I washed and dried (with tennis balls) my King size feather bed at the laundry mat and now it smells like wet dog. I have hung it to dry in the sun, placed it in the dryer again, and used febreeze. The smell will not go away. Any suggestions?
My grandmother was european, and made us feather bedding. I agree with Anne, the feathers are probably not completely dried. They really smell when they are even partially damp--and it's often hard to tell when you take them from a dryer. Let them tumble longer--hopefully they haven't started to mildew yet. If so, you may have to wash again.
Just a note, a good dry cleaner can sanitize it for you if needed.
I like the dryel sheets, but if it is an odor picked up from the laundro-mat machine, when all else fails, wash it w/ a couple cups of vinegar in the wash water. The rinse cycle will remove any vinegar smell. Vinegar will also get any pet-accident odors out of carpet. Then DRY DRY DRY DRY.
Unfortunately wet feathers can rot, so hopefully it's not too late.
If it still smells - it's not completely dry. Go back to the laundomat and re-dry it. It may take and hour or more on high heat. I had that problem with a pillow and dried it again for an hour and a half. There's no smell to it now.
You probably know this, but I don't think feather beds should be washed in the normal manner. I use Dryel (a home dry cleaning product) You might try this with your feather bed. It comes with a large bag, and a wet towel thing with the cleaning soluation in it. You put the item and the towel in the bag, and then put the whole thing in the dryer for about 10-20 mintues. But the bag might be too small for a whole feather bed. Just an idea. I can't think of anything elese.
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