Getting strong odor out of 50s sequined dress - help!

I have a 50s all sequined wiggle dress with black lining. It has a very strong odor of mothballs (I think). I have hung it outside, sprayed it with Febreze and wiped the inside down with baking soda and water but cannot get the odor out. It's a gorgeous dress in excellent condition. If anyone has any ideas, I would be very grateful.

 

Hi, If you have a breathable garment bag you can hang the dress inside the garment bag, place a fresh bag of coffee in the bottom of the garment bag, open the coffee, and zip up the garment bag, and let it sit closed for 48 hours. Take the dress out after and smell. Leave in an extra day if need be. This has worked on fur coats that I have had that had moth ball odors.
I also have a humidifer in the room where I keep all of my clothes because it cleans the air and my clothes smell better in a few days.
Sometimes nothing will get Mothball odor out but the coffee will get out much of the smell and maybe all.
Good luck.

 

Mothball odor is nearly impossible to get out. Even dry cleaning won't remove it entirely. You could try seeing if your dry cleaner offers an ozone treatment to remove odors, but that might be fairly expensive. I've never tried the coffee trick, but you never know!

 

I've been collecting tips from these boards for a while thinking maybe we could compile a guide...anyway, here's a selection below for dealing with odours. I didn't have the foresight to make a note of who the original poster was, so apologies for copying info without crediting!

"Hang out clothes in a confined area such as a closet, with the rinds of a few lemons on a plate. The rinds will work as a sponge to absorb the odor. The process takes up to a week, depending on the severity of the smell. You might have to replace the rinds with fresh ones half way through."

Same principle as the coffee I guess.

"Take advantage of the natural ozone created on a stormy day. Hang hour clothes outside where they won't get wet. 'Whenever there's electrical discharge from lightening, that's the best time to deoderize anything,' says Schumann for Treasured Garment Restoration in Stillwater, Ohio."

"Vodka in a spray bottle is an excellent odor remover."

"An old method is to hang the clothing outside overnight, and they will get ever so slightly damp from changes in the cool air in the very early morning, and then let them air dry in the sun in late morning and afternoon. Then brush them lightly. This works for smells, and surface dirt too. The soil/smells rise to the surface when they get damp, and are evaporated along with the moisture in the sun or rise to the fabric surface to be brushed away."

Let us know what you try and what works!

Sarah

 

Thank you everyone! I think I will try the coffee method first since it seems the easiest and most convenient. I live in Florida so we have no shortage of thunderstorms and lightening, however, lately it's been quite dry! That's fascinating about the lightening - I would love to see if that works. Regarding the humidifier, I heard that air purifiers work really well to get smells out - but I don't think this is the same as a humidifier. If anyone has any more information about this, please let me know. Thanks!

Becca

 

Hi Becca, Sorry. I made a mistake when I wrote humidifier. I have a purifier and it does work well to get odors out. Sorry about that.
Caryn

 

No problem. Thanks. There are so many kinds of purifiers, do you think it matters what size? The price range is pretty big so it's hard to determine what to get.

 

I have an Ionic Breeze Silent Air Purifier. I have quite a few racks of clothing and furs. When I get a garment that has an odor I usually hang it closest to the purifier and within a few days the scent is gone. It is not too big. It is probably only a few lbs. in weight and about 1.5 feet tall. I think I spent about $70 for mine.
Caryn