Care and Feeding of a Wool Bedspread

Cafe Society
1

Several years ago, I got a wool bedspread in Juarez. I probably paid too much for it (I suck at haggling and having to do it in English already had me at a disadvantage) but overall it’s been a good top cover in the winter, though I had to wait several months before the smell of raw wool was gone. Problem is, I’ve never figured out how to clean it. I don’t really want to go to the laundromat and throw it in the biggest washer I can find, nor do I want to pay for what it would cost to dry clean something about the size of a full-size bed. Not to mention the drying time if I do throw it in a big washing machine. Any suggestions, or should I just go with my current strategy, which is to try to never get it dirty?

2

I would like to tag along on this thread and ask a question as well. My boyfriend got a wool blanket somewhere in South America that he is quite fond of. One evening, after having a bunch of friends over drinking, one of said friends threw up in the blanket. He has no idea how to clean it, so it’s just been rolled up in a bag or something since then (EEEWWW!!!) but seriously… what should he do??

3

You could wash it in cold water, on gentle cycle, with Woolite or an alternative wool wash like Eucalan. Don’t machine dry! Hang it up to drip dry. I’m assuming that neither of the items in question (yours or Opal’s) is already felted.

4

i would advise against hanging to dry. The weight of the wet wool will stretch the blanket. It is best to place it flat, neatly “squared off” and let it dry that that way. also when you store it, roll it firmly, and put it in a sealed plastic bag (prevents moths, and preserves the latent lanolin content)

FML

5

I’m rethinking the “hang to dry” part of what I posted because I’d forgotten that it was something the size of a bedspread. I agree with FML on that one…find someplace to lay it out (if you live somewhere the weather’s nice, lay it out on the lawn in the sun).

6

I always have wool dry-cleaned commercially.

7

Dryclean. If I loved it and paid a lot for it, no way would I take a chance on cleaning it myself.