Measuring The Proper Dimensions And Cleaning For Your Futon Covers

When it comes to getting a good fit, measurements are everything. If you think about the clothes you wear, you want to have a good fit. You can buy shirts, blouses and suits off the rack and they will fit fine. Now, have them professionally tailored and it’s the red carpet difference. The same is true about measuring to get a good fit for your futon covers.

I say covers, because you don’t want to just have one futon cover and that is all. They are easy enough to take on and off, but because they are so flexible and easy to change, you can get a new look in less than ten minutes time. Also, depending upon what type of material you choose for your cover, you can just pop them in the washing machine or wipe of with a cloth and those babies are clean in no time. I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty nice as far as cleaning goes.

There are a few rules about futon covers and cleaning that you should pay attention to because they can affect your fit and ultimately long-term function. These mainly refer to the washing instructions. And, they mainly refer to cotton slipcovers because leather and other microsuedes and such require a hand washing with a cloth or dry cleaning in the case of a fine silk or other luxurious fabric. The main rule is that you should use only a mild soap or detergent and avoid using bleach. The cotton, whether it is organically grown or not, can handle the same temperatures that your other cotton clothing can be washed in. One thing that should be avoided is drying your futon mattress cover in the dryer. This may cause unnecessary shrinking and that will cause it to either fit poorly or not at all on your futon.

Line drying is a great way to be more environmentally friendly anyway and your futon covers will smell like fresh air too. This isn’t the worst thing in the world to do every so often, especially if you have teenagers in the house. You know how they tend to just hang out on the couch. They might have showered in the past day or so, but with all that hormone energy, the stink is strong with them.

Measuring your futon mattress for the proper dimensions is as simple as measuring a box. Keep in mind, though, that your futon is shaped more like a marshmallow than a rigid box, the corners are a little more rounded. So, you just measure the width across, the length and the thickness or height. Usually, you will find that the height numbers will be either 4”, 6” or 9”. If you are ordering a futon cover online, you will want to make sure you double check whether you enter the thickness number you measured or the futon cover they supply for that thickness. In other words, sometimes a 4” futon cover is really 6” in height to accommodate for that rounded edge we talked about. This is the one you want. You don’t want to order too big or your slipcover will look like a 6 year old in his dad’s shirt. Most futon mattresses come in standard sizing for twins, fulls and queens. Finding a larger futon cover for a king is difficult. The majority of futon slipcovers are for the twin and full size mattress anyway. Hope this helps and best of luck finding a great fitting cover.