortune to have it dry cleaned. What do you think the chances of ruining it are if I put it in the washing machine to wash it?
I have the new type washing machine without the aggatator so there is plenty of room. If it goes flat, I have tennis balls for the dryer. What do you all think? What am I not thinking of. Can you help me think this through before I do anything?
thanks for your help.
doglover.

I would wash it in cold water with very little agitation and then hang it outside to dry. I have done this before and used woolite.

Well............I wouldn't want to use it if it couldn't be laundered so I'd cool water soak it a while with your soap of choice, wash as gently as possible, stop the washer as soon as the water drains and arrange the quilt evenly before the rinse cycle and repeat the repositioning before the spin cycle. Good luck, whatever you decide to do, with your 'find'.

I have washed these before and never had a problem except maybe it's a little wrinkly once done! I hang mine outside when I can cause I like the smell :)

I would wash it in cold water delicate cycle and line dry it . It could shrink in the dryer or use air fluff with no heat.

Don't see any reason to dry clean

i would wash it -- i would also toss it into the dryer and dry it-
hanging king sized quilts when wet can cause the quilting threads to break from the weight-
it is recommended to either dry them in a dryer or lay them flat to dry- but from the sounds of it there really is no reason to not be able to wash and dry it.
you might want to use a low-heat setting on the dryer- i'm never that (cautious) with my quilts i wash and dry them all the time....i do take them out of the dryer- give them a shake and put them back about every 20 minutes otherwise they wrap all up and don't get dry.. but that is as special as i get. i also use a regular cycle- warm water and laundry detergent when i wash them- even the silk and wool quilts - i've never had anything bad happen from washing my quilts...and treating them as if they are any other bedding item i own.

I agree

I also agree- as long as you do a low setting to dry it I really don't think you'll have a problem.
I love hanging things out but we've had so much rain lately. I don't even worry about threads breaking or anything.

Sounds like everything is all cotton or poly other than
some shrinking and wrinkling I would wash in cool water and throw in dryer with the tennis balls. Good Luck

If it doesn't work, you are out 5 bucks!

Sounds like you all came up with what I did. I guess the worse that can happen is wrinkles. If that happens, duvet cover can hide that. thanks for all your help and interest. I will let you know on or about Monday how that works out.

thanks again to the team of experts.
doglove

Did I mention how cheap I am?
doglover

LOL! I can be very cheap too but I figure that somewhere along the way, I've wasted $5 on something worthless!!

Oh yes, I do understand that waste. I have brought home more treasures that has turned out to belong in the garbage dump than a museum than I would care to think about. I guess when I think about it, the waste comes in when I drive half way across the county to a Goodwill store to buy something for $5.00 and then put $35.00 in the gas tank. That is waste in my opinion or a very expensive hobby
anyway, it goes in the washer Monday morning and it comes out in little pieces, I will cry but I will have the best crying rag in town. In fact, I could cut it up into many crying towels and give them for Christmas gifts. Maybe put a design on it. A gift like no other.
In my books, nothing ever really is a waste, if I keep thinking about it long enough.
doglover

I would wash it.

The only thing I'm an expert on is buying too much fabric hahahaha :D:D

Well.... now let's see that lovely thing....

That's great to think if. It shreds you can make crying rags! Lol. I'd washin washer too!

I believe a simple toss in the washer and dryer will do no harm. My husband, with good intentions, tossed a hand made quilt I inherited from my great aunt, in the washer and dryer. I would have been extremely put out with him had the quilt been damaged or ruined but it came out just fine (and he pays no attention to heat settings). Wash and dry and toss back on the bed (or wherever). Good luck!

a lot of times they put "Dry clean only" just to cover their behinds. I don't see anything in the fabric content that needs dry cleaning.

I would wash on gentle cycle and either dry on low heat or hang to dry. I wash everything. I have had some mistakes, but I'm really careful to read labels now. Dry Clean only does not fit with my life style. Plus I live in the country and the nearest cleaners is 12 miles.

Often, the manufacturers put the 'dry clean only' on the label to cover themselves in case you don't take enough care and it is ruined.There are only a few fibres that will crack if you wash them in hot water so I always make a calculated guess and wash carefully and have not had major problems.If you are worried, try a small inconspicuous section first.

