To wash in a top loader

If yours has an agitator (if not, see right), don’t cram in a duvet larger than a single, as it probably won’t be cleaned and could be damaged. Take double duvets and bigger to a laundry. For a single duvet, pretreat any stains and place the duvet in the empty machine. Choose a gentle cycle and the highest water level, plus an extra rinse and spin. Add liquid detergent to the water as it enters the drum.

To wash in a front loader

These machines, as well as top loaders without agitators, are generally big enough for a queensize or even a king-size down duvet. They also come with preset cycles that may add a second rinse and lower the spin speed for optimal cleaning of bedding that’s this bulky. If your machine doesn’t have a dedicated bedding cycle, choose the normal cycle and manually add in the above options.

To dry

Choose low heat in your tumble dryer and pop in a couple of tennis balls to ‘bounce’ out clumps. If you don’t have any tennis balls, stop the tumble dryer a few times to pull apart any lumps yourself.