How to Hand Wash a Wool Comforter

There is nothing more comforting than locally made wool bedding during cold winter nights. Some steps to ensure lasting comfort include airing the comforter regularly in fresh air and sunlight, keeping it in a duvet cover, and, as you know, washing it. While searching for instructions, I couldn’t find much on handwashing the wool comforter. So, I decided to create my own experience and share it in case someone else is looking for guidance. Here it is: How to hand-wash a wool comforter.

Why hand-wash?

You might be wondering why one would want to hand-wash wool bedding in the first place. Wool is very sensitive to agitation—not in a mood sense, but in terms of being churned, twisted, and swirled. Hand washing is the best way to prevent wool from felting and losing its softness and warmth.

Theoretically, you can wash a wool comforter in a top-loading washing machine, but practically, it is still mostly done by hand to avoid agitation. Spinning in a top-loader is fine, though. Since I do not have a top-loading washing machine, hand washing is my only option to keep the wool soft and fluffy.

As a DIYer, I didn’t really consider dryclining. However, that is also an option if you can ensure that you want the products they use in your bedding.

What you will need to hand-wash a wool comforter

The lovely handmade care instructions informed me that I needed warm water, mild soap, and a tub. After further research on the topic, I discovered that rinsing the bedding with vinegar is a great idea. I realized that having a big enough laundry basket was essential, as was a stable clothes drying rack.

Equipped with all these necessities, I transformed the bathroom into a wool laundry room. The detergent shown in the picture is not an advertisement; it’s simply what I used.

How to hand-wash a wool comforter

Fill the bathtub with warm water and add the mild soap.

Add the wool comforter, ensuring it is fully submerged. Plunge gently up and down by hand to clean. Let it soak for 15 minutes before continuing to plunge.

I have to admit that the wet woolen comforter was very heavy, and at times I questioned if anything was really happening. However, seeing the water reassured me that the end result would be much cleaner than it was before. Striving for improvement, ‘Better than it was,’ is often my motivation when I’m struggling to complete a task.

My biggest concern during my project was the fact that I knew I couldn’t spin or wring out the bedding. So, I decided to move it to the higher end and drained the water, pushing the blanket to get out as much as I could.

Rinse the wool comforter

To rinse, I filled the tub with clean lukewarm water and added some vinegar. Again, I plunged gently up and down and let it soak for 15 minutes.

Since there was no way to rinse, I simply repeated the water change, this time without vinegar, until the water was clean.

Finally, I transferred the soaking wet bedding into the laundry basket and brought it outside.

How to dry the hand-washed wool blanket

The soaking-wet wool comforter was moved to the drying rack. I had no proof that this would work, but you never know until you try, right? I have to admit that at this point, I wasn’t very sure about my undertaking. All that was left was to wait and see.

To my surprise, by the end of the day, I was able to fold and roll the comforter on the rack (see picture). Although it wasn’t completely dry yet, the water that I couldn’t spin out had drained nicely on its own.

After a few more days on the rack, the woolen comforter dried out and became as fluffy as new. Washing the wool bedding by hand was a complete success!

What would I do differently next time?

First of all, I am very confident that hand-washing woolen bedding is not just an alternative; it works really well. I wouldn’t worry about spinning or trying to remove as much water as possible, as wool drains on its own. The only thing I would do differently is the timing. I would choose a bright, sunny spring or summer day for this task, as the bedding would dry much quicker in those conditions.

If you’re wondering whether hand-washing wool bedding is a viable option, let me encourage you that it definitely is. Don’t wait too long; if you feel that your comforter needs a wash, go ahead and wash it—this method works very well.

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