Enjoy your freshened thrift store clothing.
Removing odors from thrift store clothing requires a few easy cleaning techniques and some time. Sometimes simply washing clothing can work well; however, washing alone doesn't always do the trick. Stubborn odors such as cigarette smoke or body odor can permeate into fabric for long periods of time and ruin a perfectly good outfit. Additional cleaning measures or treatments are needed to transform smelly second-hand garments into fresh, wearable clothing. Take your time and don't rush this process, because it may take longer to get the smell out of some clothing items. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Smell the garment first to determine how much work might be required to totally eliminate odor. Strong odors require more work and time while light odors may only require one simple washing.
2. Apply a thin coating of stain remover to any areas where you see stains and massage the stain remover into the fabric with a damp washcloth.
3. Soak one or more garments in the sink for 30 minutes with 1/2 cup of laundry detergent and one scoop of enzyme cleaner. The enzyme cleaner helps to soak up odor, especially odor that comes from the body and the detergent helps to freshen the fabric and provide additional cleaning power. Soaking the fabric gives the ingredients time to sink into all the fibers.
4. Rinse the garments out five times after the soaking time period is up. Ring out the fabric and rinse and repeat until no soap bubbles are seen. Place additional stain remover on garments that still have stains.
5. Wash all the garments in the washing machine with 1 cup of laundry detergent and 1/2 cup of baking soda.
6. Hang up a clothing line in your backyard and place wet garments on the clothing line with clothes pins. Put clothing in the dryer or hang up on a hanger in the bathroom if the weather doesn't allow you to freshen clothing by air drying. Gentle breezes are best because the air pushes through the material and adds a bit of outdoor freshness to old garments.
7. Smell the garments after each piece of clothing is dry. Repeat this entire process if the clothing still smells.
Tags: stain remover, clothing line, enzyme cleaner, into fabric, laundry detergent, store clothing, thrift store
