Line drying clothing is energy efficient, more gentle on clothing and good exercise. To help you keep your clothing looking good and lessen wrinkles, here are some tips:
- To lessen wrinkles, give each item a good shake and once it is pinned to the line, give the bottom corners a good tug to pull out more wrinkles.
- If you dislike how stiff towels and jeans are when line dried, dry them briefly (5 - 10 minutes) in the dryer, then line dry them the rest of the way.
- To prevent fading from the sun, place your clothesline in a breezy shaded area. Conversely, if you are hoping to sun bleach your white laundry run your line north/south to get the best exposure to sunlight. Hang the ones that need the most bleaching on the outside lines if you have four or more lines.
- For faster drying, hang clothes separately with room between them and fully stretched out, using as many pins as needed to prevent sagging. If drying time isn’t an issue and line space is, you can pin the outside corners of two pieces of clothing together with one pin.
Hanging pants
Match the inner leg seams together and pin the hems of the legs to the line with the waist hanging down. If you have lots of line space, you can pin one leg to one line and the other leg to the adjacent line to speed drying time.
Hanging shirts and tops
Pin the shirts by the bottom hem at the side seams. Or, you can hang them on wooden coat hangers and pin the coat hanger to the clothesline. Either method prevents the shoulders from getting stretched or wrinkled.
Hanging socks
Put the socks together in pairs and catch one corner of the pair with a clothespin, letting the socks dangle open for quicker drying.
Hanging sheets and blankets
Fold the sheet or blanket in half and clip the corners of the open ends to the clothesline. This will prevent a crease down the middle of the piece. Use one or two extra clothespins in the middle portion if it sags a lot or is very windy.
Hanging pillowcases or small flat linens
Lightweight flat items can be hung in pairs.
What not to line dry
Stretchy clothes like sweaters or some unstructured knit garments should not be line dried. If the care label says to dry flat, don’t hang the garment inside or outside!
