Getting rid of mothball smell in clothes that have been stored for ages...any ideas?

[UndercoverMother]

Unbeknownst to me, my mother has kept seemingly every single item of clothing that either I or my three siblings ever wore. Now, 30 years on, I have a baby and she is happily dumping giving me boxes and boxes of said clothes.

All good so far as some of them are actually so old as to now be back in fashion, however she has stored them all with copious amounts of mothballs and so they reek. I'm sure the chemicals used are pretty strong so I really want the clothes to be totally mothball free before I let my daughter wear them.

I have washed (as hot as poss depending on fabric, lots are woolen items) and tried tumble drying where poss, drying in the sun, washing again etc etc. Unfortunately they still smell.

Is there anything I can do or is fabric recycling the only way forward?? All ideas gratefully received.

Ive noticed on ebay that people say they have put really old stuffed toys etc in cat litter for a few weeks to take out smells. i know it sounds horrible but it must have something in it to draw out smells.

Thanks saltshake! I guess desperate times call for desperate measures. Will try and persuade dh that is a man job.

I knew I'd seen this somewhere:

"Add ½ a cup of baking soda during your washer's rinsing cycle to remove the smell of mothballs from clothes."

This is the link it comes from:

216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:CcTRn72rOsEJ:www.buzzle.com/articles/baking-soda-u

It works with the musty/too long stored smell so might well work!

I bought a lovely suede jacket on ebay, it absolutely stank of mothballs! washed it in 2in1 shampoo and conditioner on the delicates cycle, still stank, hung it in the sun, still stank, put it on the hot radiator for 3 hours, all smells gone, hooray!!