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I remember helping my mom hang out clothes she never had a dryer til like 1991. I also remember my mom walking on the deep snow to hang out clothes and then pulling the frozen clothes off the line and rehanging them downstairs by the wood stove to finish drying them. I’m still using my clothes line to hang out a few things. I love to hang clothes and get the fresh smell of them when you bring them in off the line.
My Sister, Sharon, and I hung clothespins on the bottom of our skirts to play “Cowgirls”. We wore them as earrings and necklaces. We played “Family” and used the clothespins for dolls. Our clothesline was on a pulley and I played a game by holding as many clothespins I could hold in one hand when pulling the clothes in. Lo and behold, when eighteen I won a bridal shower game prize for being the person who could hold the most clothespins in one hand — 17.
Hanging laundry for my three little ones to run through holding a fourth on my hip and pinning the clothes pin to her baby blanket for closer reach …hanging laundry was an important part of each morning, couldn’t waste a day of sunshine!
I love the smell of fresh sun kissed sheets on the bed, and the smell of wind in clean towels. Reminds me of my Grandma when she lived on her farm. I now live on her farm place, and I still use the same clothes line
Hanging laundry on the line was one of my chores growing up. It was a chore that I actually enjoyed doing, though I never told my mom I enjoyed “the chore”. I loved organizing the wash as I hung it, each persons clothes were hung together. This way when I took the clothes off the line and folded them, they were already sorted any easily dispersed to the proper person.
I love the fresh smell of sun dried clothes and have had a clothes line at every home I have lived in. The quiet of a cool summers morning, listening to the sounds of the the outside world is pure happiness!!
My grandma hung clothes out, even when it was freezing with snow on the ground. My grandpa eventually built her a clothesline in the basement. I don’t know when they finally got a dryer.
I hang clothes out now, esp towels on a good windy day. They become so soft!
As a child, I loved to hang out the clothes on mom’s clothesline. It was fun to hang them by size and group like items together. It was nice to be outside and have a break from my little sister too. LOL.
In the colder months I remember sitting in the kitchen with the stove on to keep the room warm and my mom singing with the radio. She had a line strung across the room and would hang up some of our lighter cloths.. Socks, Slips, Undies & Blouses as she would iron on her ironing board sprinkling water from an old 7-up bottle topped with a nipple. She would put a pan filled with nuts in the oven that she would roast for us to snack on. It would be such a cozy room filled with laughter & love!
On the first warm day in the spring, I hang out sheets & pillow cases. Have to wait patiently till they are dry. My great grandma used those solid pins that had no springs. I have a few of them to this day. She taught me how to make dolls out of them. I now craft those dolls for my craft business.
When my boy Aaron was 6 months old (now 40 with 2 children of his own) my husband and I rented a small 3-room concrete block house behind a 2 story home with a thick deep grass back yard, a huge fir tree, and a clothesline almost 20 foot long with a pole to hold the line up. I would sit Aaron in his little automatic swing, wind him up, and hang the clothes along with his cloth diapers to dry. It is a favorite memory of my baby, cardinals, dragonflies, and that tree in the breeze that made his diapers smell so fresh!
I still laugh every time I help my mom hang a sheet on the line and one of us gets slapped with it. You would think we would eventually learn.
There are few things as elemental and relaxing as hanging clothes on the line. I can not imagine living where I could not do that. My memories actually begin at around three, holding the clothes pins for my mom, then later hanging each piece for her…and taking them off the line when they were dry. There is no scent in the world that beats freshly laundered and outdoor dried clothes. As an adult and mom myself I have always hung clothes out to dry whenever possible. It delights me to see them waving gently in the wind drying, and then when I take them down and fold them oh, the scent! Fresh bed linens and towels are my special delight.
I am 64 years old. My fondest memory growing up in Kentucky was every Monday seeing my mom hang out the laundry and seeing our sheets Blowin in the Wind and knowing that night that fresh smell would give me sweet dreams. We raised three boys in extreme Southern Illinois and I have continued that tradition.
I remember hanging clothes on the line. Does anyone remember the pants stretchers for heavy work pants? They were a ” bear” to get on the wire frames, then to wrestle to the clothes line. They took a lot of pins to hold them up. In winter, on a sunny day, they would also freeze on the line. Ha! They did smell good after being outside, but boy what work! IFY – we recently were in Northern Michigan, and saw work pants on the line, blowing briskly in the wind. It certainly brought back memories.
Loved helping my granny wash clothes in an old times wringer washer (not electric) and then hanging on the line to dry!
I love the feel and smell of breeze sheets and towels-
When I was a young girl, living in Illinois, each summer vacation would be spent with my mother’s family in the hills of Pennsylvania. My sister and I would stay with Aunt Margie & Uncle Pete and five cousins in their tiny cottage home. Some summers were unbearably hot inside while the outdoors was cooled by the breezes. One particularly hot year, Aunt and Uncle decided to show us mercy and give us girl cousins some fun. They hung “Old Mabel”, a family quilt on the clothesline and allowed us to sleep out there.
