Throw pillows collect more than they look like they do. Here is how to tell which ones can go in the machine, how to wash covers and inserts safely, and how to spot clean the ones that cannot get wet.
Throw pillows are the last thing in a room anyone thinks to wash. They sit on the sofa or across the foot of the bed collecting dust, hair, hand oils and whatever gets spilled near them, and because they mostly look fine, they stay put for years. Then one day you press your face into one and notice it smells like a couch.
The good news is that most of them clean up easily. The catch is that they are not all built the same way, and the method that revives a cotton cover will wreck a sealed decorative pillow with a foam insert. Sorting out which kind you have takes about ten seconds and saves you the cost of replacing it.
Check two things before any water goes near it.
Does the cover come off? Look for a zipper or an envelope closure along one edge. If it opens, your life is easy: the cover and the insert get treated separately, and almost everything below becomes simpler.
What is the care tag say, and what is inside? The tag names the fill and the shell fabric and tells you whether the manufacturer approves machine washing. If the tag is gone, squeeze it. Polyester fiberfill feels springy and uniform. Down and feather feel light and shift around, and you may feel quill tips. Foam feels dense and slowly returns to shape. Foam is the one that must never go in a machine.
Also check the fabric itself. Velvet, silk, linen blends, sequins, beading and heavy embroidery usually mean spot clean or dry clean only, regardless of what the fill is.
If the cover unzips, this is the whole job for most people.
Wash covers in like colors and, ideally, in a mesh laundry bag if they have zippers that could snag other fabric.
Polyester and down-alternative inserts wash much like bed pillows.
Run two at a time so the drum stays balanced, use a gentle cycle in warm water with about half your usual amount of liquid detergent, and add an extra rinse. Trapped detergent is the main reason fill comes out stiff and clumped. Add a second spin to pull out as much water as possible.
Dry on low heat with two or three clean dryer balls, stopping every twenty to thirty minutes to pull the insert out and fluff it by hand. Polyester dries in about an hour to ninety minutes. Keep the heat low: high heat can fuse synthetic fibers into hard patches that never soften again.
Down and feather inserts follow the same process but need much longer drying, and they need to be bone dry at the core before they go back in a cover. Damp down develops a musty smell that does not come out. Our full guide to washing pillows covers the down method in more detail.
Plenty of decorative pillows are sewn shut. Some of these can be machine washed whole, but only if the shell is a plain, sturdy fabric like cotton or polyester, the fill is polyester, and the tag allows it. Wash it alone on a gentle cycle in cold water, then dry on low with dryer balls and expect to reshape it repeatedly as it dries.
If the shell is delicate, or the fill is foam, spot cleaning is the only safe option:
Always test your cleaning solution on a hidden seam or the back corner first. Some dyes bleed.
If the pillow is clean but stale, odor is usually sitting in the fill rather than the fabric. Sprinkle baking soda generously over the surface, leave it two to four hours, then vacuum it off thoroughly. Repeat on the other side. For pillows that have been in a closed room or a storage box, a few hours outdoors in dry shade does more than most people expect. Direct sun will fade dyes, so keep them shaded.
Covers every one to three months, depending on use. A pillow on a sofa that gets daily use needs it far more often than one that lives on a guest bed. Inserts once or twice a year is plenty, and vacuuming them between washes handles most of the dust.
The easiest habit is to buy pillows with removable covers wherever you can. It turns a delicate cleaning problem into a normal laundry load, and it means you can swap the look of a room without buying new pillows.
Many of them, yes. If the cover unzips, wash the cover on a gentle cold cycle and the insert separately on a gentle warm cycle with an extra rinse. Sealed pillows can go in the machine only if the shell fabric is sturdy, the fill is polyester and the care tag allows it. Foam-filled pillows and anything with velvet, silk, sequins or heavy embroidery should be spot cleaned only.
Use cold water on a gentle cycle and keep them out of a hot dryer. Cotton and linen covers shrink from heat more than from washing, and a cover that shrinks slightly will no longer stretch over its insert. Air dry them, or tumble on the lowest setting and remove them while still slightly damp, then reshape by hand and let them finish on a rack.
Vacuum the surface with an upholstery attachment, then blot stains with a barely damp cloth and a few drops of mild detergent, working from the outside of the stain inward. Blot again with plain water to lift the soap, press dry with a towel, and let the pillow air dry fully. Test any solution on a hidden corner first, because some decorative fabrics bleed.
Inserts, yes, on low heat with dryer balls and frequent fluffing. Covers, only briefly and on the lowest setting, or not at all. High heat shrinks natural-fiber covers and can fuse polyester fill into hard lumps. When in doubt, air dry.
Tumble the insert alone on a no-heat or low-heat cycle with a couple of clean dryer balls for fifteen minutes, then knead it by hand along the seams. Fifteen minutes of dry heat and agitation restores loft that has been compressed by sitting. If it stays flat after that, the fill has broken down and the insert needs replacing, though the cover is usually still fine.
Wash removable covers every one to three months, more often on pillows that get daily use or share space with pets. Inserts need a full wash only once or twice a year; vacuuming them in between handles most of the dust. Airing them out on a dry day between washes keeps them fresher than washing more frequently would.
If you are cleaning the pillows on the bed rather than the sofa, the ones you actually sleep on deserve a closer look. A pillow that stays folded when you bend it in half is done supporting your neck, no matter how clean it is. Our guides on when to replace a pillow and the best pillow for neck pain cover what to look for next, and a protector or topper keeps the layer underneath out of the laundry entirely.
And if the bed still does not feel right once everything is fresh, the mattress is the variable left. Take our sleep quiz for a firmness recommendation, or come test beds in person at any of our five Los Angeles showrooms.
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