Cigarette smoke in fabric

hang them on a line outside on a windy day and spray them with febreze, I make no promises, but it's worth a try.

Anne

You could shake them into a pillow case and peg them outside for a few days. You will probably still want to wash when the quilt is finished, but airing for a long enough time might help.

Do you have one of those little odour absorbers they use in fridges? The little plastic containers of bi-carb? Maybe one of those in the pillow case might help too.

Wonder if one of those "dry clean only" cleaning bags for a dryer would get rid of the smoke smell. Another idea would be to put the squares in a large plastic bag with a couple fabric softener sheets, seal it up, and let it sit for a few days.

Baking soda. put the squares in a container of some sort. add baking soda. seal the container and let sit for a while. Use quite a bit of baking soda. Sun and air, especially air. You might try "Febreze" but that might be more expensive. Charcoal and damp black/white newspaper will also remove odor from Tupperware-- it might work on fabric too. seal in a container, but keep the charcoal/newspaper separated from the fabric with clean paper towels or clean 'rags'.

I would also contact the seller and complain. Let her know you are unhappy with the smell.

Pati, > I got fabric in the mail today -- an Ebay purchase from a seller I've

My vote is for bi-carb soda. I've got a book called "Spotless" about how the clean domestic disasters, for cigarette smells in furniture it says to sprinkle with bi-carb, beat with a wooden spoon then vacuum. Conidering it's only fabric squares I would do as suggested above, put then in a container with bi-carb, but would also shake it round a bit then let it sit a couple of days.

Then you have to figure out how to get the bi-carb out of the fabric, maybe tape a heap down and use a brush attachment on a vacuum?

The one thing I know for sure that will work is putting them in a ziplock with a bar of deodorant soap. Safeguard and Dial both work but it has to be a deodorant soap. It will also take smoke out of things you can't wash like books and magazines. Leave the fabric in the ziplock with the soap for a week or so.

I guarantee it will work.

Ms P

Hang outside in the fresh air for a couple of days. If you have something like Arm & Hammer Carpet Cleaing Powder, unscented, it will help pull the odor out. I know vinegar does a wonderful job in rooms, but don't know about working it with fabric.

Being allergic to cigarette smoke, it sure can be exasperating to get something from eBay like that, especially when thry do not say anything in the ad.

G> Pati Cook wrote:

Howdy!

*** And after a couple of days bring the fabric outside with you.

R/Sandy-- hoping to be as clean & fresh as my fabric stash ;-D btw, I'd wash the fabric squares in a tub/bucket/bowl w/ BIZ and not worry about the stench coming back to WIP

First, I'd contact the seller and complain. She obviously knew they smelled, or she wouldn't have tried to cover it up. Next, IMHO, wash them. Cigarette smell is SO awful, I doubt anything short of washing will get rid of it. Try to dry them outside if at all possible. See if she will take them back. Beats me why people would even send fabric that stinks, and that's the only way to describe cigarette smell. I hestiate to do swaps for fear I'll get stinky fabric. Gen

Tried it once--didn't work. Gen

Received a box of fabric that was ready to sew--cut and pinned to the pattern so pieces wouldn't get lost. Shook baking soda thruout the entire thing, put it into a ziploc bag and let it set, shook out the old and put in new soda every week for 2 months before I could even handle the fabric. Made the small quilt, (had fans running the entire time I worked on it), washed it, and gave it away. It still was too touchy for me to have around. Good luck.

HTH Butterfly

I bought bolts of a fusible type stuff from an auction that stunk. A couple of weeks sealed in a trash bag with a bar of Safeguard and the smell was totally gone and the stuff doesn't smell like soap either. I've also used it on books and magazines. It has to be deodorant soap and it really helps to seal it.

Wow, that's good info. I'm going to try it. I was given some fabric that had that weird, musty smell that old fabric sometimes has. Another thing I have tried is putting the fabric in a ziplock bag with a Febreeze dryer sheet. Meadows & rain or something--not the heavy floral one. That works pretty well also.

Sherry

She may not have realized how badly it smelled. After having several surgeries, I don't have a sense of smell much at all. Something has to really reek before I can smell it. If the OP had bought from the seller before and had no problem, it could be that this fabric was some that *she* had recently aquired. To be fair, most people on e-bay are very workable I've found. They're not going to deliberatly try to pawn off stinky fabric on someone--not if they intend to keep their feedback & remain a dependable seller. I just bet the seller would take it back to keep the customer happy.

Sherry

Howdy!

Gen, I don't smoke. Neither does my fabric. Wanna' swap?

R/Sandy -- who maybe should stop "selling" BIZ as the price of BIZ just went up...again --but I love BIZ!

Any time. I like Biz, also. Gen

That's darned good to know!