Hanging clothes to dry

Sarah

I love Angie’s idea of hanging my good clothes to dry in order to keep them from wearing out so fast. The only problem with this is that most clothes I hang dry get stiff. Have any of you found a solution to this problem?

Sarah M.

17 years ago

General

11 replies

Latest reply was from Sarah

Kyle

Veteran

I hang many of my clothes to dry, and, yes, they are stiff. I put them in the dryer for about 5 minutes and tumble them with a softener sheet. That does the trick and softens them right up.

17 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

That's exactly what I do!

17 years ago

Becky

Veteran

If you hang them inside where they don't dry so quickly, they don't seem to get as stiff, in my experience. When I first started hanging my jeans to dry, I *hated* the stiff feeling the first time I put a pair on, but I have since gotten used to it and it doesn't bother me at all anymore. They soften right up as you wear them. FYI: You'll probably need to do more ironing that you're used to, or at least I have found that to be the case with 100% cotton shirts that I hang to dry, rather than using the permanent press dryer cycle.

17 years ago

Tanya

Veteran

I hang a lot of my clothes to dry too. I find spraying them just a tiny bit with Downy Wrinkle Releaser when they are half dry very helpful.

17 years ago

Sihaya

Veteran

When I hang them over my couch (it's ultrasuede so it doesn't affect the upholstery) or on towels I find that they don't get as dry as when I dry them on a hanger.

17 years ago

katieck

Active Member

I hang all my jeans and a few of my tops to dry. I just pop them in the dryer for 5 mins. to soften them up.

17 years ago

Anonymous

I put the clothes I want to hang to dry in the dryer on tumble, no heat for about 10 minutes with a dryer sheet to get most of the wrinkles out, then hang them up. I often use men's pant hangers attached upside down on the bottom of garments so that the weight allows them to air dry with no wrinkles. It saves lots of ironing. I'll have to try putting things in the dryer after they are air dried.

17 years ago

anne

Veteran

This thread has made me chuckle, because, like most Aussies, I dry almost all my clothes on the line (and always my jeans) I just thought that stiff feeling was what newly washed jeans were like! They get soft pretty quickly once you've worn them a bit.

17 years ago

Basia

Active Member

Anna- Europe is with you! We hang all we can and tumble dry what we have to!Towels, socks, cotton children cloths. But generally our gardens/balconies/terraces are full of drying cloths. Just to recall all these Italian narrow streets where everything is hanging there above your head..day and night!

17 years ago

Anonymous

In contast, our (and most other) suburban neighborhood association actually has a ban on outdoor drying of clothes. Even people who throw their wet beach towels over deck railings are frowned upon. This may change with the move to be more green, but it's a long-standing bias here. I'm lucky to have laundry and clotheslines in my basement, but the trend is to put the laundryroom on the main or upstairs level where finding space to hang to dry would be more difficult.

17 years ago

Sarah

Active Member

Thank you everyone for the tips. It seems like tumbling my clothes dry for a few minutes after they hang is the best option, especially since I detest ironing.

17 years ago

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