Prissnboot

Hi, can anyone recommend how to get the smell of stale cigarette smoke out of fabric?

I just picked up some freecycle fabric from someone, and while I'm very thankful for it, it is permeated with the smell of stale cigarette smoke. I am in the process of stitching the raw edges to prewash - is there anything I can add to the wash cycle or will washing with detergent alone be enough?

Thanks for all of y'alls help!

irishrose

Borax or vinegar. A Presoak with detergent and Borax (Boraxo in the supermarket) does wonder. I usually add some liquid fabric softener, too.

bakermom

i've also had luck letting it hang outdoors for a while after washing. If you have a protected area where you can leave it for a few days it seems to help

Tartan

Adding a box of baking soda to the water can't hurt in my opinion. If they say it will keep odors out of the fridge then maybe it will help fabric.

MaryMo

I got some this summer with lots of cigarette smoke smell ... washing and hanging outside did wonders. Vinegar in the wash cycle should help wonderfully. I did not stitch raw edges so maybe that's why I had tangling.

feline fanatic

There have been many, many threads on this subject. Search is your friend.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...t-t199412.html

http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...e-t187624.html

http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...ic-t34911.html

http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...c-t133310.html

Jeanette Frantz

Although it's more expensive than vinegar, Febreeze has an deodorizer that goes in the wash and it works wonderfully well. Sorry, don't mean to promote anything commercial -- it's just a product I've used with considerable success -- for my Aunt's clothes (she's 85 and in the nursing home) and her clothes can be really rank. I do all her laundry, so I have to be prepared.

Jeanette Frantz

donnalynett

I was using the Febreeze for laundry however it is hard to find in this area. I found "fabric freshner" at the Dollar Tree Store and if I use 1/2 a bottle per laundry load it works as good as the Febreeze and a fraction of the cost.

bakermom

there is also something called odo-ban that works wonders. it can be used in laundry. you can usually find it at at Sam's club or Home Depot.

Shana

At the beginning of the year we had a really bad mold problem that just left a pong on the air that we just couldn't figure out, the entire house smelled weird/off for WEEKS. We finally discovered the problem and luckily it wasn't dangerous, just odeferous. But the odor was trapped in every piece of fabric/fiber in the house! I went through and did a pre-wash soak with baking soda, washed with my normal detergent and followed it up with a 2nd rinse cycle with 2 cups of vinegar in the water. it took care of it! I'm actually in the process of doing the same kind of things with my couches that the dogs like to sleep on lol