Sorry you didn't get more useful fabric and batting, but it was free, For the smell you could try putting it in a clean pillow case and then in the dryer on air with a couple of dryer sheet, haven't tried it myself, but it sounds good, by the way, when my mom passed, my brother sent me fabrics, guess what, no cotton, oh well, I will get it out and look again to get ideas, maybe dog blankets :D