Washing a Welsh Wool Tapestry Blanket

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Anyone done this? I have a 7kg machine with a wool wash setting and an old Welsh tapestry blanket that has something sticky on it.

There is no dry cleaner within an hour's drive of me (possibly more). I could handwash but can't face the hassle - it's big (double bed sized) and wool and will take ages to dry as it is!

It's this sort of style.

Wool should dry fairly quickly. Probably safest to spot clean it then squeeze the wet patch between towels, taking care to rub as little as possible.

Thanks. I did consider that but there is animal hair in it so I'd rather give the whole thing a clean. I'd usually spot-clean my own wool but this has come from an unknown background!

I finally caved - I knew I shouldn't - and washed ours. Really carefully.
It tightened up and matted - hasn't been the same since. I'm so sorry I did it. It had been on DH's bed as a child.

@Stillonthemove thank you. Not what I wanted to hear but I suspected as much.

I have another which has tightened/shrunk a little (still perfectly useable and lovely!) but I hoped that was from careless washing in the past.

Perhaps I'll attempt a handwash instead.

I had a Brynkir (I think) Welsh wool tapestry blanket and machine washed on the wool programme and line dried. It was absolutely fine and I sold it to a company that resells or recycles blankets like these. I didn’t like the colours any longer and hadn’t used it for years.

Do NOT put it in the machine!
Honestly, it needs a spot clean or dry clean.

I wash mine in the machine, but my machine (Miele) has a very reliable wool cycle , the main reason I bought this model in fact.
If you don’t have a mangle then they are a real pain to hand wash as they are multi layered and so very heavy when wet. It isn’t good to spin wool on a normal spin cycle either as that can cause shrinking.

Hmmm - mixed opinions! I'm quite tempted to measure the already-slightly-shrunk one and wash that as a trial run...

Thanks for this! The weight when wet is an issue - I handwash a fair bit of wool and can only imagine how heavy a blanket this size will be.

Surely the one that has already shrunk is not a great indicator of what might happen to your ‘never washed’ blanket, as it has already been shrunk. So the proteins in the fibres have already been damaged and may not shrink much again, if at all (it’s sort of ‘pre-shrunk, if you will).

Oh don’t do it - it’s worth the drive to a dry cleaners if it’s precious. We have a few and I’ve got away with spot cleaning and spreading on grass on sunny days to dry and freshen but I wouldn’t risk washing any of them.

I handwashed one in the bath with wool detergent and hung it outside to drip dry over my rotary airer for 2 warmish days then brought it inside on the airer for another day. Good luck!

Um. Good point! I didn't really think that through did I? 😁

If you do hand wash it -

1. tepid, cool water in the bath.
2. Add wool detergent.
3. Fold the blanket in two.
4. Lay the blanket into the water.
5. Gently press the blanket, so the suds push through it. You can walk up and down on it !
6. Drain all water, press as much out of the blanket as possible, add fresh cold water.
7. Repeat until you would be happy to drink the water.
8. Drain and lay a thick towel on top of the blanket, then walk on again.
9. Lay the blanket on thick towels, roll tightly, squeeze.
10. When you have got as much water out as possible hang to dry. On a warm day you can lay it out on a sheet on the lawn.

Don’t put it in the machine. We’ve had massive Welsh wool blankets in our family for ages (so many Welsh families do) and nobody ever washes them in the machine. It’s definitely hand wash in the bath or dry cleaners. Is there an online dry cleaners that would allow you to post it to them, if your only dry cleaners is so far away?