Laundry

About three years ago I splurged and bought myself a new skirted comforter in white. I just loved the way it covered my bed, and made it look so luxurious, light and airy. After a while I took it to the dry cleaner and specifically asked him to pay close attention to removing the cat hairs. He said he could do that, but he couldn't remove any stains from the cats.

All went well, until last year when I discovered one of the aforementioned stains. Thank you Crash and/or Burn. I thought it was ruined and it may be. But I had to try to save it. The care instructions clearly say "dry clean only". Since the dry cleaning won't get it clean, I had only one alternative. I had to try to hand wash it. That's a more gentle way than machine washing, and it probably won't fit in the washer.

This is a queen size comforter and is quite heavy when dry. I decided there was only one way to wash it. I filled the bathtub and put the comforter in, along with some oxy-clean. Since it is a jetted tub, I aerated the water for a little bit, then soaked it overnight. This morning I rinsed it out and added fabric softener to the final rinse. Then the fun began.

How can I get it to dry. It's much too big for the dryer. I had a drying rack which I put in the bathtub and draped the comforter over it. Do you know how heavy a wet comforter is? I'll tell you, it's very, very heavy. I'm sure it will take a couple of days to dry and then I'll know whether or not the stains have been washed out.

I hope I've succeeded as it will look great with the new curtains. I'd hate to have to throw it out and I can't use it anyway since the stain is/was visible as soon as you enter the room.