A very 'vintage' smell

[Methenyouplus4]

Bought a stunner of a coat from eBay, looks divine, stinks like the inside of your granny's handbag (not in a good way). Is dry cleaning the answer or any other ways to get rid of that foisty, charity shop stink?

baking soda.

Sprinkle, let sit for a while, shake off.

Spray with rubbing alcohol (or vodka) and air thoroughly. Old wardrobe department trick, works every time.

Roughly how much soda/ alcohol should I be applying?

Not too much.

Start somewhere that's not visible for testing, so if anything goes wrong nothing's ruined.

With alcohol you just give it a good spritz all over. Not tonnes but not too mean. It's best to test somewhere non visible first but I've never ever had a problem.

Soda is very fine so it could be quite hard to brush off, depending on the fabric.

True, if it's something woolly of fluffy then maybe not.

It's 100% wool.

So if I just put alcohol in a spritz type bottle, give it a light mist and pop it outside until it dries (or freezes like a Frisbee in this weather)?

Was only £38 with postage and it's old Burberry when it was still Burberry's. It's Soooo beautiful, just don't want to ruin it.

Better just spritz them otherwise it might look dandruffy. Not a good look.

No harm in starting with a light misting! You can easily repeat if necessary the alcohol evaporates really quickly so there's no drying time to speak of.

Might be worth doing it inside out as well as right side out if it's heavy wool.

Good point lettuce, thank you.

Now, where would I buy rubbing alcohol? Or would vodka really be just as good? Don't want to be in the playground stinking like a plonky with a hint of foisty granny!

How can you not post a photo after this?!

Any old chemist will have rubbing alcohol but vodka is also absolutely fine. It won't leave a smell! THat'd be dreadful.

In bed now Curly but it's navy (almost black), ends mid calf, covered buttons (as in coveted by the coat, not covered in material) with a dressing gown tie. It's love

Not sure how it would work on wool (test) but if it's a very stubborn odour you can mix 6% hydrogen peroxide with water, 50:50. Then add white vinegar, spray or sprinke. Then spread over or sprinkle baking soda. Wait for it to dry (which can take a day or so), then vacuum off. The stink should be gone. Sorry I cannot recall proportions, but if you Google how to remove underarm odour or cat's pee odour, you should be able to find a similar recipe. I used it on a vintage dress (synthetic) with stubborn underarm odour and it worked like a dream, even when dry cleaning had failed.