After a time we settled down, until cousin Jimmy’s pet raccoon joined us. What a raucous ensued when our toes he decided to wash. The next summer we found a big orange tent on a wooden platform in the side yard. A kind gesture by Uncle Pete, but it lacked the adventure of ” Old Mabel”.
I remember when I was a “young” Marine and living with a Marine, my husband. We rented a trailer out in town. There was a washer but no dryer. I never had any problems with hanging out clothes to dry. I got so good at it that when I finished hanging, the clothes at the start were dry. Also, the way I hung them, I didn’t have to iron. Plus they also had that outdoor fresh smell!!
My favorite memory of hanging up laundry has to be when my 5 year old daughter wanted to help me with the laundry. She was so adorable hanging up her clothes on her clothesline; which was lower for her to reach, we had to get a few pictures of her.
I love hanging clothes on the line. Everything smells so good when you bring it in. So great to slip into bed with sheets fresh from the clothesline.
The fresh smell.
I remember watching my Grandma hanging her laundry 50 years ago in her backyard. I remember the scritch sound of her moving the thick wire line out. Sweet memory.
My mother has a picture of me, taken when I was 3 (1955), hanging clothes on our clothes line. I was dressed in my Sunday best, from the top of my head to the patent leather Mary Jane shoes on my feet. Mom says it was my favorite thing to do….and I ALWAYS dressed up for the occasion! Nowadays, I just wear my jeans, t-shirt and barn boots to hang the laundry, saving my ‘Sunday best’ for Sundays……but I still enjoy hanging the cool, wet items on the line and enjoying all the fresh scents of the day!
One of my favorite memories is trying to hang laundry on the line with a puppy that insisted on playing ball at the same time. We had taught her to drop the tennis ball in a box or basket and then we would reach down, get the ball and throw it. What I had not anticipated was the pup placing very dirty tennis balls into the basket of clean and not yet hung laundry. I got pretty good at hanging clothes quickly and throwing the ball at the same time.
I remember the smell of the sheets as I would hang them on the line with my mom and grandma as well as with my children. I have an antiques clothespin from my grandma’s cabin and it is one of my favorite treasures.
I always think of my mom when I see clotheslines and clothespins because she LOVES hanging laundry on the line. She is almost 80 and still hangs most things outside. Everything is crisp and smells so wonderful! I’ve taken many photos of her doing this, too, so I can always have the memories.
Helping mom with laundry.
I have some estate sale clothes pins that are wonderful!!!! They will hold on to my laundry even in our wildest Oklahoma winds!!!
I was worried that as time goes on I would run low on pins. I have shared my good pins with family, but I am to the point I can not share any more. I am excited to find a source of quality clothes pins!!!
Thanks for sharing!
Mona
FYI : my estate sale clothes pins were bought in the early 90’s and heavily used! I have lost a few good soldiers along the way, but still have a nice bag full!
Helping my mom take fresh washed and dried bedding off the line. Going to bed and pulling up those wonderfully scented sheets!
Being totally shocked that the sun bleached cloth diapers out better than any soap or bleach ever could! And to me nothing is better than sun dried bedding and towels. The towels just seem to absorb so much more water.
Some of the most wonderful moments of my life are hanging up laundry! To be outside in the fresh air with my homemade clothespin apron on, standing on the soft, thick grass, listening to the bird singing and the chickens clucking just can’t be beat! Add some warm sunshine and a soft breeze and when I bend down to my basket and pull out my damp clean clothes, clothes I either hand-washed or at least used my own homemade soap on, with the fresh smell of the white vinegar with essential oils added….rose, lavender, it is just heavenly! Hot or cold, anywhere in-between, if it’s not raining, I will be hanging my clothes out on the line!
[I had a clothespin from the 1930’s, my very favorite, and the grandkids lost it playing…sigh; got to love ’em, though! Around my house one of their first ‘chores’ is handing me clothes hang up. Clothespins make sheet houses, close chip bags, and have even been known to hold hair out of the way!]
I remember handing Mom the clothespins from the basket that my baby sister was sitting in. She played in the clothespins- I was handing them to her as she hung the sheets to dry. I used this thought with my grandchildren I knew exactly where they were as I hung clothes on the line – I took pictures of all of 6 grandchildren as they grew doing this. Each spring as I start to use the clothes line the memory comes back – it is a beautiful and warm memory for me.
I love the simplicity and art of hanging clothes on the line. I can’t paint a picture or write much in the way of poetry, but I can pin up my laundry with colors that coordinate or contrast like an artist with a brush and then watch the breezes make my laundry poetry in motion. My favorite laundry memory occurred one day many years ago when I had hung a sheet on the line, and as the breeze moved it there was a sweet stray puppy watching on the other side. Needless to say that sweet little stray puppy found a new home with us.
