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Hard way to learn about moths! They ate my suits!

J

jewelerman

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
3,107
Price Scope friends,
Can i please vent for a moment!
Most of you know that Ive been unemployed for several months. I have been offered a position with a local mens store that carries better mens suits. So I though today would be a good time to take the dress clothes out of hiding for this new job. I live in the western United States AND never have had a problem with moths...until today...went to the spare room and started to take dress clothes out of the closet...They only ate the really good stuff...The Italian wool suits by... Armani and Borrelli were appetizers before going on to my favorite Paul Smith suit and 5 pair of wool dress pants as the main course! :evil: :angryfire: For dessert they enjoyed my wool Ralph Lauren sweater as well as a few cashmere turtlenecks!They were good enough to leave me the two Zegna summer sport coats though.
Can i get some advice on how to store wool in the future so this wont happen again! :shock: I am really good about clothing care and recently stopped covering my better items with plastic or zipper bags because i was told that its not good for natural fabrics and leathers to be stored in plastic. Guess i learned the hard way!
Thanks for letting me vent!
At least the fabric will be put to good use.I'm donating the clothes to a woman who makes quilts for the needy and homeless.
She said that this will be her first haute couture quilt!
 
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I don't have any tried and true tips, but some quick searches yielded things like cedar, lavender, and of course mothballs. I'm so sorry!!!
 
Sorry that happened to you! I've had clothing moths ruins some very expensive clothes myself.

I use fabric suit bags, but have considered going back to plastic bags. (I bought some fabric ones from the Container Store.) In museums (and in my house), we also use moth traps during the summer that have pheromones. It attracts all the moths in your house to the trap.

Here's more info:
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7435.html
 
Oh no! Thats awful. when I was a kid my whole grandma's apt smelled like those awful mothbolls. She did not have moth holes but the smell was not worth it! I think they have now realized that mothballs are not safe for your health.

My best friend's parents built this amazing cedar closet in their spare bedroom. Floor to ceiling cedar with a door. Not only did it smell great (if you like cedar which I do) but it was a natural non chemical way to keep the moths off the clothes.

I konw you can get cedar blocks to put in the closet or drawer with clothes but I don't know how effective they are. I use to wear a lot of wool and did use cedar blocks to store with my wood clothes. I never had any moth issues.

something like this:

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=11559662

http://www.containerstore.com/shop/closet/clothingCare/cedarNatural?productId=10000181

http://www.onlyhangers.com/Prod-31-1-324/Cedar-Wood-Blocks.htm

If you have the money I would go for a cedar closet if you plan on invetsing a lot of money in clothes. If you plan on replacing just a few good items, I might go with cedar blocks. But lots and lots of them.
 
Cedar is great! I use cedar balls.

Jewelerman - I'm so sorry about your suits. :nono:
 
I'm sorry Jewelerman! I don't have much advice to offer, just empathy. Moths also tend to get to my clothes more often than I'd like. Years ago I brought home some moths from a trip to Mexico that wreaked havoc for several seasons!

If you got the sweaters early, it might be possible to have them repaired fairly inconspicuously. You might check around with local tailors and quality dry-cleaners to see if the suits are repairable too. It's more likely with the bulkier wools (twills, tweeds etc.), probably not possible with the very light-weight, smooth, high-end wools.

I think you can still use those plastic suit bags as long as you have access to a sewing machine. Just go to the fabric store and get some polyester organza, and sew in a few organza "windows" so the fabric can still breathe. The other thing that helps is to be sure your suits are clean before you store them.

Good luck with the interview!
 
Aw, Jewelerman - I'm sorry to hear that! I just discovered that moths had been at my favorite cashmere robe, myself - when I took it to the dry-cleaner to be turned into a cardigan (hey, waste not, I say), she scolded me for not having dry-cleaned it BEFORE I put it away for the winter. Apparently, moths are attracted to the faint traces that people leave on their clothes. Who knew!
 
Oh that sucks. Our closests are lined with cedar- the previous owner had it done.
 
Wow, that's awful. Those moths were pretty busy in your closet. I don't have any experience with or advice about moths. Just wanted to wish you luck on your interview. Hopefully, in addition to getting paid you will get a discount on new suits!
 
