If you have a set of outdoor cushions for your patio furniture, you should have some fairly hard wearing fabric or synthetic covering for them protect them from moisture and mildew. Even if your outdoor cushions are hard wearing you will need to clean them regularly to avoid staining from bird mess, rain and mildew. There are different types of hard wearing fabric so there are also different ways of cleaning your outdoor patio cushions.
Canvas:
if you can remove the covers canvas can be washed in the machine very well. You may want to soak in laundry bleach or a pre wash to remove any stubborn stains like wine or grass first. This is the most convenient way to clean your outdoor patio cushions so when looking for outdoor cushions it’s worth keeping this in mind before you make your choice. Often removable canvas covers have washing instructions attached so a lot of the work is already done for you. When clean, replace the covers while they are still damp. This will help to stretch them more thoroughly over the cushion pads, bringing them back to their original size.
If you can’t remove your outdoor cushion covers then take a wet scrubbing brush and rub it across a bar of Fels-Naptha soap. Give your canvas a really good scrubbing with this soap, working it into a good thick lather as you go. To remove bird mess, staining and mildew, you will need to work this into the fabric very well.
When your outdoor cushions are nicely lathered up, you can rinse them off and leave to dry completely.
Waterproof and other materials:
When your outdoor cushions have integral covers and are not made of canvas, you need to ensure a deep clean without damaging the fibres. Although canvas can take some rough treatment, other fabrics are not so hardy. To treat these types of outdoor cushions, fill a bottle with a quart water solution of 1 tsp of washing up liquid and 1 tsp of borax.
Rinse the cushions of brush them down to remove excess dust and debris first.
Spray your outdoor chair cushion liberally with solution. It is very important to saturate the cover, getting into all the nooks and crevices of the fabric. This is to ensure that any spot of mold or mildew is treated and will not replicate itself quickly after being cleaned.
Once dry you are well advised to protect your outdoor cushions with a fabric protector treatment like scotch guard. This repels most stains and mildew, making cleaning much easier in the future.