Question about salvaging smoke damaged fabric
 

Last week, my neighbors almost burned my apartment down cooking fried chicken. Thankfully, no one was hurt. However, my unit smells like a bbq pit!

I never pre-wash my fabric for fear of it becoming too frayed, but I think I'd rather have frayed fabric than to throw out my whole stash.

My question is, does anyone have any tips? What's the best detergent to use? Does black smoke really come out? What can I do to keep it from fraying, or at least as little as possible? Has anyone here ever had to "rescue" their sewing room? Will my machine smell forever on? (lol!)

Thanks for any suggestions!

If you have a serger, serge the cut ends before washing. If you don't have a serger, a straight stitch about a quarter (or even an eighth) inch along the cut edge will stop the fraying and tangling of frayed threads.

Don't know about the smoke issue. Good luck.

Awesome! That's more than I knew before, thank you!

First I always pre-wash my fabric and I don't use fabric softener. No one is going to wear it. Smaller pieces can be put in a lingerie bag or a pillow case secured at the top. Strip scraps come in handy for this that are almost to small for scrappy quilts. As far as fabric that smells like smoke, when I buy fabric from estate sales, I use vinegar or ammonia with the ARM & HAMMER Laundry soap and warm or hot water and those color catchers from different companies. I have the ones from Shout. Vinegar is good to help wash down the walls. As far as your appliances I use the microfiber cloths and good old Dawn dish soap. I would definitely be talking to someone about the damage that has been done due to the soot from the smoke. Hope you had insurance and they did. Try to file a claim against them. If you lease talk to the landlord/property manager. I'm sure the smoke saturated your whole apartment/condo/townhome. Get an estimate to have your machine cleaned. You can also check to see what it's going to cost to have your home professionally cleaned.

You can also run a zig zag stitch down the edges. I pre wash all my fabrics and sometimes I zigzag the edges and sometimes I don't. Wash the fabric like you normally would ( I always wash on warm). Use regular laundry detergent and throw in some Oxyclean or some good old white vinegar to help remove the smell. If you have precuts such as FQs, I would put them in a lingerie bag then throw them into the washer.

the insurance company should cover thecost of having your apartment professionally cleaned and may cover the supplies needed to clean your fabrics.

If I had smoke damage I would not want to handle it with the smell as I served or stitched around the edges . I want to first get the smell out before using it. Suggest google the subject . There must be info there.

I used to wash fabric. I never serged or stitched the ends in any way including fat quarters. I just tossed it in the machine. I took a pair of scissors with me when I took it out of the washer and cut the loose strings.

But that said, since this damage came from someone else I'd make a claim against them if possible and have it professionally cleaned.

I've also used pinking shears on the edge of fabric. It may ravel a bit, but it's just the edge of the pinked part. I would absolutely inquire about insurance claim.

For the smoke smell any laundry detergent will do just add a little baking soda...about a tablespoon.

I always just toss mine in the washer. Fraying is not a big issue. I just clip the straggly ends after they are dried. Good luck getting the smoke smell out of everything. I hear that charcoal absorbs odors. You may want to put the plastic bits in a big plastic bag with charcoal as a filter.