How To Clean A Stuffed Animal By Hand

Know When to Hand-Wash

The washing machine isn’t off-limits, but you should be smart about it.

First, don’t toss stuffed animals in the washer if they have an audio or music box inside, are particularly old or fragile, or are stuffed with anything other than batting (Beanie Babies are out). Wash those suckers by hand instead.

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If your little buddy is particularly fragile, you may even want to stick to spot cleaning, rather than submerging it in water.

How to Machine-Wash Stuffed Animals

If you’ve determined it’s safe to launder your child’s toy in the machine, put it in a mesh laundry bag or zippered pillowcase to protect it from friction. (You can also put it into an old stocking or plain pillowcase, then tie a knot at the top.) Use a separate bag for each toy. Wash on the delicate cycle using cold water and your usual detergent. Run a second rinse to get all the suds out, then remove it from the mesh bag.

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Washing Machine

Machine wash is the best option. Because it washes stuffed animals thoroughly and cleans out any stubborn stains without many efforts. But one should examine first if it can tolerate it or not.

 Preparing for the Washing

Before washing, you should first read the instruction on the label carefully. After that, remove all those parts which can be separate such as net and laces. Because if it is not, it can cause damage to it.

Pre-soak

Place the stuffed animal in the laundry mesh bag to provide it protection. Moreover, this will also help to store anything which can fall from a stuffed animal during washing. If it is not available, then place it into the pillowcase and attach the safety pin also.

If there are any stains or spills, you can pre-soak it into the vinegar solution by taking one part of vinegar a few drops of lemon juice or dish detergent with two parts of water mix it well.

Either you can directly drop the solution in the laundry bag or apply it with a sponge.

Machine washing

Check your machine before placing a stuffed toy that it doesn’t have any soap residues.

Then add a mild detergent or soap into it and set your machine on the cold/gentle cycle and never use agitator as it cause damage.

Drying

After washing, reshape your stuffed animal back by your fingers when it is damp. Never put it in the dryer as the heat can damage. Hence it recommended hanging your stuffed animal outside in the air or direct sunlight.

Furthermore, you can comb the animal or use a dental pick to make it full. If it is not too delicate, you can also tumble dry for 10 minutes.

To Wipe out the Dust

If there are only debris and dry particles. Then you can vacuum it. But if the vacuum is not available, you can also use a bristled brush. Moreover, it can also save you your kids from allergies.

We advised that you can use a brush or vacuum once at a month.

To spot Clean

You can use any stain remover on the spot. With the help of the cloth or sponge. Leave it for sometimes, and then remove it.

Homemade Cleaning Spray

You can create your cleaning spray. By taking warm water and dish washing detergent. Stir it well until it has completely mixed. Fill it in a spray bottle and pour it on stained or dirty areas.

After that let it air dry or use a sponge to wipe it off

 To Disinfect the Stuffed Animal

As the stuffed toys always remain with your little one so when they catch the flu or allergies, it is necessary to sanitize them because they caught the germs.

You have to create a mixture of soap and detergent in the water and apply it by toothbrush or cloth.

 Another Trick for the Dusty Particles

You can put your stuffed animal into the laundry bag and place it in the freezer for 24 to 48. After that, take it out from the freezer and wait until it drops to the room temperature.

Tips for Cleaning Stuffed Animals

• If the stuffed animal has moving joints, it may not survive the washing machine.
• If the stuffed animal is made with wool, it should not be washed in the washing machine or submersed in water.
• Firmer stuffed toys are stuffed so densely that they may never fully dry out.
• Clothing and/or accessories should be removed, if possible.
• Read the tag to see of what materials the stuffed animal is made and if there is any advice for washing.
• Some plush toys and stuffed animals can have their stuffing removed and replaced.
• Ask a dry cleaner if they have any experience with dry cleaning stuffed animals.

What you need:

• Bucket

• Mild laundry detergent

• Cold water

Step 1: If the toy has stubborn stains like blood or vomit, pretreat it with a stain remover (we like Zout). Test the product on a smaller area to see how the fabric reacts first.

Step 2: Fill the bucket (or sink) with enough water to soak the toy.

Step 3: Mix in a splash of mild laundry detergent. Not too much—soapy water may be hard to rinse out once it gets into the mushy stuffing of the toy.

Step 4: Drain the soapy water and fill the sink or bucket with clean water. Rinse the stuffed animal by squeezing water out, not wringing. Otherwise, the stuffing may bunch up and the toy won’t have the same cuddliness as before.

Step 5: Let the stuffed animal air dry near a fan or humidifier.

