How to fluff a down comforter?

Down comforter is a synonym of coziness, keeping you warm through cold winter nights. However, not every down comforter is a high-quality option. Therefore it doesn’t matter which one you buy. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered before spending money on such a product. Down comforter is the best linen you can have in your sleep, especially if it’s fully fluffed. If not, then you might have wished for something different. In other words, a comforter is pretty much useless if not fluffy. However, as time passes, the down comforters don’t keep its fluffiness. To avoid that and enjoy your cozy friend for more time, keep reading to learn more about it maintenance and how to re-fluff your down comforter.

Daily Fluffing Maintenance

As soon as you get up from your bed daily, flat the comforter on your bed. Pull one end of the comforter up to the head level and shake it up and down. The same way you shake the dust off your rug. Look for lumpy sections in your down comforter and press them as if you are massaging it. This will remove any chunks of down and feathers. The down and feathers will be distributed evenly, allowing the air to penetrate the comforter properly. Down keeps its natural warmth and loft if you fluff it daily when you make the bed, and lie under it, not on it. Weight eventually breaks up the clusters of down, causing them to compress and fall apart.

How to Fluff Down Comforters

A soft, thick down comforter can be a pleasure on cold winter nights, but a deflated, lumpy comforter doesn’t have the same effect. Fluff and thickness of down are mostly provided by air between feathers, but lying or sitting on the comforter squeezes air out. Even your unconscious movements as you sleep can contribute to lumps and loss of volume. It can be very frustrating when your cloud of a comforter turns flat or lumpy. You aren’t getting the proper warmth, and the whole sleeping experience is merely uncomfortable. How does someone return their comforter to its former fluffy glory? Keep in mind that there’s no need for you to perform all these tips all at once. Pick one of these methods, and you will notice additional fluffiness on your comforter. If you feel like it still lacks the fluffiness you need, feel free to combine a couple of methods. Just keep in mind that frequent maintenance may lose the comforter’s fluffiness as well. Don’t frequently re-fluff the comforter, or you might damage it instead. Simply stick with the daily maintenance, and you might find yourself no longer in need of re-fluffing. Here are the things you need to do to re-fluff your comforter.

Tip #1: Clean and Dry. Then, Snap It

First, always follow the care and cleaning instructions for your specific comforter. Dry clean or wash your comforter regularly and fluff it often. Silk and down comforters require special care and typically should be taken to a dry cleaner. When your comforter is clean and dry, place it on your bed to fluff it. Hold the bottom edge of the comforter at the footboard of the bed. Raise the comforter up to eye-level and snap it down with a quick jerk. Allow the comforter to wave, distributing, and creating space between the fibers inside, reviving its original loft. Repeat this process four to five times.

Tip #2: Use Your Hand

Use your hand to distribute the fill as needed. Look for lumpy areas and smooth them with the heel of your hand and forearm. This technique is usually required with down-filled comforters. You ensure all parts of the comforter are equally fluffy.

Tip #3: Use a Dryer

Use a clothes dryer for small comforters. Bedding for a single or twin bed can be placed in a dryer on the air fluff cycle. Add a few tennis balls to keep the fabric from balling up. Doing so will lessen the chunks of down and feathers inside the comforter while the machine spins it. Don’t forget to put the tennis balls inside white socks because the color of the tennis balls might also transfer to the comforter. Do not use fabric softener sheets; they can leave a sticky residue on comforters. You may also air fluff the comforter in a drying machine without the tennis balls. You have to this for a couple of hours. Just don’t forget to take the comforter out and shake it every 20 minutes to distribute the down and feathers evenly.

Tip #4: Hang it Up

Go to your outdoor clothesline and hang your down comforter on it for several hours on a breezy day. This will allow the breeze to pass through the comforter, so air back into the down. Doing so will make your comforter fluffy for your next use.

Tip #5: Rotate and Flip

Rotate and flip your comforter for even wear. Do this each week if the comforter is reversible. If possible, keep an extra comforter set in a linen closet and rotate out every six months. This will help preserve the life of your comforter and let you switch up the look of your bedding.

Tip #6: Morning routine

Straighten the comforter over the bed after you get up in the morning. Stand at the foot of the bed, and grasp the end of the comforter. Lift it to head height, then vigorously pull it downward, sending a ripple through the comforter and introducing air into the down. Repeat this several times each morning.

Frequently Asked Questions

Before you buy a comforter, you might have some questions or concerns. You want to ensure you are making the right choice. To help you do this, here are the answers to some frequently asked questions about comforters.

Can you put a down comforter in the dryer to fluff?

Before answer, read the care instructions of your down comforter. It must say it is dryer safe. Otherwise, you can’t use a dryer to re-fluff it. Luckily, there are other options mentioned above that may help you to do so. For example, if you fluff your comforter every day and avoid sitting or lying on top of it, you shouldn’t have to fluff it in a dryer ever, or often, if you prefer not to for extra care. However, if it actually is a dryer-safe comforter, you completely can use a dryer to fluff it. Just don’t add dryer sheets or fabric softener to the dryer, as they can leave residue on the down. Follow the instructions mentioned below to get a redistributed filling and a renewed down comforter.

1. Take the down comforter to a laundromat. Most home dryers are not big enough for this task. Take a few tennis balls with you.
2. Put the down comforter and the tennis balls in the dryer. Set the dryer on a medium temperature and let it run for a full 30 minutes.
3. Remove the down comforter from the dryer, folding it lightly without pressing it down. Take it home, shake it out, and put it back on the bed.
4. Gently shake the down comforter daily when you make the bed to keep it fluffy. The more the comforter has air circulating through it, the fluffier it will be.

