Care of Cushion Covers
There is considerable confusion relating to how to care for cushion covers in the home. Many of them do not contain care instructions, but at the time of purchase, they may have been sold along with a guide on a suggested care procedure. It is important to follow such instructions very closely.
It is true that some of these procedures only involve a surface soil removal and will not be very effective for certain embedded soils and stains. Usually, if the article can be removed and immersed in a dry cleaning or washing process, better stain and soil removal will be obtained. However, some of these cushion covers are not preshrunk and will relax considerably either in dry cleaning or washing. In other cases, such as in the case of Herculon, a heavy coating is applied to the backing to help stabilize the fabric and give it body. Dry cleaning of this article could remove the coating and cause drastic shrinkage and ravelling. However, this same article could withstand a careful hand washing and air drying very successfully.
Be very careful about attempts to spot clean
these articles. Remember, any time any agent is applied to the fabric for
the removal of a stain, it will produce a clean area. Sometimes if the article
has been used for some time, the clean area can be more objectionable than
the original stain.
Source: Norman Oehlke, International Fabricare Institute, June, 1990.
Contact for questions
 |
to Jan Scholl's home page |
Updated 8/19/05