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How to Dry Stuffed Animals After Washing

Air Drying Stuffed Animals

1. If the animal is still heavy and full of water (e.g. after hand washing), place the stuffed animal in a sink or tub basin and press the excess water out of the animal. 
2. To extract even more water, next press and roll the stuffed animal in a thick, dry towel a few times.
3. Clip the animal to a drying rack to hang dry. An easy way to do this is to use a pants hanger clipped to the animal’s ears. 
4. Bonus points if you air dry outside or near a sunny window. Doing so will speed up the drying process and enable you to take advantage of the sun’s natural bleaching properties for yellowed stuffed animal fur.
5. Alternatively, set the animal on a towel to dry (again, in direct sunlight if possible).
6. To speed up the drying process a bit and minimize the risk of matted stuffed animal fur, you can also use a hair dryer on the lowest heat setting. The faster that animal is dry and back in your child’s hands, the better, am I right?

Machine Drying Stuffed Animals

No time for air drying? Many stuffed animals will survive the dryer if dried carefully following these steps:

1. Your stuffed animal will be best protected if dried inside of the same mesh bag you washed it in. 
2. Alternatively, you can dry the stuffed animal inside of a clean pillowcase. Fasten the loose end with a hair tie to keep it contained. If you choose to dry with a heat setting (for disinfecting reasons, perhaps), then this is the better option as heat might destroy the mesh laundry bag material.
3. In most cases, it’s best to use a low or no heat setting and check on your animal periodically. Regular checks will help prevent over drying (and over agitating/damaging) the animal in a long, continuous dry cycle.

Step 3: Scrub

Scrub your critter with a mild detergent (i make my own with Ivory soap).  Cold-water liquids like Woolite work well, but your usual liquid detergent or liquid dish soap are good too.  Use a toothbrush to really get down into the fur.  (sorry, no photo of the scrubbing action; can’t do that one-handed)

Give Your Steam Dryer a Whirl

There is one instance in which you may not want to skip the dryer. If your machine has a steam clean or steam sanitize option, it may prove even more effective than a washing machine when it comes to safely cleaning stuffed animals.

We weren’t sure how well this would work, so we pulled a few well-loved, furry specimens out of storage to see how they fared in the LG DLEX5000V’s Steam Sanitary cycle. We were nervous about the heat and the loud clinking noises the animals’ plastic noses made as they banged against the dryer drum, but we breathed a sigh of relief when they emerged no worse for the wear.

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Our plush toys started out musty, bedraggled, and allergy-triggering, but the 30-minute cycle took care of all of that. So if you have a dryer with a steam option, it might be a great alternative to washing stuffed animals by hand, or in the washer.

Hand-washing plush toys

Not all stuffed animals are created equally, so when it comes to an especially beloved Teddy or Bunny or Squirrely, hand-washing is the better way to go. Do not be daunted! If you can wash a child, you can wash a stuffed animal (stuffed animals are easier … less squirmy).

To wash a stuffed animal or doll by hand, you need three things:

• A clean space that can hold enough water to fully submerge the toy, like a kitchen or utility sink, or a large bucket.

• A mild detergent. Wirecutter, a New York Times company that reviews and recommends products, likes Soak, which is a no-rinse formula, for hand-washing.

• A clean, dry towel.

Start by filling the sink, or whatever space you’re using, with enough cold or warm water to fully submerge the stuffed animal, then add a teaspoon to a tablespoon of detergent per gallon of water. Submerge the toy and use a pumping motion — as if you were performing C.P.R. on Teddy — so that it’s saturated with water and detergent. Allow the toy to soak in that solution for 15 minutes, or up to an hour, before rinsing; more delicate toys should soak for less time to avoid damaging their fibers. When it’s time to rinse, you can either hold the toy under cool running water or drain and refill the sink with clean water, repeating the pumping motion to get rid of soap residue. The latter method is more gentle and will be best for especially tattered toys. Regardless of the state of the stuffed animal, it’s recommended that you not scrub vigorously or wring it out: Overhandling can lead to damage.

To dry a plush toy after hand-washing it, drain the sink and press down gently on the stuffed animal several times to push out as much water as you can, then roll it up in a clean dry towel, which will pull out more water. Allow the toy to air dry, using the lowest heat setting on a hair dryer to fluff up the animal if needed. A slicker brush, like those used to brush out dogs and cats, can also be pressed into service to groom Teddy’s fur.

If a toy is especially grimy, or has a stain, you can also include a laundry booster, such as OxiClean (for grime), or apply a pretreatment product like Zout (for protein stains such as blood or vomit) to the toy prior to washing. However, before using any kind of stain treatment, it’s important to spot test it first, according to Beth Karpas, the owner of Realms of Gold, a doll hospital in Los Altos, Calif. “The fur can react to chemicals, and different furs react to different chemicals differently,” she warned. “Sometimes the fur shrinks or changes color, and you can’t reverse that.”

Conclusion

Always remember washing and cleaning the stuffed animal is extremely important. Otherwise, it will be the be damage or prone to be allergies and other health-related issues.

We hope that you will find this article informative and interesting enough, and you will find the most accurate method for washing.

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