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Anyone wash old wool blankets without them falling apart? I have heard horror stories of them falling apart. Any tips on washing them?


Thanks

I washed one with Woolite.
Followed the directions to a tee.
It shrunk but didn't fall apart.

I take my Pendelton blankets to the dry cleaner.
$16 but they don't shrink or fall apart.

I quit taking blankets to the cleaners here. Evidently the illegals they hire do not comprehend dry cleaning!!! Glad it was a cheap blanket. Will work on a crib now!

You could make a serape...Senor.

woolite, delicate cycle, line dry

A modern washing machine spin cycle will destroy most blankets. I have a couple heirloom Hudson Bay blankets that don't get washed, rather drycleaned only.

Until recently, other blankets were washed in a wringer washer, but we have a new washer with delicate option. Works good.

Would someone please explain dry cleaning in a sentence +/- for me?. When I was a kid, we had our own dry cleaner in town, never really got it. I was pretty sure they just took stuff out back and hung it on a line to air out, charged you, and handed it back.

Dry cleaning is mostly made of a naphtha solution.

Dry cleaning does not use water. It uses a hydrocarbon solvent.

I tossed one in the washer with hot water and a little soap and washed it slow and been in the dryer for just a bit and no shrinkage yet. These are about 7lb wool blankets.

I'd go with dry cleaning, myself, though I have never washed a wool blanket.

My wife has a gift with washing. She washed my boiled wool slippers with wood soles and they shrunk to unwearable size. Fleece sweaters become limp.

She even threw my vintage waxed Barbour coat in the washing machine without warning me. Aside from any knowledgeable person's knowing that the only way to wash one of these is by sluicing it down with a garden hose or sponge. it completely removed all of the waxed waterproofing and the brass zipper tore big holes in the fabric. I tried to patch it and reapply wax, as I had some on hand, but it had shrunk so much that it was useless.

Its not just the heat of washing and drying wool, it's the tumbling. It forces the wool fibers together and the microscopic barbs on the hairs lock together, never to come apart again. The drier does the most shrinking, even when run on cold.

They're supposed to be DRY CLEANED!!

Right, down in the valley in the 1800s, when the keelboats brought in the trichloroethylene in big wooden casks.

GTC

Remember the Hudson Bay point blankets? After a good washing a 5 point blanket was down to 3.

I drape all my wool stuff across all 4 clothes line wires and let it rain.

Wind and sun and maybe a few good whacks with a broom take care of the rest.

Good as new!

Look, tension a GOOD rope or a GOOD cable bowstring taught between some stout trees or posts,...I use a stock panel fence with a fairly stout top wire.
On a Sunny day with a bit of wind....
*Drape your blankets lengthwise over whatever you've rigged and TIE them on center line with stout cord.
*SOAK them with a garden hose,...this will take some time if the wool blankets still kicking, and has any of it' original life left.
*SPRAY (Garden Sprayer) the wet blanket from the top down with a mixture of Woolite and water, Vinegar and water, Dawn dish soap and water ...and let it drip down and off.
Rinse, rinse, rinse,...again, ...from the top down and than just let them air dry,....FREEZING overnight really accelerates drying, ANY kind of wool....just belabor the piece in the AM and let the frost sparkle away in the dawn.
*Final rinse/ spray with the herbal tea of your choice is optional.
Thyme or Rosemary grow here,...that's what I use.

I'm more and more sold on vinegar and the straight herbal soaps, but there are no flies on Woolite ( just that it's spendy)

Machines destroy good woolens dittos.

GTC

Forgot to mention, the little "burr" that tying your blankets plumb center to start with leaves behind sure speeds up the bed making,.... your DI will be proud of ya'.

Some Oil of Thyme (very little) right in with the Woolite and H20 is kinda' neat, by way of taming any moth eggs looking for trouble.

GTC

Huntertrapperman: Drycleaning will extend the life of wool blankets.
"Washing" them WILL diminish their life!
You only get so many "cleanings" of wool blankets and wool coats until they weaken and deteriorate.
I suggest you vacuum the blanket carefully and thoroughly and make ever effort not to get them soiled/wet/stained.
Good luck.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

GTC
Thank God moths of the wool sort do not abide here.

I'm saving your recipes, anyway.
(as he tips hat)