Oh, that is terrible Jewelerman...so sorry to hear this.
I agree that Cedar lined closets will help but only if you keep the Cedar active by rubbing it down with Cedar oil when it stops smelling like Cedar. Otherwise it won't do anything to prevent the moths from feasting. :knockout:

Good luck on your interview!
 
How awful!!!! When I was a little girl we lived on the east coast and I remember my mom being neurotic about keeping moths out of wool--she kept all our sweaters in cedar chests, and our closets were full of cedar blacks and lavender sachets. Living in CA I didn't think I had to worry about moths. I learned the hard way that I was wrong when several of my cashmere sweaters were eaten! In the closet section of Ikea they have cedar blocks and cedar blocks with hangar hooks. I have a bunch of those in my closet now. I love the way they smell too!
 
Thanks everyone for the suggestions! I will be getting some cedar bricks this next week! Thanks for the support with this new job! I guess the bright side about having ruined suits(major damage that is not repairable)is that I will be working at a suit store and can justify new ones! :naughty
 
Oh I'm so sorry Jewelerman, what a pain.

I use those cedar blocks, they've worked for me so far.
 
I learned the same hard lesson this weekend! It's amazing the damage the little buggers can do, isn't it?

Good luck in your new job!
 
I'm so sorry - I have suffered from the little buggers for years. They drive me crazy!

I even have the heavy duty camphor balls that you can't buy any longer (I have rather a lot as I was obsessed with them when I was pregnant and couldn't stop sniffing them... DH would hide the packet so I'd have to buy more! :bigsmile: ), but they are only good for very long term storage as it takes ages to get the smell out.

One of my worst was a jumper that I hand-knitted for my husband before we were married. It was a Scottish Fleets Jersey and I wrote the pattern as well as knitting it. The bastards ate holes in about 6 different places. One day I will try and repair it, but I was devastated.

I tried cedar and it made no difference at all - they appear to be immune to it round here. Now I keep everything in plastic - either suit bags, plastic bags or boxes.

I also discovered some wonderful anti-moth people in London before xmas and I'm trying out their products - so far, so good. Very impressed.

The website is: www.totalwardrobecare.co.uk
 
jewelerman|1327273350|3109095 said:
Thanks everyone for the suggestions! I will be getting some cedar bricks this next week! Thanks for the support with this new job! I guess the bright side about having ruined suits(major damage that is not repairable)is that I will be working at a suit store and can justify new ones! :naughty
Click to expand...

Oh Jewelerman! :wavey:

How I love your glass-half-full outlook on this situation! :appl: :lol:

You can show us pics of your old suits, and then the new upgrades... in a special "Show Me the Suit!" thread! :appl: :appl:
 
By the way...

Congratulations on the new job! :appl: :appl: :appl:
 
If the holes are small, and in an inconspicuous place, you can get the holes rewoven. Sometimes, the area that is rewoven looks a little different, so it's not worth doing it if it's on an obvious place like a lapel, or a large flat area at eye level like the back of your shoulders. If it's on the back of your sleeve, or under your sleeve, it may be worth paying to get it fixed. It's not cheap, but if you really like your suit, it's much cheaper than buying another Armani.
 
The most effective way to store wool clothes are in plastic (or similarly durable clothes bags) with a few moth balls at the bottom. Basically if it is air tight, the mothballs will create a vapor that is lethal to the moths. I believe cedar does as well to a lesser extent. The only problem is that the clothes have to be stored in a way so the vapor builds up. If there is too much air circulation (whether in a closet, chest, etc) the vapors will not build up and it won't be effective.
So sadly, you do have to decide, mothball smell or mothholes? My husband also had a quantity of clothes saved from his grandfather (including nice woolen hunting jackets) and almost everything had to be thrown out by the time we discovered the problem : (
 
Yes, I never had a moth problem until my first expensive cashmere sweater... Congrats on your job!
 
Cedar blocks on hangers don't work that well if they get tightly squished between your clothes. My wife put a bottle of cedar oil on the floor in the corner and one on the shelf, and we haven't had a moth since. It evaporates at different speeds depending, I think, on humidity levels. Health food stores and any place that sells incese usually have it, or you can buy it online.
 
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