Skylark53

I recently purchased some gorgeous vintage fabric. I didn't notice an odor with it (not that I go around sniffing fabric, but...) until I went to wash it. I started with a hand wash and the water was filthy, sort of a brown-yellow. The water was still coming up pretty filthy after a couple of soaks. Because of the color of the fabric, I was having a hard time telling whether it was dirt or dye coming off. And I noticed an odor, I can't quite place it. Not really mustiness (I've bought a lot of vintage fabric so I'm used to that) but just like dirt and maybe smoke. The fabric was holding up well in the water so I even put it through a gentle cycle in the washing machine. I used a color catcher and that came out spotless. Still smells, and seems to irritate my throat some. So I need to decide what to try next. I've heard about vinegar but I'm not sure what proportions to use, etc. I just really want to get the fabric to a useable state because I love it! (You can't really tell because of the lighting in the picture but it's black with some nice deep purples and hot pink).

Second question is about it's age...it has a thin layer of felt/flannel along the back as you can see from the picture. It apparently was manufactured like that and was not sewn on. I've never seen that before and I wonder if anyone knows anything about that. The fabric width is 26 inches so that most likely makes it older but I'm just curious. Thanks!

bearisgray

IHsveyou done a test on it to see if it is cotton or something else?

dunster

What you describe could be flocking, although that's usually applied to the front to give a textured appearance. If so it's probably not cotton, but that doesn't mean you can't use it in a quilt. For the smell, you could try baking soda, vinegar, fresh air... good luck with getting it out.

Tartan

The backing stuff may be disintegrating from age and that may be the smell or the glue it was applied with. I had something similar applied years ago to the back of a pair of drapes I ordered. It eventually started to break down and I discarded them.

Skylark53

@bearisgray, do you mean something like a burn test?

Hmmm...could be the glue, etc. Ugh, hope it's salvageable, I payed a pretty decent penny for it...

bearisgray

you could try a burn test - but I do not think it is very definitive for telling rayon from cotton

NikkiLu

What do you plan on doing with it???

Skylark53

@NikkiLu- a quilt of some kind, haven't decided on a specific pattern, it was more of an impulse buy/stash builder.

JudyTheSewer

It is a very pretty fabric. I hope you can get rid of the smell so that you can add it to your stash! BTW: I have no suggestions on ridding the smell from it. :-(

DOTTYMO

I think I would try a blow on the line outside before I put more smells on it eg vinegar .good luck it is beautiful fabric.