Anyone collecting vintage fabric might be interested in my recent experiment.
I have asthma, so I have always washed all my fabric to remove all the chemicals and to allow it to shrink before I cut it. I was also sewing/quilting in the 60’s-90’s when dyes were not always color safe, a topic for another day, which reinforced my pre-washing habit.
Here’s my experiment with slightly musty fabric:
I washed with liquid Tide and white vinegar, smell still there.
I rewashed with liquid Tide and baking soda, smell still there.
I rewashed with liquid Tide and powdered Oxiclean, smell totally removed.
I used the combination of liquid Tide and powdered Oxiclean, dissolved in very hot water, for the rest of my vintage fabric loads, it worked like a charm - on the first try - every time.
Note - I dissolve the powdered Oxiclean in very hot water (in an old gallon milk jug that I can shake), before adding it to the warm water in the washing machine, then I add the fabric.
I did not put any fabric in the dryer until I was sure every trace of the smell was gone. The dryer would have heat set the smell.
Washing older fabric in Oxiclean is now my standard procedure. Fabric from the free table at the guild, fabric from a resale shop, fabric from an estate sale, fabric gifted to me, all gets washed in Oxiclean before it gets added to my own fabric.
