Clothesline Drying Tips for Wrinkle-Free Clothes

Smooth, sun-dried clothing is a breeze

Most of the work you used to do in your laundry room is done for you the minute you hang your stuff in the sun on a clothesline. The breeze handles your ironing, and the sun naturally disinfects so you can skip stinky bleach, even for diapers. And with a little extra finesse, you'll find all kinds of bonuses rewarding you for doing laundry naturally.

Get a leg up

If you hang a shirt from its shoulders, you'll get little pinch wrinkles. To solve that, hang shirts upside down from the bottom hem. If it's a dress shirt, add clothespins to the middle to hold it neatly together. From baby onesies to long teen jeans, most clothing dries flatter when hung upside down. Hang skirts from the waistline, so they drape naturally.

Clothing dries softer and flatter if you give it a good snap before hanging it. The shake pulls wrinkles tight and knocks off excess water and lint.

Warping time and space

Items next to each other can share a clothespin, which speeds up work and leaves more pins for other clothes. Long items dry faster if spread out, but they take up a lot of space. Bedsheets can be doubled in half and draped the long way over the line. If you're shy, hang undies in the middle of multiple lines, where they'll be more hidden. Underwear just needs one pin; the only people who see those wrinkles love you anyway.

If space is tight, remember you can string multiple lines across your yard, or use umbrella clotheslines. Retractable clotheslines snap easily out of view when not needed. Although designed for indoor use, clothes drying racks work even better outside, and fit wherever you have room.

Don't string your clotheslines under a tree. Birds can undo your cleaning fast.

Hangers on

To help dresses hold their lovely shape, hang them on a clothes hanger first. While you're at it, attach a bag to a wire hanger and bend the wire to hold the bag open. Instant clothespin bag, fumble-free.