[graciegirl]

I would like to know the same thing.

Just before we moved here, a couple of months ago I sort of cleaned one of our velvet sofas. It didn't look dirty, but I took a pail of warm water and put some TIDE in it. (This Cincinnati girl just loves those Proctor and Gamble products) and then I wrung, wrang, wringed out the rag until it was just damp, scrubbed the sofa and got a LOT of dirt on the rag. I just kept doing that, but I am not sure I got all of the dirt. It looks about the same as it did before I washed it, but now that I see that it WAS dirty, I want to have it really clean.

Does anyone know a better way?

No...I do NOT obsessively hand wash.