Do You Cover a Feather Bed With a Sheet?

Cleaning a Feather Bed

• You can wash a feather bed as you would a feather pillow or have it professionally cleaned. However, since a feather bed is much larger than a pillow, if you hand wash it, you probably need to use the bathtub to have enough room to swish it around and rinse it. Lay the bed flat in the sun to dry, or use the air-only setting on a large enough dryer for it to tumble freely.

Keeping It Clean

• You may sleep on a feather bed without placing a sheet over it; if you do, wash the bed as often as you would wash the bottom sheet on a regular bed. Skin cells and oils from your skin migrate through bedding. However, washing your feather bed every week causes it to wear out faster and may be inconvenient.

Feather Bed Cover

• You may use a zippered fabric case to encase the feather bed. In addition, just as you would put a pillowcase over a feather pillow encased in the zippered cover, most people put at least one sheet over the zippered feather bed. Since the feather bed is part of your mattress, many people put a mattress cover over the feather bed on top of the mattress. That additional layer of protection keeps your feather bed cleaner longer.

Taming Feather Beds

• Placing a feather bed in a zippered case under the mattress pad has additional benefits beyond extending the time between cleanings: It keeps the feathers contained as well. Unlike down, feathers have quills. Although quills bend, they are fairly stiff and the ends are sharp. Those quills can poke you through the fabric covering the feather bed when compressed under your body weight. Moreover, feathers can migrate out of the feather bed through the cover material and get on your bedding or you.