Washing soft toys -green

[sushidog]

Ladies, any tips on washing soft toys? My niece has a beloved rag doll who is getting a bit grubby, but we dare not put her in the washing machine in case she goes lumpy or falls apart. Should we just hand wash her gently and hope for the best? Or just try and clean the surface without getting her stuffing soaked?

Comments

[hazyjayne]

I'm afraid I can't answer the question but would you mind making this public please? Thanks!

[sushidog]

Done!

[hazyjayne]

Thanks! I know a nina-TLL friend of mine will find this post useful :-)

[ms_siobhan]

I would damp sponge the surface with as minimal amount of water with tiny bit of mild hand wash type detergent as possible.

[naath]

Oh, don't wash-machine the whole thing, that rarely works out well :(

Surface washing is best, and then put somewhere warm and dry to dry out.

If the stuffing is gross or gone flat and sad then it is possible to replace through careful surgery (open a small gap on a seam, remove stuffing, replace with new stuffing, sew up). I would recommend for small children not doing this wear the child can see...

[tiny_tear]

i have recently bucket washed to fluffy toys, a bunny and a lamp, then left them perched on the bucket to drip and dry by the radiator... with regular squishing to remove excess water and turning to dry evenly... they worked out very well and bunny is back to being cuddled to sleep every night

[tiny_tear]

two
lamb

[hsb]

Thank goodness, our beloved toy is machine washable, though the wool of his hair gets shorter. If it says it's not, then try to surface wash if you can, and see how it goes.

Maybe make the doll some new detachable clothes to make this easier in future? Our toy has overalls, and we have washed those without the rest of him when that seemed sufficient.

H