can you put feather pillows in a washing machine to clean them, I have 4, and had then quite a while but never thought to wash them, so can you put them in a washing machine?

My wife does.

They take a while to dry, but plump up OK.

any idea on what cycle?

Yes. Your machine probably has a down setting, in fact. You might want to use delicate detergent though.

Drying them is tough though. You either need a huge tumble drier and a lumpy object such as a tennis ball, or you need to air dry and give it very vigorous shaking and kneading frequently. Down sticks together in thick clumps when wet, its this you need to combat constantly.

ok there going in next.

any idea on what cycle?

No idea! The only things I put in it are muddy cycling kit!

been living in my flat for over a year now and always taken stuff to laundrette and had it done there, which means my cycling kit has been rank, wear it for about 2 weeks till I have enough other stuff to take, so I thought id get some washing powder and give the washing machine ago, and it ace everything getting done, just need some where to dry it all now but my flat smells lovely

The reason it needs regular kneading is that the clumps don’t dry very well cos they are clumps, and when you try and break them up they can re-clump and then still not dry and so on. It takes a long longer than you think to dry, and even when it starts to feel dry it’s not.

thanks for that im going to do 2 tonight and 2 tomo, so at least I have something to put my head on tonight

Did mine the other week, need loads of time in the tumble dryer after!

Might take more than a day to dry…

The dense down-proof fabric doesn’t let much air through so tumble drying is not very effective anyway. And if on high, it might get too hot for the fabric. Don’t do it in a small dryer either cos if it does plump up it can fill the dryer drum which stops air getting through and it’ll overheat. Found this out with a sleeping bag.