Old-fashioned clothesline drying...

Bonnie said:
Love the smell of clothes hung out in the breeze to dry on a sunny day.
My lifestyle these days doesn't allow that anymore.. 😢
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Yes, the smell of bedsheets that have been dried on the line is very pleasant. Interesting that it's a smell used to scent candles and fabric conditioner.
 

Camper6 said:
Something tells me sales of wooden clothes pegs are not so hot anymore. I remember everyone kept the clothes pegs in wooden fruit baskets . I used to fix the springs as a boy when they went weak. Washing clothes and rinsing them and hanging them in cold weather was a sure way to get arthritis in the fingers.
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I suspect you are right, and aside from sales of wooden clothespins not being that of what they used to be, a stark difference in the quality of today's clothespins compared to the old is apparent... weak, flimsy springs, where they pop free from the wooden bodies of the pins themselves, and the wooden bodies of the newer pins are much smaller, more narrow, and the wood isn't as robust. Absolute junk.

I have a large collection of vintage clothespins dating as far back as the 50's, dolly pegs included, and what a dream the old pins are to use.
 
Rosemarie said:
Yes, the smell of bedsheets that have been dried on the line is very pleasant. Interesting that it's a smell used to scent candles and fabric conditioner.
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Right, even then, the scent of candles and fabric softener/conditioner, pales in comparison to the scent that nature offers. :)
 

Oh the memories this brought back. My Mom always used the clothesline. I remember so clearly when I was about 5 or 6, Then my older brother got out of the Army moved in our house with his wife and baby boy. My Mom did everything around the house and I felt sorry for her and wanted to help. So I told her I would hang up the wash. She smiled and said she thought I was too short to reach the clothesline. So I carried a step stool out with me and hung the clothes. Then my brothers wife had another baby. I can't count how many diapers I hung out to dry. Oh I miss those days. My older sister never helped with the clothes, job was to go to the grocery store because I was too young to cross the street alone.
 
Grandmother used to put the sheets out to dry on a line. She used something called 'blue' which whitened the sheets. Don't remember any smell other than the standard washing powder. But the sheets were really white.
My sister's kids are funny, (they're not kids now) but they would never put washing out on the line because of insects or other tiny critters getting on the washed clothes, so my sister had to use the tumble dryer. I think now that they are older they may realise the cost of running a tumble dryer, one hopes! ☺
 
Sassycakes said:
Oh the memories this brought back. My Mom always used the clothesline. I remember so clearly when I was about 5 or 6, Then my older brother got out of the Army moved in our house with his wife and baby boy. My Mom did everything around the house and I felt sorry for her and wanted to help. So I told her I would hang up the wash. She smiled and said she thought I was too short to reach the clothesline. So I carried a step stool out with me and hung the clothes. Then my brothers wife had another baby. I can't count how many diapers I hung out to dry. Oh I miss those days. My older sister never helped with the clothes, job was to go to the grocery store because I was too young to cross the street alone.
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Such lovely memories, Sassy!

You and I were so alike. My mom never imposed baby-care upon me whatsoever, it was me who couldn't wait to pitch-in and help with everything, being that I was the oldest, and like yourself, I put in countless hours pinning diapers on the line and taking them down and folding them.

I would have been around age 9 or 10, when I started using the clothesline regularly.
 
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There is a well known company in Adelaide South Australia called 'Hills'
Hills Limited dates back to 1945, when Lance Hill invented the Hills Hoist, a height-adjustable rotary clothes line
With his brother-in-law Harold Ling, Hill manufactured the clothes lines in his backyard in Glenunga, South Australia
The rotary clothesline was made of galvanised steel water pipe threaded with galvanised wire
As well as hanging washing on it kids would hang on to the arms and spin around and make themselves giddy
It was often hung with decorations at Christmas time
A cover could be made so it became a giant garden umbrella
 
Aunt Marg said:
There was no mistaking the arrival/addition of a new little one (baby) into ones home back in the day!

No Pampers in our house!

View attachment 114603
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My buddy's 42 y.o. son and his wife have an 8 month-old baby. I was chatting with her at a July 4th BBQ and was quite surprised that she uses cloth diapers. I didn't think anyone did anymore.

Good for them!
 
Treacle said:
Grandmother used to put the sheets out to dry on a line. She used something called 'blue' which whitened the sheets. Don't remember any smell other than the standard washing powder. But the sheets were really white.
My sister's kids are funny, (they're not kids now) but they would never put washing out on the line because of insects or other tiny critters getting on the washed clothes, so my sister had to use the tumble dryer. I think now that they are older they may realise the cost of running a tumble dryer, one hopes! ☺
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I totally remember Blue! :)

To get around insects and creepy-crawlers on washing, simply toss laundry into the electric tumble-dryer for a minute or two before folding. The heat will kill whatever is on or mixed in with the washing.
 
peramangkelder said:
View attachment 114620

There is a well known company in Adelaide South Australia called 'Hills'
Hills Limited dates back to 1945, when Lance Hill invented the Hills Hoist, a height-adjustable rotary clothes line
With his brother-in-law Harold Ling, Hill manufactured the clothes lines in his backyard in Glenunga, South Australia
The rotary clothesline was made of galvanised steel water pipe threaded with galvanised wire
As well as hanging washing on it kids would hang on to the arms and spin around and make themselves giddy
It was often hung with decorations at Christmas time
A cover could be made so it became a giant garden umbrella
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I love the Hills Hoist (AKA, Umbrella Clothesline here in Canada).

I spent a few years babysitting in a trailer park/court (my younger teen years), and everyone had an umbrella clothesline! Was so handy to be able to give the contraption a quick spin, remove off the lines whatever it was that I needed, and I was back inside the house again.

The Christmas decorations/lights idea is so over-the-top wow! What a brilliant idea! :love:
 
peramangkelder said:
View attachment 114622
Nowadays we use one like this and it is retracted when not in use
Ours is undercover so if we are out and it rains the clothes don't get soaked
It has a polypropylene so no swinging from this one
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ROFLMAO!

I wonder just how many outdoor lines were snapped, broken, or damaged as a result of young children looking to traverse them.

I was strict when it came to my kids being outside playing when washing was on the line. My rule was, "DO NOT TOUCH THE WASHING ON THE LINE".
 
Old Dummy said:
My buddy's 42 y.o. son and his wife have an 8 month-old baby. I was chatting with her at a July 4th BBQ and was quite surprised that she uses cloth diapers. I didn't think anyone did anymore.

Good for them!
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I agree, good on them! :)

Back in the 80's when my kids were babies, everyone I knew used cloth diapers, however, by the time my last two came along in the early 90's, I was the only mother in the neighbourhood still using cloth diapers.

Definitely think it's coming back, and today's modern cloth diapers are not even remotely close to the old-fashioned cloth diapers that I used.
 
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MickaC said:
What i wouldn't give for a clothes line.
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I know in speaking for myself, Micka, there's just no way I could have ever gotten by without one, especially when my kids were little.

I think every homemaker deserves to have a good old-fashioned clothesline at her disposal!
 
love my wash on the line -- smells far better - tumble dryer is okish for towels ''
love seeing a line the old type; with lovely white wash blowing ....

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peramangkelder said:
View attachment 114657View attachment 114660
Did you use wooden 'dolly pegs' or plastic pegs on your clothesline?
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While I have a couple dozen old wooden peg or (dolly) pins in my collection, I strictly use wooden clothespins.

Here are four different styles of pins mixed in my collection. The springs are so strong, they hold anything and everything so securely on the line!

If only these pins could talk... the stories they could tell! All of the things they've held for me over the years. :)

P1010722.JPG
 
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