Whether you’re an ardent teddy bear fan or a parent wanting to reuse the family bear, there’s one question you’re bound to be familiar with: how do you clean an old teddy bear without damaging it? Washing a teddy bear whose stuffing is hanging on by a thread seems like an extremely risky operation. But you want to give it a second lease of life, whether it’s been with you all your life or was the first to come out of the Steiff factory. That’s precisely what we’re going to tell you about in this article. We’re going to list several methods, detailing each step so that you can clean your antique bear properly.
Dry cleaning methods
We’ll start with the least invasive (yet quickest) methods of cleaning an antique teddy bear. On the other hand, they won’t get rid of the most stubborn stains.
Baking soda
Often seen as the ultimate granny tip, baking soda is very useful here for removing greasy stains while deodorising the teddy bear. Follow the guide.
- Sprinkle the old teddy bear. Don’t be afraid to go all out and cover the teddy bear completely, especially in the stained areas.
- Leave the teddy bear to rest in a cloth bag. A few hours will suffice, remembering to stir it from time to time.
- Take it out of the bag and dust your teddy bear with a cloth or brush. One of the advantages of baking soda is that it’s food-safe, meaning that even if a little remains in your old teddy bear’s fur, it’s harmless.
Starch, a gift for your friend
Very useful when you’re trying to clean delicate fabrics, you can make your own with potatoes or cornflour – we’ll leave you to find out. Then follow these steps.
- Depending on its condition, lightly moisten your starch if it’s in powder form, then apply it directly to the stains on your old bear, with a sprayer if the starch is liquid or by rubbing in paste form.
- Leave your bear in the open air until the starch dries.
- Once dry, remove the starch by scraping or rubbing gently.
The quarantine
As a last resort for very old bears that can no longer tolerate human contact, you can at least rid them of the mites before putting them back in your collection.
- Put your old bear in a plastic bag. You can add mothballs, in which case you can stop at this stage, remembering to take it out of the bag after 14 days.
- Place the bag (with your bear) in a freezer for 48 hours.
- Take the bear out of its bag and leave it to defrost at a low temperature (as in a fridge).
Washing with water
These methods take longer than dry-cleaning methods, and are not recommended for teddy bears that have been too damaged over time. But they are also much more effective.
Spot washing
This is the method that uses the least amount of water. It also requires the most effort.
If you have a Marseille soap
- We assume you have 100% Marseille soap. Dampen a corner of it slightly and gently apply it to the stain or stains on your old stuffed toy so as not to damage it.
- Once you’ve applied the soap, rub the stain until it’s gone. This part can be long and difficult. Don’t hesitate to come back to it several times if necessary.
- Clean any remaining traces of soap with a suitable cloth, such as a damp flannel.
If you don’t have one
You will still need a detergent.
- Dampen the teddy bear or parts of the teddy bear concerned. If there’s too much, use the following method.
- Apply your detergent sparingly to the wet areas. The aim here is not to create too much foam so that you can rinse it properly afterwards.
- For the rest, follow the last steps of the previous method.
The big bath
When using this method, make sure your old teddy bear doesn’t absorb too much water, which could damage it.
- Prepare your bear and his bath. Remove all his clothes and accessories (if possible) and prepare a large container of warm water into which you will pour a few drops of soap.
- Dip your bear in the water and wash him. The trick here is not to immerse your teddy completely, but only one dirty part at a time. This prevents the bear from absorbing too much water at once. To remove stains, do exactly the same as with Marseille soap. But it will require much less effort.
- Rinse your teddy to remove all the soap. As in the previous step, it is advisable to rinse part by part.
Once washed, it’s time to dry your bear
These are the last steps in each of the previous methods. We’ve separated them so that we don’t have to repeat ourselves.
Spin-dry
This stage requires you to be extremely delicate with the plush. You’ll need to squeeze each part of the bear meticulously to remove as much water as possible while retaining its original shape. Once you’ve done that, dab the excess moisture off the fur with a towel. You’ll save an enormous amount of time on drying by doing this, so we recommend it.
However, be careful not to give in to certain automatisms: twisting your teddy bear in all directions as you would a tea towel will only damage it even more.
Drying
Air-drying your teddy bear flat in a warm, dry place is the solution we recommend most. It’s obviously the slowest, but it’s the most likely to give you back your teddy bear in the condition you want. However, if the plush is not too damaged, you can use a hairdryer if you run out of time. Make sure you use the least hot option and keep it at least thirty centimetres away from the fur.
Brushing
You’re almost there, so don’t neglect this last step. Not only does it restore a little shine to your antique bear, but it also allows you to detect hard parts of its fur, indicating that you haven’t completely removed the soap in this area. You’ll just need to rinse your bear again.
Things NOT to do
Machine wash your bear
We’re talking here about much-used bears that no longer have the elasticity of yesteryear, orold bears that weren’t created with this option in mind. The same applies to the tumble dryer.
Dusting with a hoover
This is the best way to fray your teddy bear even more. You can, however, try the experiment with newer (and tougher) teddies if you feel like it.
You now have a brand new old teddy bear
We hope we’ve been able to help give some of your old bears a new lease of life. Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments, we’d love to hear from you. Also, if you know of any other methods of cleaning old teddy bears, we’d love to hear from you in the comments so we can share them with everyone. Long live teddy bears!