Washing designer wall?
 

It has been a few months since I installed a 8 x 6 feet design wall, it is white so kind of dusty and soiled right now. Can I throw it in a washing machine? Anyone ever washed theirs?

Depends what it's made of. I just hang a piece of white wool (old blanket) to use as my design wall & it washes great.

If for some reason you can't wash it, you could always run the vacuum over it with the brush attachment (or a piece of hosiery), just like you would for a quilt.

My design wall is a flannel sheet so it washes just fine.

it is felt....I did vacuum it but it has lost it's original creamy color and is yellowed....

Yes, you can wash felt. If you don't know whether it's felted wool or the kind of felt they sell at JAF made from recycled plastic, I'd stick with cold water, low heat & limit harsh cleansers. Either one can yellow with age. Felted wool is more likely to return to something closer to white, but both usually can improve. If you know or strongly suspect it's felted wool (usually cannot see through it very well when held up to light), it might be worthwhile to try soaking it with white vinegar. Add 1/4 C of vinegar to your washing machine & set on Soak cycle, Cold Water. When finished, wash 2x with regular detergent to get the vinegar smell out, then dry on low heat.

If you know/suspect it's the plastic felt (thin, easy to see through when held up to light), vinegar isn't likely to help. You're better off with Hydrogen Peroxide. H2O2 is more corrosive than vinegar, so I'd first try just 1/8C of it, let it Soak, then wash in Cold Water, but maybe add some OxyClean if you have some. If that doesn't work, you could also try soaking overnight in a laundry sink with a scoop of Biz.

You could also try H2O2 with felted wool, but just keep a careful eye on it & know that it will damage the fabric, even if the damage isn't visible right away. The longer it sits in that solution, the weaker the wool fibers will become. I definitely would not let it sit in that solution for longer than 20 minutes for any reason unless you're okay with it potentially burning holes in your felt. Not saying that will definitely happen, but it's a risk. Only you know how bad the yellowing is & whether it's worth it. Whatever you try, DO NOT try bleach on felted wool. It will make the yellowing worse. Some people also claim Baking Soda helps reduce the yellowing, but I don't have any idea how much you'd need. I'd probably try 1/4 C, but I don't think more would harm anything ... just might take an extra trip through the wash to get it all out.

For future reference: plastic felt turns yellow when exposed to sunlight & oils from our hands so wearing gloves & covering with a sheet when not in use will help. Felted wool turns yellow when exposed to sunlight & moisture -- moisture especially. No easy fix for that & felted wool is quite expensive. If your studio's in the basement, you could get a portable dehumidifier ... or just swap out design wall for cheaper fabric. :)

Good luck! Hope you can get it back to an acceptable color.

I have never had the need to wash mine. I just run one of the lint rollers to remove any loose threads.

I see my heavily worn design wall as a status symbol or a badge of achievement -- it's obviously put in good time and done its job. If I want the room to look nice for some reason, I just pull one of the several pieced but not yet quilted tops out of my pile and cover up the tired old thing. My felt on insullation board design wall is about 8 years old now, and it may be time for refurbishing sometime soon.

thank you all for your ideas....

That's what I do. I never thought about washing it.