How Do You Get That Old, Musty Smell Out of Your Stash Fabrics?
 

I got out some of my fabrics from my stash and my...they had that musty, "old textile," smell. It's not moldy, just an smell of old age. What can I use that will eliminate that without adding any artificial fragrance? Thanks.

~ C

I would toss them in the washer with hot water and detergent.

I would use a no- fragrance gentle detergent and make sure the fabric was thoroughly dry before putting it back .

Add some vinegar to the wash. Won't hurt to let it soak for a bit.

Probably the wrong time of year for this, but wash them gently in tepid water with a little baking soda in it, then hang them out to dry.

How do you store your fabrics and how old are these pieces?

Having collected true vintage fabric for a number of decades, I personally know well the musty smell of old fabric but even though a lot of my fabric is very old, I don't get much smell from my stash. Everything I've ever gotten has washed clean (some had some ghastly stains) and clean smelling -- except for moth ball odor. I can never get it entirely out. This past weekend I saw a crazy piece of I think 1960s fortune teller fabric at the Goodwill. It was awesome except for the mothball odor. I was so tempted but didn't even unroll it to look at it because I knew I couldn't work with it.

I think mostly it is moisture that gets into the fabric and causes the odor. I keep my fabric in my house, at house temperature we have a lot of ambient humidity in the air in the Seattle region but not enough for a dehumidifier. I store in cardboard boxes because I don't have bug problems and I'm more concerned about light degradation with the length of time I keep my fabric. The cardboard is store on rolling metal racks -- you should never store cardboard directly on the floor, especially a cement floor. It will wick up trace amounts of moisture, which can lead to fabric decay, mold, and musty odor. I think it is important to have that air flow around the boxes.

If you are getting the musty smell in closed plastic containers, I think you will need to open up the containers more often. I don't know directly how to deal with plastic as I avoided it for the first 40 years of my stash :p Have my completed tops stored in large clear plastic totes, so I'll see how they do between being pieced and quilted.

Over the past 10 years I've reduced my stash from an entire room side hoard to what will fit in my closet (once I get the stuff out of my closet). I will be building a rack system inside, still won't put long term boxes on the floor.

Edit/PS: I use unscented soap products and no dryer sheets when I'm dealing with yardage. I will use dryer sheets on clothing, but I don't want any residues on my fabric. I've been using the wool dryer balls and feel they do improve the drying side of things. I hate ironing but the last step is a nice hot press (yes, I use steam) and folded into fourths ready for cutting (and that size fits so nicely into the boxes!).

Wash it with 1 cup of sudsy ammonia added to the wash water. The ammonia will not harm the fabric or the colors and you get the added bonus of the ammonia cleaning the inner workings of your washer.

I would wash it in warm water with laundry detergent and line dry (if possible). Then find a better place to store it or run a dehumidifier in that space.

My fabrics have never smelled like that. I keep mine ruler folded in stacks on wire shelves in closet. I leave the doors opened about 1-2".

add vinegar to the wash, its good at neutralizing odors.