Hi,
I have recently found myself in the position of having to do my own washing and ironing for the first time in many years.
I had been taking clothes out of the machine after the spin cycle and hanging them straight out as I assumed this was the way to minimise creases, but my mum informs me that tumble drying them actually results in less creasing than hanging them out damp.
Is this really true? how does it work? what is the best strategy for minimising my ironing workload?
Andy
depends on the fabric - and some may shrink if tumbled!
Take the clothes out hot but still slightly damp and hang them.
Some things, like towels, are better washed WITHOUT fabric conditioner, and tumbled to bone dry deserts!
READ the care labels in all the garments! Some high performance fabrics are ruined by fabric conditioners (wicking fabrics used in sports/outdoors gear, for example). I never use the stuff these days - but we have softened water, so it is largely unnecessary.
You question your Mom? When has she ever given you a bum steer or bad advice? I am really shocked. I may have to go lie down for a while.
While I do that, Kate will tell you.
Yep. Just don't dry the clothes all the way (or leave them in the dryer after they're done). Tumbling partly dry removes the creases/wrinkles formed in the spin cycle.
Some things, like towels, you want to leave in the dryer until they're completely dry.
You should just try it with a load, and see if it makes a difference.
-- Jenn Ridley : snipped-for-privacy@chartermi.net
And remember not to leave them heaped in the corner of you bedroom waiting half a week for you to come along and fold them..... Joy
Geez if I had known that........I would probably still leave them there while I was sewing instead!
Michelle Giordano
I like hanging my laundry out after sunset. That way they have all evening to blow in the breezes and shake the wrinkles out before the sun would start to set those wrinkles in.
Well, I can make you feel better. I went through 3 or 4 clotheslines that didn't hold up to heavier laundry, and I finally spent $200 to make one with galvanized pipe that will hold 8 loads of laundry (and of course now that it's built there are enough children gone that we never wash anywhere near that much at a time any more, but when they were young we used to) and will even hold blankets, sheets, comforters, quilts, etc. on the galvanized pole that goes across the middle to keep it from collapsing.
Maybe you could rig up a one-line portable system that would retract when you are done with it:
Joy have you ever checked to see if there really is such an ordanance. It may be one of those things that everyone believes but isn't so. For years we were told that the town we have a summer cottage in on the Cape did not allow camping out in any way. You couldn't even set up a tent for children to camp out for the night. Along came a Rev WAr group that wanted to do an encampmenet on the Town Green. Again the same thing, it's againt town ordanance. Some one decided to investigate. You got it. No such rule. Everyone on the town board thought it was so, but it wasn't. Juno
Put clothing in the dryer just long enough to get it hot and steamy, then shake it well and dry it on hangers.
Expanded version:
Throw stuff that might need ironing into the dryer as you unload the washer. Hang out the rest of the stuff.
Take one item out of the dryer, re-start the dryer, shake the item vigorously until it is cold, put it on a hanger -- preferably a suit hanger so you don't get creases at the shoulder. Repeat until dryer is empty.
Hang trousers by the cuffs so that the weight of the garment will help to straighten the legs.
Joy Beeson
Hmmm. Do you have a homeowner's association in the neighborhood where you live? If not, what city do you live in? I'd be glad to bird-dog out your city's munipical code and see if it's there.
And if you want, I'll get my 13YO to take a picture of the clothesline and email it to you.
But laundry drying racks are good, too, although they don't get the same effect with sheets because they aren't blowing in the wind as much.
I had one that looked exactly like that, but it didn't have to be all the way out to lock. I used it on two different poles depending on where the sun was.
I wonder if yours was broken?
A
Buck up, get an iron and ironing board, put down the remote to the tv and do your own ironing. We're not thrilled about doing it either, so quit whining and trying to find a way to get out of it.
99 & 44/100% of will be happy to wear wrinkled messes of clothes if it keeps them from touching an iron.
Hey, I didn't hear him whining, just asking for information.
Jean M.
If it involves ironing, I will whine enough for everyone. ;-) Public service whining.
I'm one of the few, looks like, who enjoys ironing: A quiet time in which I can think about other stuff since ironing requires few brain cells and I can see progress as the stack goes down and the hangers get filled. Granted, I am not ironing for an army, just me and DH and lots of our clothes are wash-and- wear.
Jean M.
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