Musings from Marilyn

Posts Tagged ‘washing’

I love finding wacky ads in vintage women’s magazines, especially the laundry soap ads.  Take for example, this fabulous DUZ ad from the November 1949 Woman’s Day magazine.  It has all the attributes that I love in an ad; colorful drawing, bold lettering, exclamation points, and a wildly happy housewife, ecstatic over her DUZ detergent!  And being a clothesline enthusiast, I love the fact that not only does the housewife have her laundry on a clothesline, there is also clothesline pictured on the DUZ box.  Double the fun!  I almost reach this state of elation when I hang out my clothes… almost.  I cede to artistic license on the part of the copywriters, but I do have fun!

I really love clotheslines.  They genuinely make me happy.  There is nothing more gratifying than seeing my laundry out on the line, soaking up the sunshine and swaying in the breeze.  It must be something primal, since all of our ancestors from the dawn of time air-dried their laundry.  I actually look forward to those laundry days when the weather is nice enough to hang outside, and Mother Nature can do her business of  drying the clothes.  During inclement weather I dry inside on drying racks.  It’s sufficient and does the job, but it just doesn’t quite have the joie de vivre of using an outdoor clothesline.

The poignant scent of line-dried laundry.  There is nothing like it.  It changes with the seasons, picking up the nuances in the air.  The cold, ozone-y smell in the winter, the fresh cool scent of spring, the sunshiny scent of summer, and the brisk aroma of fall.  All subtly different, but with that unmistakable underlying familiarity, no matter the season.  That alone is reason enough to keep me air-drying.

This is my clothesline in my backyard, taken in the midst of a heatwave last summer.  Summer is so phenomenal for drying.   I like to time how long it takes to dry in the heat.  I think the record for my laundry drying was just one hour, in over 100 degree heat.  But mostly I just like to look at the clothes hanging.  It is like hanging art; installation art, if you will.  In any event, it makes me happy.  And if I get whipped up into a frenzy like the DUZ housewife, so be it!

Happy drying!

Marilyn

I am the ever-practical environmentalist; doing all that I can in my daily life to keep the earth a little greener.  Most notably in my laundry practices.  I’ve been air-drying exclusively now for about four years; ever since my dryer refused to heat.  It makes my life easier (really!), my utility bill is down about 15%,  and I don’t have the added worry of a possible dryer fire.

While I could feel some smug satisfaction with the energy and environmental saving aspects of using a clothesline, I still continued to regularly use warm, and sometimes hot water to wash my laundry.  I think it was a combination of  “it has always been done this way”, and the thought that my clothes would not get clean in cold water.    I think it’s been pounded in our collective brains over the years through advertising, and yes, from mom, that warm and hot water washes are “the way” to go.  You don’t want creepy crawly bacteria or other horrifying creatures crawling on your clothes do you???

This summer I decided to “Go Cold”… all the way, baby!  The temperature setting on my washer is now set on cold, and hasn’t budged.  I wash everything in cold water.  Yes, even sheets, towels, and underwear.  Amazingly, everything comes out extremely clean.  The whites are brilliant, and the colors aren’t faded.  I am almost convinced that there is some kind of super power in cold water!

No heat at all is used in my laundry practices.  Cold water wash, and then straight to the clothesline or drying rack.  I rarely, if ever, iron – so no heat from that either.  Hang-drying leaves clothes perfectly pressed.  The life of my clothes will probably be extended indefinitely!  This is good because I love my clothes, and wear a lot of vintage clothing too.

These days I guess I could feel a bit smugger, knowing I’m about as green as you can get in laundry practices.  But I’m not a smug person.  I do get a feeling of satisfaction and yes, joy, from doing things this way.  Now THAT is a good feeling!

Marilyn

Fall is right around the corner, and soon we will be bundling up in our sweaters to ward off the chill.  I am a real sweater lover.  I have stacks and stacks of them in every color, style, fiber, and weight.  My personal preference is cashmere, as I can wear it against my sensitive skin.  Wool, angora and mohair tend to irritate me, so I wear a layer in between.  I also have a fabulous vintage beaded cardigan collection.

I will admit that one of my biggest pet peeves is the dry cleaning of sweaters!  Please do not, I repeat, do not dry clean sweaters!

Dry cleaning leaves the fibers stiff and flat.  The natural fibers were never meant to be chemically cleaned.  When was the last time you saw a sheep, goat, or angora rabbit being run through a dry cleaning process?  No; they are out in the elements.  Water is certainly not going to hurt!  In fact, a gentle hand washing in cool water and gentle cleanser will bring out the natural beauty of the fiber.  It plumps and fluffs up the yarn and brings out incredible softness.

I air-dry the sweaters on special flat sweater dryers.  These are good because you can shape and block the sweater before it dries.  They are mesh, so both sides dry evenly without turning.

Vintage sweaters have always turned out well for me being hand-washed.  Even delicate beaded sweaters flourish.  I wash them all!  In fact, I have a stack of sweaters waiting to be freshly washed for the cooler temps, so I must heed my own advice soon.

So even if you see the dreaded ‘Dry Clean Only’ label…ignore it.  Tell ‘em Marilyn said you could hand wash!

Get ready to wear those fabulously sexy sweaters, girls!

Marilyn