Hanging Laundry in the Fresh Air
Hanging laundry outside in the fresh air says clean and ‘home’. I think it’s satisfying to watch your clothes drying outdoors in the sun. There is something soothing about watching the breeze catch and gently float the clothes. Or to hear the occasional loud ‘flap’ when a strong wind them whips them back and forth.
The clothes dryer reliance is largely an American one. In Europe, you will find laundry hung on nearly every balcony of Italian homes. It can be from multiple stationary lines, strung from one side of the balcony to the other. Or ‘Stendibiancheria da balcone‘, a metal frame with lines of plastic covered wire, which juts out from the balcony over the street or walk below. In Ireland and Britain, the clothes line is similar to the pulley wheel, double-line you see in America. But, I came across this lovely item referred to as Lennon lines and it looks like a must have! Imagine never have to worry about clothes getting rained on?
If you’ve never worn line-dried clothing or drifted off to sleep inhaling the scent of sheets that have been line-dried, you are missing a lot. The clean scent is incomparable. Towels absorb better when they’ve been line dried versus heat-baked dry. Bright colors don’t fade as quickly, and white items will be whiter from the sun.
Pre-hanging sorting – Last in First Out
Pre-hanging sorting is different from the way we sorted the laundry in Lights, Whites, and Darks. Once the clothes are washed, it’s time to sort them to hang on the outdoor clothes line. The smallest items go into the basket first (socks, underwear, etc). Then shirts, skirts,trousers and dresses. Lastly, sweatshirts, sweaters and heavy-weight items like jeans. To borrow an accounting term, Last in First Out, or “LIFO” is how the clothes go on the line. This makes sense, right?
Many years later I learned that hanging clothes to dry like this actually comes from the Amish. Clothes from the largest person in the household went first on the clothesline and so on down to the smallest. This same method was pased down from my maternal great-great grandmother, a German-American Methodist. Believe it or not, I find hanging the clothes the satisfying part of doing laundry. But of course, if you’ve read this far, you want to know the how of hanging laundry.
How to hang clothes on the line
This is my method for hanging laundry in the fresh air. It’s always a right to left operation since you push the line out and to the right. Now, let’s go back to LIFO. Pants, trousers and jeans are hung from Inside the back waist. Use a wooden, pinch-to- open clothes pin on each side of the waistband. If it’s a windy day, I’ll add another pin in the center. You don’t want your clothes blowing off the line and into the neighbor’s yard!
Hanging shirts, dresses and sweaters in the fresh air
Shirts, including t-shirts, dresses and sweaters are hung upside down, from the hemmed edge. One pin on the right side-seam then let the shirt ‘droop’ in the middle. Don’t pull the item taut against the clothes line before you put a pin on the left side. Why? Because drooping in the middle creates a way for the breeze to go through the space between the garment and the line. What happens when along comes a gust of wind? A greater chance of lifting the shirt up and over and around the line and a tangled mess of fabric for later.
Why not hang items from the shoulder? The shoulder is not the best area to bear the weight of the garment. Plus, it will distort the neckline and no amount of ironing is going to fix it. One item of note: please, don’t plop the items in half over the line, and slap a pin on each side. The items won’t be fully exposed to the circulating air. You also risk losing the item off the clothes line as a strong wind can, and will, yank these items free of the clothes pins…
So, if we have all these innate hazards, why do we hang clothes to dry outside?? Because it is wonderful to smell the sunshine and fresh air for days or even weeks later. No fabric softener sheet or heated dryer can give you that. Line drying is far better for clothes; you’ll notice that they will last longer. Plus sun is a great sanitizer.
Hanging small laundry items
What about hanging those small laundry items like, underwear, bras and socks? Hang underwear the same way as pants: hold the item up by its waist, place a pin on the right side and then one on the left. Bras can be folded with the back sides together, then drape the fastened part over the line enough to secure it with one pin. Pair socks and hang from either the toes or the top band. I like to pin at the top band since it creates less wear in the toe area. Easy, right?
Line-dried Sheets and Towels
Without a doubt, once you have slept on line-dried sheets and towels, you will abandon the dryer altogether. The second your head touches the pillow, you inhale the fresh, outdoor scent of clean. Just clean and fresh. Fall asleep ensconced against the smooth, cotton fibers that only hours before swayed and flapped on your own clothesline.
Well, let’s get to hanging them! Grab the fitted sheet by one of its corners and then its opposite corner along the longest side, pin both corners together on the line. Grab the remaining two corners, ‘droop’ before pinning the corners to the line. At the droop point, I usually grab it back up and pin it to the line. So the visual looks like a ‘w’ of sorts. Use the same method for the flat sheet and pillowcases.
Towels and bath sheets can be hung vertically or horizontally, I prefer horizontally since bath sheets are quite long- and heavy. I’ll also put two clothes pins at each corner, and add the droop. There is an added bonus of drying your towels outdoors: they will absorb incredibly well after your next shower. The combination of sun and breeze dries the cotton without fluffing up the fibers, making the towel ‘thirsty’ once again. Go ahead and add your liquid fabric softener to the next wash load of towels, they will not lose absorbancy when you line-dry.
Hanging laundry in the fresh air is, of course, also better for the environment. No electricity or natural gas is needed to line dry. Just a sturdy clothesline, some wooden clothes pins and your effort.