Every fabric is different, so every blanket requires specific care. If you have no earthly idea what your blanket is made of, ask someone — or do a little research, and take a wild guess.
If the blanket is an absolute treasure, and you’d be devastated if something went wrong, take the blanket to your local cleaners and let the pros sort it out. With all that in mind, let’s get washing!
Throw blankets are smaller than regular blankets and are usually draped on furniture. Throws are made out of a variety of materials, including cotton, wool, and fleece. Check your throw’s care tag for material details, and machine-wash, handwash, or spot-clean according to the previous sections above.
Depending on the material used, you’ll machine-dry, line-dry, or flat-dry your throw. When in doubt, check the care tag.
Fleece is a synthetic material that’s great for consistent warmth in cold climates. It’s a good alternative to wool, since it’s hypoallergenic, less itchy, and machine-washable. To machine-wash your fleece blankets, choose a gentle, cold-water cycle, and go easy on the detergent.
Although fleece is prone to pilling and lint when exposed to high heat and agitation, you can toss it in the dryer on low settings — gentle, delicate, or air-only. You can also line dry your fleece blanket for a few hours in the breeze and sunshine.
Naturally, wool makes for great blanket material. Warm, soft, and durable, wool is easy to love and can last a lifetime — if you wash it right. Always use detergent specifically formulated for wool.
Never put wool in the dryer, unless you want a blanket perfectly sized for your house elf. Instead, lay your wool blanket flat on top of dry towels in a warm, breezy room, and flip and rotate it every hour or so until it’s dry.
Weighted blankets are amazing to curl up beneath for comfort and stress relief. Washing weighted blankets is a bit tricky, though, since the filler — the key to their weight — may not be washable.
Blankets with microglass bead fillers are machine-washable, but those with fillers like rice or sand can only be spot-cleaned. Check your tag, or judge the filler as best you can with your fingers and your intuition. Again, we're big advocates for seeking out professional advice if you're not sure, especially if you want to avoid inadvertantly ruining this often pricy purchase.
If your weighted blanket has a removable outer cover, it’s probably made of cotton, flannel, or a synthetic fabric that you can wash and dry the same way you do your sheets.
Weighted blankets with microglass bead filling can be machine-dried on low settings. All other weighted blankets need to dry flat.
Lay your weighted blanket on a bed of dry towels or another dry blanket. Press down on the weighted blanket with additional dry towels for extra absorption. Let the blanket dry for one to two days, flipping it every four or five hours or so. Avoid hanging or line-drying a weighted blanket — gravity will shift the filler into uneven clumps.
Electric blankets are super toasty — they offer peak coziness during freezing-cold winters and can even relieve muscle soreness. Thankfully, modern electric blankets are designed to be machine-washable and dryable.
Yes, modern electric blankets can be machine dried on a gentle, low cycle. Depending on your electric blanket size, you may only need to dry for a half- or quarter-cycle.