After a few late nights experimenting with various bubbly concoctions in my kitchen laboratory I’ve come up with a formula to de-mustify those glorious scraps of kimono fabric:
Deodorize your own vintage beauties and freshen that vintage fabric with my 4 step DIY:
You’ll need: a colour-safe Oxi stain removing detergent (such as Vanish or OxiClean – I used the much cheaper store-brand-version & wholeheartedly recommend it!) and baking soda (‘Kaiser Natron’ in German)
Step 1: Soak fabric in 2 – 3 litres of hot water containing 2 – 3 scoops of Oxi detergent for one hour.
– rinse fabric thoroughly –
Step 2: once again soak in 2 – 3 litres of hot water this time adding 1/2 cup of baking soda on top of the saturated fabric, let it sit for 15 minutes, give it a good mixing then soak for about an hour.
Step 3: Pop the wet fabric, another scoop (or 2) of Oxi-Power & 4 tablespoons of baking soda into the washing machine.
Then short wash’ at 40 degrees with regular detergent & softener – add a bit of laundry disinfectant if desired.
Step 4: Hang to dry.
Enjoy your now-fresh-smelling vintage fabrics!
I was delighted to hear that you’d come up with a solution- it broke my heart, to think that the fabrics wouldn’t be useable! Bookmarking this, for reference- there’s still bins of the stuff down in the storage, LOL!
Some of the darker fabrics did lose colour (totally expected as they’re hand dyed silk + a green one turned a lovely gold…odd) but as none were destroyed and all are still lovely + now totally usable for wearable projects I totally recommend the above ‘formula’ for any of the purty scraps you refashion ;O)
Try this even easier (and super cheap!!!) version: add just baking soda as you would detergent (I use about a third cup, and that’s for a large load) then add distilled white vinegar, but not til just before the final rinse. (Use 1/4-1/3 of a cup). Vinegar is a natural deodorizer and fabric softener! If its still vinegary smelling just do another quick rinse before drying, though the smell will disappear as it dries. (If you are especially sensitive to the smell, add a couple drops of your fave essential oil to a wet washcloth and toss it in the dryer with your load) I do this with urine-soaked items of my potty training kiddos so I know it works!
PS I’m not trying to minimize your post or anything, just a helpful time and money saving tip, I pass this everyone! Oxi-detergents are basically overpriced glorified tubs of baking soda!
Thanks for the tips, they are awesome for ‘new-ish’ stains & odors…unfortunately as I was dealing with 50+ year old vintage fabric that had been stored in a damp environment the musty mold spores were just too deeply embedded in the material & were impossible to remove without chemical detergent. (in Berlin the store brand Oxi detergent is actually cheaper to buy than baking soda…weird, eh?)
*I had previously tried the ‘natural solutions: vinegar, baking soda & even a salt technique without success (see my holler for help post).
The oxi is cheaper than baking soda?! What the what! Pee stink is quite different than deep mold, yuck! Looking forward to the projects to come with those fabrics!
It really is strange how different countries price things..it also took me forever to find the baking soda as it doesn’t actually translate to the names it’s sold under here: Kaiser Natron or Bullrich-Salz & my (German) husband & friends had not a clue as to what I was talking about + it’s not sold in supermarkets as one would automatically assume but instead it’s available in the herbal/home remedy section of drug stores! Huh? – Living in a foreign country is quite often insanely frustrating…but everyday is definitely a new (& usually hilarious) adventure!
*Your peepee solution will definitely come in handy as we’re almost into potty training, akk! ;O)
nice! what a relief! now i can’t wait to see what you do with these lovelies!
I have a fabulously exciting project planned for tomorrow my luvly! If it turns out as well as I hope it will the post shall appear very soon! ;O)
Yay! You found something that works. Baking soda is truly a miracle product.
The Oxi destroyed the oogy mold spores and the baking soda annihilated all of the remaining odor…fabulous!