I always enjoyed hanging laundry with my Grandmother Lorna Jean. I was named after her. It wasn’t until some 30 years after her passing that I’d truly appreciate those memories. We purchased a home in a development and my husband promptly pointed out that none of the homes had clotheslines. I had to read the association bylaws to make sure it was okay to install one….otherwise we were taking a bath because surely I couldn’t live here.
Anyway turns out I could have my clothesline, apparently no one else wanted one.
My first spring hanging laundry there I was completely overcome with memories of hanging laundry with my Nanny. The wisteria and lilacs were in bloom and apparently the perfect combination of the two took me straight back to Nicholson Road in 1974. It was the most beautiful moment / memory ever! I had not experienced that fragrance in over 40 years.
The timing was perfect as was the fragrance. I never knew exactly what the fragrance was at Nanny’s house until someone planted the same combination, apparently, just for me!
I remember hanging huge white sheets on the clothesline that ran from the back porch by the lilac bush all the way to the little peony garden where the millstone still sits and the wind would blow the corner of the sheet up towards the blue sky and I would capture it with a wooden clothespin.
My favorite memory is of hanging my babies’ diapers in the sunshine to dry. With little ones underfoot, birds singing in the trees, and a friendly neighbor over the fence ready for a friendly chat, the days flew by too quickly. Only in retrospect do I appreciate the sweetness of that precious time threee decades ago.
I love these wonderful sturdy clothes pins ! And, I love that a dad and son team work together to make such a good product.
Everything about drying clothes outdoors is so wonderful. It brings back memories of my Grandma and Mom and the neighbor ladies hanging out their family’s duds. Picturesque as they billow in the wind and then making the bed with outdoor smelling, slightly stiff sheets makes me look forward to the end of the day and pealing back the bed and sliding in…..Oh….how heavenly ! Sweet Dreams…..
When I was young, I recall my mother using our clothesline to hang everything from blankets to underwear with these clothes pins. My yucky moment was when she or my dad would tie the chickens feet together and hang from the clothesline to…( well you know..)
I love love love hanging our clothes on the line. Growing up we HAD to but now I do it to enjoy the great outdoors !!! Nothing smells like Just brought in sheets and towels!
It’s wonderful when something as simple as freshly washed and dried-on-the-line laundry can be so heavenly, nothing better in my laundry world!!! 🙂
My momma was reared on a farm with 6 other siblings. Hanging the “wash” on the line, was just a given. She continued that tradition even when living in the city. I recall my sister and I loving to run through the sheets after they dried but still on the line. I believe I can still recall how fresh and wonderful they smelled. Of course she used the wooden pins. When I married, I too had a clothesline but used the awful plastic pins. They broke so easily. I would certainly treasure a set of these wonderful wooden pins and would put up a new line just to use them…The fresh smell is calling my name!
My favorite memories are actually recent, even though I have happy memories of watching my mother hang clothes as a child. I think my favorite memories are a combination of both, and I enjoy it so much now because I am retired and so grateful to have the time to enjoy the process while the breeze comes up the creek and the birds are singing, and I Jan just soak it all in.
Ah! What better way to perk up the day, than to breathe in the fresh smell of line- dried clothes. I used to help my mom take them off the clothesline. Friends couldn’t understand why I hung out a “gazillion ” diapers, when I had a dryer. Recently moved to Texas, and can’t wait to find the perfect spot to have my husband put up a clothesline. Everything’s bigger in Texas, so those big, beautiful clothespins are just what I need! And thank you for telling us about the American Clothespin Company.
My Grandmother never owned a dryer….by choice. She would hang clothes on the line all year long. I often wondered why because my Grandfather would have bought her a dryer, but it was more than a “chore” to her, I think it was spiritual as well. She used a galvanized tub as her laundry basket. When she passed, I wanted that “laundry basket” and I use it myself. Even though I do not have a location for a clothesline, when doing laundry, I think of her and at times, the chore becomes spiritual to me too.
i still use my clothesline. i had no idea someone was making these beautiful clothespins. i wish i had some of my grandmother’s but i have no idea where they are.
I loved to pull our sheets off the line. They always smelled so clean and fresh. They still smelled so good when we snuggled under them
My mom is the Queen of Laundry, having 10 kids, in cloth diapers no less. She’s fast & efficient. No need to iron.
My favorite clothing hung on the line is bed sheets and on a sunny, winter day. They have a crisp, clean, fresh smell that I love. My grandmothers used a clothes line, so did my mom, now I do & my daughter does too!
Hanging sheets on the line to dry, all year long, brings the best smell into the house and the sweetest sleep.
When I had twin girls I used cloth daipers, now I had a wash machine but not a dryer. So I had six dozen diapers so I was washing every day. The clothes would smell so fresh and I think the sin helped with making things whiter. When I was a little girl my Mom would also line dry clothes and sheets. I would play under the hanging sheet pretending it was my fort. Now I use clothes pins for sewing, I take them when I travel so if my clothes won’t hang on the hotels hangers I use the clothes pins. They keep open bags of chips closed and many crafting things from picture holders to hold the item I’m hot gluing down so I don’t burn my fingers.