Another cleaning question - mildew smell in cotton fabric

sorry I can't help with the smell but...

WOOO hoo that the stars arrived safely! and that you like them :-D

Found these commercial sites.. NAYY

As a Project Linus coordinator, I run into this question quite often. Here is our national office response to this question:

"Fabric with a musty smell contains mold and mildew. These spores CANNOT be removed by general washing - that just makes it worse and causes the spores to spread. The only way to POSSIBLY (and that's NOT a for sure remedy) is to have them professionally fumigated.

Musty fabric or blankets can cause asthma attacks or severe respiratory problems in addition to a variety of other ailments."

Since many of the quilts we make go to hospitals where kids are already sick, we don't want to add to their problems -we're trying to make them feel better, not worse!

Also - fabric and/or quilts that have a smoky smell: the residue is not removed by washing. The smell might be gone, but NOT the tobacco residue.

I guess as long as the person using your blanket doesn't have any health problems, making them a blanket from mildewy fabric wouldn't be a problem.

Donna in Idaho Reply to daawra3553 at yahoo dot com

Howdy! BIZ bag! Not you: the enzyme-based bleach/cleaner or an "oxygen bleach" should do the trick. May take more than one wash. Hanging it outside in the sunshine and fresh air helps, too.

Other tips:

Good luck!

Ragm> Hello all!

I had a winter coat given to me last year. It smelled musty. I washed it three times and hung it out in the sun for days. Nothing worked. I finally had to give the beautiful coat to the garbage man for disposal. Sometimes nothing helps.

Kate T.

Try washing it using some Pine Sol, or other pine "oil" cleaner. It is a deodorizer and disinfectant so it does work wonders. If it is really in the fabric though you might as well give it up. Sometimes the mildew odor is in so deep that you can't get rid of it.

Pati, > Hello all!

The fabrics with the actual mildew should be discarded. Nothing will remove the black marks, and the fabric has been weakened as well. Save yourself the time and expense by discarding them right away.

Now on to the fabrics that are merely smelly. If 20 Mule Team Borax won't remove the smell, nothing will. Debra in VA See my quilts at