Remembering Mom's Clothesline

[karpet]

(This was posted on another forum, but my mom really enjoyed it, so I thought I would share it here)

THE BASIC RULES FOR CLOTHESLINES:

(If you don't even know what clotheslines are, better skip this.)

1. You had to hang the socks by the toes... NOT the top.

2. You hung pants by the BOTTOM/cuffs... NOT the waistbands.

3. You had to WASH the clothesline(s) before hanging any clothes -
walk the entire length of each line with a damp cloth around the lines.

4. You had to hang the clothes in a certain order, and always hang "whites" with "whites," and hang them first.

5. You NEVER hung a shirt by the shoulders - always by the tail!
What would the neighbors think?

6. Wash day on a Monday! NEVER hang clothes on the weekend,
or on Sunday, for Heaven's sake!

7. Hang the sheets and towels on the OUTSIDE lines so you could
hide your "unmentionables" in the middle (perverts & busybodies, y'know!)

8. It didn't matter if it was sub-zero weather... clothes would "freeze-dry."

9. ALWAYS gather the clothes pins when taking down dry clothes!
Pins left on the lines were "tacky"!

10. If you were efficient, you would line the clothes up so that each item
did not need two clothes pins, but shared one of the clothes pins with the next washed item.

11. Clothes off of the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket, and ready to be ironed.

12. IRONED??!! Well, that's a whole OTHER subject!

[sidesaddles]

Yep, I remember the rules. lol love line dried bedding.

Pat in NM
I have pant stretchers in the garage. Can't bring myself to get rid of them.

[auntjana]

I remember all those rules! LOL

We had a little dog - a mixed breed - cocker spaniel/beagle - he would run around the yard in circles until he had enough speed to jump up and catch the washcloths on the line and hold on and swing from them! Oh the holes in the cloths!

Jana

[Irishgram]

Those rules are engrained in my brain.....I love, love when I can hang out clothes especially the sheets....

Jana, years ago, we had a dog named Suzy and if she was in the basement with clothes hanging, if someone made a noise upstairs, she's go crazy and try to pull the clothes off the line....Like you said, so many holes.......

[SusieQ51]

I like to hang clothes outside however, for now, the dryer gets totally too much use. We would do all things but the hanging pants but the cuffs and washing the clotheslines. I always found it relaxing to hang clothes outside. And I felt like I was accomplishing something special.

Diana

[12stepquilter]

I still adhere to those rules every time I hang a load of clothes. However I do use the dryer for the unmentionables. Nothing better than crawling into bed with fresh sheets dried on the line. Oh and I do iron too.
Rhonda

[QIAD-Linda]

What a fun memory! I do remember helping my mom with the laundry. The other day when I was ironing my husbands shirts with a steam iron, I remembered how we used to "sprinkle" the clothes with water and roll them up. They would have to sit for a bit but would then be easier to iron because they were slightly damp. Hadn't thought of that in years but it really was a good way to prepare clothes for ironing. Sometimes I just can't get enough steam out of my iron to make me happy.

Thanks for the fond remembrance!

[gmaann]

And I had "pants stretchers" for hubby's Army pants - had to have a good crease in them! Sometimes I wish I still had the stretchers.

I still love line dried sheets, but am glad to have dryer dried towels!

[Quiltmom]

Boy that brings back memories. I remember all of those rules when I was helping mom hang out the clothes many years ago. Thank God for driers.

Sherry

[QIAD-Linda]

Ann, I remember those metal pants stretchers. My mom used them on my dad's work pants. Fun memory!