How to get the Smell out????? Help!

[Kenneth in NC]

OK my wife left her coat and my daughters clothes in a bag in back of the truck. They got wet that led to mildew and SHEEWEUUU awful smell. That's bad but it gets worse.

DW washed the clothes first time with regular clothes powder. THEN she washed them again in "Bleach" This caused the Green jacket to turn white spotted and lime colored. Not to mention what it did to DD purple shirt and red skirt. {It gets worse}

After the third washing this time with odo band She put them in the dryer. After only 5 minutes the Dryer really, really started to Stink.

Now How can we get the smell out of the Dryer? The clothes washer? The clothes themselves?

Can a cloth jacket be redyed and it hold and not bleed all over the other color clothes?

All help appreciated.

Kenneth in NC

[Thumper/inOkla.]

Ouch, that's a hard lesson to learn.

dryer 1st- clean it well, get all the lint out you can possibly get to. Wet a towel (drippy) with white vinegar and dry it. The vinegar smell will fade over time. and it will help kill off some of the mildew spores.

The clothes also should be soaked in white vinegar, and air dryed, not heat dryed. Then after the white vinegar has air dryed, a normal wash and dry should finish the job ok, if you can still smell mildew while the garment is wet, do another vinegar soak, and try a double dose of fabric softener. the stains are a fact of life, if you can get some fabric paint, it works well for hiding the stains, and doesn't wash out after it is dryed and cured by the heat of a dryer, but follow the directions on the paint to do this.

[Kenneth in NC]

After a long labor intensive clean up the washer and dryer have been DE-STINKED

She will add vinegar and put clothes in wash tub outside. It's a shame that her new jacket is ruined :waa:

She even tried the baking soda and water to get smell out but it didn't work either.

Thank you Thumper/inOkla for your help.

Kenneth in NC

[frankcassiesmom]

I have had loads of mildew clothes and the only thing that really works for me is adding tea tree oil to the wash. It works wonders!

Kim

[HarleysMom]

I use lemon extract in the wash to get out odors. Even gets out skunk spray smell. Just pour some in the wash water and let the washing machine do its magic.