Optional:

• Clean Tennis Balls or Dryer Balls – Add two or three balls to speed up your dry time. It will sound like they are beating up your dryer, but they don’t actually hurt it.
• Clumping or Odor – These are signs that your comforter is not dry yet. You want it to be completely dry to prevent mold.
• Dryer Sheets – ok to use for freshness.
• Line Drying – Not recommended due to the risk of damp spots and clumps.
• No ironing or steaming.
• Air drying the comforter might sometimes be the most intelligent choice. Of course, it’s also a lengthier process compared to electrical drying. However, air-drying keeps the fabric of the comforter safe.
• If you do decide to use a dryer, make sure that you opt for a low heat setting. When the temperature inside the dryer is too high, there are great chances of the comforter shrinking.
• Checking the comforter constantly as it dries might be a handy thing to do. You need to make sure that the fabric dries out smoothly. Shaking and kneading the comforter can ensure that the down is evenly distributed across the entire surface of the comforter.
• Never put the comforter back on the bed with wet patches. The correct order is dry, fluff, and then putting it back on the bed. Remember that drying a comforter is a process that requires patience, and can take anywhere between 4 to 12 hours.

Why is my down comforter flat?

If you have a warmer, heavier weight comforter, the comforter may appear to be surprisingly flat, at first. This is because the down has been compressed when fitting the comforter into the storage bag. The down will begin to relax and fluff almost immediately. Bedding stored in moisture-resistant bags with the air removed will be clean, but it may be flat, too. Generally stored during the warm seasons, down comforters may become lumpy if the filling was unevenly distributed while they were packed away. Comforters currently in use that appear flat should be freshened, too. A simple fluffing will restore volume, making your bedding plush and cuddly for cold winter nights.

How do you fluff up a goose down comforter?

A goose down comforter provides a light, luxurious warmth while tucked in bed on a chilly night. Over time, however, the goose feathers move around inside the comforter, becoming unevenly distributed as some of the down settles in clumps, especially in the corners. Hands-on attention gets those lumps out of the corner, returning the bedding to its fluffy state once again.

Shake It Up

A thorough snap or shaking redistributes the down, loosening clumps and separating the material, so it is fluffy once again. Fluffing it up this way also makes the comforter somewhat warmer, as air pockets trapped between the down feathers act as insulation against the cool air. Grab the comforter from the foot of the bed and shake it firmly several times to transfer the down back to the central areas of the bedding, out of the corners. Repeat the process from other corners if the lumps are particularly noticeable in one area.

Kneaded Corners

Sometimes, the corners of a down comforter seem extremely lumpy or clumpy. Hold one corner in your hand, with the corner higher than the rest of the bedding — this allows gravity to assist your efforts. Work the down with your fingers through the outer comforter fabric, rubbing and massaging the down back toward the center of the bedding. Repeat the process with each corner.

Help From the Dryer

A dryer’s motion and injection of air help remove those comforter clumps. Place the comforter in the dryer along with several clean tennis balls or dryer balls, setting the dryer to the fluff cycle. Check the comforter after 10 minutes, massaging the corners by hand if clumps exist, then returning the comforter to the dryer. If dealing with a queen- or king-sized comforter that doesn’t fit well in the dryer, opt for a commercial-sized dryer at a laundromat.

Frequent Rotation

Flipping the comforter and rotating it every few days helps keep the bedding clump-free. Rotate the bedding, so the area at the foot of the bed sits at the head of the bed. Flip the comforter at least every other time you rotate it. These continual changes prevent the down from traveling in one direction day after day, which cuts down on the chances of lumps and clumps.

How do you fix a shifted down comforter?

The feathers inside a down comforter accumulate moisture, soap residue, and oil over time, causing the feathers to stick together. The feather clumps then shift to one side of the comforter, leaving that side lumpy and the other side flat. The best way to redistribute the feathers is to wash the down comforter properly. Most home washing machines aren’t large enough to properly clean a down comforter. Your best option is to take it to a laundromat with industrial-sized machines. It is worth the trip and expense for a cleaning that only needs to be done once annually.

1. Add detergent to the washing machine. Use a detergent listed for use on delicates. Pour in the manufacturer-recommended amount for a light load. Too much detergent will damage the feathers.
2. Place the down comforter by itself in the machine.
3. Turn the machine on to its “delicates” setting, if available, or simply set the water temperature to “warm.” After the first rinse cycle is completed, run the comforter through a second rinse cycle, in washing machines with knob controls, you can do this by simply turning the knob back to the “rinse” setting. If you are unsure how to do this, ask the attendant for help. After the second rinse, allow the washing machine to finish its cycle (spin dry if possible).
4. Place the comforter in a large-capacity dryer and set the heat on low. Add two clean tennis balls to the mix to help fluff the feathers.
5. Remove the comforter from the dryer every 15 minutes or so, and shake the feathers around to fluff them. If you have a friend with you, each of you can take one end of the comforter, and shake it up and down to get the feathers moving.
6. Take the comforter out of the dryer, and hold it up so that the overhead light shines through it. If the feathers still look clumped together, they are not completely dry. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until the feathers are fluffy and distributed throughout the comforter.

Conclusion

The most important thing to avoid when drying your comforter is the fabric drying in patches, or the down filling losing its fluff. With these methods, you can recapture and maintain fluffiness in your comforter.  In the end, it is all about keeping the filling from clumping. Evenly dispersed filling means fluff, and fluff means warmth and comfort.