It might shrink some -

I'd also wash it in cool water (gentle cycle) and dry it on permanent press setting - in the great big washer and great big dryer so it could flop around easily.

Okay, so i got the courage to put my $5.00 purchase into the washer.
I ran into a problem. It won't go. I have attached a picture of this comforter on the couch to show the size of it. Another to show my 5 pound pup on top to show it will go down a little but I am afraid that with it stuffed into my washer, it will not get cleaned so it is off to find a public laundromat to see if they have a larger one.
The sage continues.

Be careful. I had a comforter that said to dry clean but have also heard not all things have to be done like that so I had my daughter in law take it to a laundry mat to use the great big machines and the batting bunched up really badly. It cost me around 100 so that was a big waste to me.

That looks like a comforter with not that much quilting on it to hold the batting in place. I'll be interested to see how it turns out.

I was going to suggest the same thing. I do this all the time with my quilts

Wash and dry. The chemicals in dry cleaning are worse than mild soap and water!

I had a hand-me-down comforter similar to yours. I washed it and dried it on low and the poly batting melted into one hard lump. Most dry cleaners have a bulk load dry cleaning offer where they simply do all your dry cleaning but don't professionally press anything. Why ruin the comforter? It isn't all that expensive to clean it the bulk way.

Can you afford to lose $5.00?

Treat it like a delicate fabric. Wash with woolite and delicate cycle wash and dry.

I have washed some items like tat.

I wouldn't send a quilt to a cleaners, I couldn't for a second consider sleeping under a quilt with residual chemicals in it! I wash my quilts in the washer with a little Orvus soap, you can find it at your Farm Supply lots cheaper than your LQS.
You might want to look at the quilting to see if there is enough to hold the batting without shifting over time or thru washing it. Consider adding more if it looks like it's needed.
I wouldn't hold your breath on tennis balls fluffing anything up in the dryer, the quilt is going to take up most of the room in there and the balls need to kind of bounce around to be effective.
If you choose to dry the quilt outside, I would recommend that you drape it over at least 2-3 clean clothes lines (wash them well or cover them with strips of white cotton) and then drape lightweight white cotton (to prevent any color transfer) on top to help prevent sun fading to the quilt.
I once purchased a pretty store-bought (probably China-made) quilt once. I pulled all the "hand quilting" out (it took me about 15 minutes), reinforced (restitched) all the seams, put a decent batt in, and quilted it again by hand. It came out gorgeous! It brought $475 in the church bazaar

Wash it.. I would because I have never had anything cleaned that didn't hold on to the smell of cleaning fluid. Ugh!!!

We were in holmes County in Ohio this past week. Of course there were several quilt shops with Amish quilts for sale. Aside from all the beautiful quilts they had, there was also washing instructions for their quilts. The suggestion was to fill the washer with cold water. Put some laundry soap in (less than usual) and put your quilt in. Make sure it is completely saturated. Soak your quilt for about a half hour. Drain the water. Put in fresh water to rinse. Again do not adgitate. Soak the quilt for about fifteen minutes then drain the water again. Rinse once more or until the water comes out clean. Spin out most of the water and hang to dry. Good luck.

make sure that the spaces between the quilting aren't too far apart or the batting will shift. often that's why they say not to wash it. if the areas between stitching are large, add stitching for stabilizing. when you wash it, make sure you dry it very well. it always seems dry when you feel it, but on the inside it's often still damp and can mildew. better overdry than damp inside. don't even ask. btw, that looks like a comforter that was made to be used inside a duvet cover, and you might consider using it that way so that it needs to be washed less often.

edit - i just looked again and it looks like the kind that isn't stitched in boxes at all. it's stitched in the pattern that allows the filling to move around inside, allowing you to shake it around so you can shift it to where you most need the warmth.
for example, if you have cold feet, you can shake more filling to the bottom. we had one and that's what it looks like to me. (do yourself a favor and even out the stuffing and stitch it in place). it was meant to be covered. btw, when it got washed it weighed at least, .....oh, ...... 4,000 pounds. so don't think you can line dry it :lol: :lol: . count on drying for at least 4 hours if not more. it's worth it for the warmth and light weight.

sounds to me like a good washing will be in order, and I 'd also put it in the dryer, low setting,,, I also have a washer that does not agitate, LOVE IT..... give it a good whirl...............