Hello everyone. I have read all of the notes on smells on fabric. What about thread? I am thinking about throwing it all away, because of the large lot of stuff I bought on craigslist, and finding sales slips dateing back to 1998. Would the thread be rotton at that age anyway. The lady smoked, and I saw a cat.

Well, thread does rot. I would certainly tug on it and test it's strength.

Seeing a cat and smelling cat on thread are two different things. Do you smell the cat on the thread?

Yes, I'd test its strength at that age. The smoke smell should wash out (assuming you wash your quilts before giving them away) but if you smell cat pee, toss it all.

Julie, Catmom

I dont really smell cat as much as smoke. Some of the fabric has discoloration on the edges where it was folded. The stuff I have washed with oxiclean seems to have come out. I will tug on the the thread and see what happens. Thanks everyone.

Sweet PDZ© -used in horse barns absorbs/neutralizes amonia commonly found in cat urine. It add it to my cats box, and you can't even tell we have a cat.
So if I had that thread, I'd probably put it in a strainer sitting over a bowl of PDZ, with some plastic wrap over the top for a night. Although, it shouldn't take over night to do the trick.

I just read on another post today, that if you put the quilt/thread in a plastic bag with a bar of soap that it would remove the offending odor. I haven't tried it myself.

That works. Use either Dial or Safeguard deodorant soap. I bought a whole bolt of a fusible grid at an auction and of course there's no way to wash that. I put it in a bag with a bar of soap and the smoke smell disappeared.

Test the thread. Some of it from back then is still strong because it depends on the % of poly in the content. Not all of the thread compnaies were good with labels that would remain with the spool once used.

Where do you get the Sweet PDZ? I have 3 cats and would really like to know!! also, how much do you use?

thanks for the great tip