My daughter April's, couch had soot all over it, so I am trying to clean it up. I took all the cushions off of the couch and am washing them by hand. The bottom cushions had zippers in the back, so I unzipped them and removed them and put them in the washing machine. I filled the washer with water and then I washed them by hand in the washing machine. I was then able to drain the water out and I spun it on light just enough to remove most of the water and then put them on the line to dry. They came out beautifully! Then I just put them back on the cushions and zipped them up.

Now the pillows, which this couch has 11, is taking more work. I had to take out the stitching where the stuffing had been added. I pulled out all of the stuffing and had washed the pillow cover and line dryed it. Then I restuffed, but the stuffing looked lumpy in the pillow. This looked awful, I wasn't quite sure what to do next, so I started to pull the stuffing apart into teeny, tiny pieces. Here is a picture of the stuffing volume before I pulled it apart and then after I pulled it apart.
After doing the whole basket full this way and restuffing the pillow, it made such a lofty difference. Her pillows were starting to look tired and flat. Now they look just like when she bought the couch. The pillow is fat and full. It took a little more work, but was well worth it. The pillow is now about twice the size it was and no more lumps. Here are pictures, I hope you can see the difference.
I learned something in this experience and thought maybe someone might want to spring clean their couch also! Try these tips!
Author - Cynthia Dickerson