Wardrobe

For countless millennia, scent had a purpose beyond a pleasant smell. Perfume was often used to guard against insects. Camphorwood, Cedarwood and Lavender have a long history protecting fabric from moths and delicate shawls were rolled in patchouli leaves to keep them whole on the long voyage from Kashmir to Europe.

So why not protect your fine wool & cashmere clothes with scent? The CB Wardrobe collection is all about perfume that smells attractive to humans but repellent to moths. The wardrobe sprays smell good, they're easy to use, work well and are so much nicer than mothballs!

They're designed for all wool & cashmere fabric but you can use them on any silk, linen or cotton too. The scent is designed to linger but never overpower or clash with another perfume you choose to wear.

• Hold the bottle 8 to 12 inches from fabric.
• Mist fabrics lightly.
• Mist thicker clothes inside and out.
• Mist blankets, shawls & scarves on BOTH sides.
• Allow a few moments for the fabric to dry before folding and storing (or wear if you like).

I suggest you use CB Wardrobe spray every time you clean your clothes or monthly through the winter – you should spray sweaters etc, that are in your drawers or hanging in your closets even if you haven't worn them. Just open the closet or pull out the drawer and go to it.

Other Uses:

• Spray wool rugs every other week – this makes them even nicer to walk on.
• Spray your pillow lightly before napping.
• Mist wool & cashmere yarns (if you knit).

Please note that the CB Wardrobe scents will not kill moths (we'll get to that in a minute) – it only protects your clothes from new ones. So how then does one battle moths effectively? Well having waged war on them myself for nearly 20 years as well as having done a fair amount of research, here are some tips:

If you notice moth holes dry-clean the garment immediately. If the infestation is advanced, you may have to dry clean all the other wool & cashmere in your closet as well – it's necessary to kill those unhatched eggs.

Fall/Winter

Let's remember that tropical weight wool is still wool – it may be light and summery but moths will still eat it if it's not stored properly in the fall. Clean your summer suits and mist them lightly before bagging them up and packing them away in the autumn.

When you unpack your sweaters and wool clothes in the fall, it's a good idea to immediately mist them as well.

I've found it very handy to mist sweaters, blankets and suits routinely through the winter – once a month should do the trick. If you spray them lightly but thoroughly after you clean your clothes, then all you'll need to do is pop them out of the drawer or closet and give them a light spray.

Spring/Summer

Many people get a bit anxious for warmer weather – totally understandable. However you may be asking for trouble by popping that pullover that you only wore once on a chilly day in April into a drawer without cleaning and spraying it first – moths are most attracted to clothes that have been worn. So make sure you clean everything properly and mist it before you store your clothes in the spring. Very Important.

Also if you like, you can mist your fall/winter clothes periodically through the summer – it can't hurt.

Another tip I discovered recently is that moths hate cotton. So, you can wrap your sweaters and blankets in sheets of muslin over the summer months – just cut some cotton muslin into squares or rectangles with pinking shears and you're good to go.

Also, if you're handy with a sewing machine, you can even whip up some simple garment bags out of cotton muslin to pop over your hanging clothes. Trust me, it's not that hard.

Cotton muslin is relatively cheap, easy to find, and the open weave of the lighter weights allows your clothes to breathe properly as well!