The "Proper" Way to Hang Out Clothes

 

Not too long ago I was at a DUP (Daughters of the Utah Pioneer Meeting) and during the lesson they were talking about hanging out clothes.  I commented I always hung out my clothes even though I had a dryer because I liked the way the clothes smelled and looked plus it saved money.  One of the ladies at the meeting talked about how her mother would insist they hang out their clothes a certain way.  I thought to myself that was really weird, I hang out my clothes and put the longer ones in the back away from the sun and the shorter ones in the front so as the sun will dry them evenly and the heavier ones I put toward the ends so they don’t stretch out my line but as far as color coordinating that was way too much work for me.

            I was talking to someone in the small town I now live when I mentioned my blog and the article I wrote on teaching your children to hang out clothes.  The woman I was talking to started talking about how they used to hang out the clothes around here.  The women she was talking about are mostly no longer alive; this was back before everyone had a dryer.  When a woman would hang out her clothes they had to be just right.   They all had to be hung with the clothes at even lengths together, the colors needed to be hung together, I mean the blues with the blues and the blacks with the black, the colors evenly matched, the levis together and the whites together.  She said you didn’t leave your clothes hung out overnight because the moon would bleach then too much (I always thought the sun would bleach them out and the woman I was talking too agreed with me.)  Maybe they had another reason they didn't want to leave them overnight.  If I hang out my clothes later and they aren’t dry I will leave them on the line overnight and they smell wonderful in the morning.

When I hang out my clothes I want them to look good but that is just for me as I don’t have any neighbors and no one sees it but me and the grandkids unless the skunks come around.  I hang my socks together.

 

             Then she said something that made me realize why they did it a certain way.  She said, “When they got done hanging out there clothes they would look around at all the other women in the neighborhoods clothesline to see if their clothesline looked as good or heaven forbid better than what they had just hung out.”

I also wondered about other communities, they probably weren’t so different.  When I hang out my clothes I want them to look good but that is just for me as I don't have any neighbors and no one sees it but me and the grandkids.  I hang my socks together.

What us women don’t do to impress someone!