Cleaning loose covers of my very dirty sofa and armchair

[NineUnlovelyTinselDecorations]

Since DS has got more mobile the arms of my sofa and armchair have become quite disgusting to look at. I am lucky to have loose covers that are washable, but they have never been as dirty as this before. Usually I wash them at 40 degrees on a gentle cycle but I am not sure this will shift the muck on the arms - is there a product I should be using? (Eco friendly preferred) Should I soak? All advice appreciated, thanks

i've got the same kind of sofas, we've always had them, the last lot faded though, this time the furniture shop advised we only use dreft and no fabric conditioner to prevent colour fading/running. hope this helps, i use vanish on tough marks, but you'd want to test this somewhere inconspicuous first. sorry not an eco product.

if they are pale i would use (very uneco friendly im sure) ariel bio. and the amount recommended (rather than that 1/3 - 1/2 amount od detergent that i would normally use)

I washed something very dirty in a full cup thing of ariel bio liq and did it at 40 with 'intensive' (whatever that means?) selected on my machine and i couldnt believe how clean it was.

If it was a dark colour i would use a biological colour product

Thanks both for the advice. The fabric is a dark reddish colour so maybe a colour product would be best. Is Dreft non bio/bio? I didn't know it still existed! NannyL I don't have an Intensive setting on my machine but some cycles are longer than others and obviously meant for cottons etc rather than delicates so maybe that would be the one to go for?

Fading is my worry, but I'd rather it was faded but clean rather than the right colour except for the Weetabixy bits IYSIM

i bought the only box of dreft that was in morrisons, and i think its bio - i didnt know it still existed either! i put mine on long cycle "max load" cos they use a lot of water. Have taken them to laundrette before though when machine not big enough.

Don't tumble dry them whatever you do, they shrink (not too much, but enough to have you wrestling for days with the cushion covers!), air dry them if you can, they'll still be tricky to put back on, but nowhere near as diffiult as tumble dried! as you might guess, we only wash ours in summer

good luck