# Vintage Folding Laundry Line.



## Remy (Apr 27, 2021)

I love this thing. I bought it on Ebay over 20 years ago from a very nice seller. With shipping it was well under 30 dollars. 

I put it on my patio to pose it for a picture. I used to actually use it in the house and kept it folded in the dining area. But it's been stuck in the closet for years. My tabby started to immediately attack it as a kitten and still would.

I also bought a plastic produce bag full of vintage clothes pins at a thrift store years ago for $1.50. I like laundry stuff.


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## hollydolly (Apr 27, 2021)

Cute.... my mother used to use those Dolly pegs


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## Pinky (Apr 27, 2021)

Remy said:


> I love this thing. I bought it on Ebay over 20 years ago from a very nice seller. With shipping it was well under 30 dollars.
> 
> I put it on my patio to pose it for a picture. I used to actually use it in the house and kept it folded in the dining area. But it's been stuck in the closet for years. My tabby started to immediately attack it as a kitten and still would.
> 
> I also bought a plastic produce bag full of vintage clothes pins at a thrift store years ago for $1.50. I like laundry stuff.


I saw many of these, and variations of it, when I lived in Australia. Great invention!


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## Ruth n Jersey (Apr 27, 2021)

@Remy That's great. Hang on to those clothes pins. I tried to replace the newer ones with the spring inside that I had for years. I used them twice and they twisted and the spring fell apart. 
I bought another set at a slightly higher price and the same thing happened. Sometimes the quality isn't there no matter what you pay.


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## Aunt Marg (Apr 27, 2021)

Remy, Another homemaker here who also loves all things laundry, wooden clothespins, clotheslines, and whatever else related to!

I have a huge collection of vintage wooden clothespins from the 50's, 60's, and 70's, and as Ruth n Jersey, mentioned, there is no replacing true vintage wooden clothespins. They simply do not make them like that anymore.

Before I garnered my collection of vintage wooden clothespins, I would pin things to the line and if heavy, the item would sometimes slip from the grip of the pins, because the springs were so feeble, and as Ruth, so mentioned, the springs would occasionally fall out, just junk.

The vintage ones I have are a good shake larger than today's cheap wooden clothespins, have springs that are way bigger and stronger, and there just is no comparison. Every dedicated homemaker deserves a collection of quality clothespins at her disposal.

P.S. Just love that dryer, Remy!


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## Aunt Marg (Apr 27, 2021)

Here, check out a few of my vintage wooden clothespins!

The dolly pegs I don't use.

As for the spring pins in the picture, I have 3 other similar styles as well with slightly different spring styles, vintage, too of course, but just so happened to have this picture handy so thought I would post it.

But, check out those springs! Now these are wooden clothespins!

When these were made back in the day, it was buy once and have forever.


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## Aunt Bea (Apr 27, 2021)

I use the spring clips in the kitchen to close bags of chips, crackers, etc...  They seem to blend in with my homely clutter better than the more modern plastic chip clips.


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## Lewkat (Apr 27, 2021)

I have a bunch of the spring clips.  They do come in handy for some projects.


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## Remy (Apr 27, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> Here, check out a few of my vintage wooden clothespins!
> 
> The dolly pegs I don't use.
> 
> ...


Love, love love! That bag of peg clothespins found at the thrift store only had one spring clothespin in it and it's just like your middle one with the big spring.


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## Remy (Apr 27, 2021)

Pinky said:


> I saw many of these, and variations of it, when I lived in Australia. Great invention!


Yes, hanging out laundry can be frowned upon here in the U.S.. Stupidly so. I don't use this one outside and can't inside due to the cats but I hang my laundry on my apartment patio when warm/hot and no one knows. I have two white folding racks with thin metal lines thin enough to use clothes pins on.


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## Buckeye (Apr 27, 2021)

Those spring clip cloths pins were really good at holding a playing card in place on the front fork of my bike so the card would make a roaring sound as the spokes flew around.


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## Aunt Marg (Apr 27, 2021)

Buckeye said:


> Those spring clip cloths pins were really good at holding a playing card in place on the front fork of my bike so the card would make a roaring sound as the spokes flew around.


My baby brother and his friends used to do that!


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## Aunt Marg (Apr 27, 2021)

Speaking of my vintage wooden clothespins, my over-active mind never fails to think about all sorts of things related to, things like...

- If only the clothespins could talk, the stories they could tell.
- How many sets of hands used these pins throughout the years.
- What sorts of things did they pinch to the line over the years.

There's a sense of warmth I get thinking about these types of things. I sometimes think I'm the only one that thinks this way... so deep, so outside of the boundaries of normal everyday thinking.

I inherited a good number of my moms old clothespins, and I can't help but think back to the days when I was first learning to hang washing on the clothesline while still living at home. I was so young... age 5 or 6, when my mom would send me out with a damp tea towel to hang that she had used to dry the supper dishes with. Always had such a way of making me feel so mature and grown up.

Then when I grew older I got more involved with helping out in the home. My young hands had held these very wooden clothespins (45 or more years ago) and applied them to the line when hanging all sorts of washing that mom had done. Everything from baby siblings diapers, to towels, washcloths, socks, unmentionables, pyjamas, crib and bed sheets, tea towels, and everything in-between.

I tend to think about the deepest things when it comes to homemaking stuff like this. Always has a way of inspiring me to think... remember... reflect. Maybe that's why I have always loved homemaking so much, because I form a connection with the past when it comes to so many things.

Same goes for whenever I reach for an old diaper pin from my notions box to use for this or that. So many of the pins I have were passed down to me from family, and it never fails to spark a thought process in me as to how many times those pins were latched and unlatched at change-time over the years... how many different hands did the latching and unlatching... how many babies the pins were used on to hold diapers on their bums. 

Crazy I know, but that's how my mind works... always has.


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## Llynn (Apr 27, 2021)

I must confess. When I was a boy many of those vintage spring clothespins were repurposed as pea shooters. You had to cut an extra notch and reverse the spring to make it work. It could throw a kernel of popcorn a surprising distance with good force.  Sorry Mom


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## tbeltrans (Apr 27, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> Here, check out a few of my vintage wooden clothespins!
> 
> The dolly pegs I don't use.
> 
> ...


These things are considered vintage?  Now I REALLY feel old.   

Tony


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## PamfromTx (Apr 27, 2021)

These brought back some wonderful memories of both my mother and maternal grandmother.  Thank you.


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## Jules (Apr 27, 2021)

@Remy, when I saw your photo I thought that the rack was mighty handy.  Then I noticed what you named the photo.  Great minds.


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## StarSong (Apr 28, 2021)

I have a small suburban backyard and don't hang my laundry outside.  That said, my laundry area is in my garage (where no vehicle has been parked since we moved in 35 years ago), so hubby installed a 6' steel pole that's suspended horizontally from the ceiling (so it's like a closet rod). 

I put the clothes in the dryer for about ten minutes to clear the wrinkles, then hang everything (except sheets) to dry.  When it's rainy, I simply direct an oscillating fan toward the clothing to speed the drying.    

When my daughter and SIL bought their home ten years ago, she had her husband create a similar set up.

My mother-in-law died six years ago without ever owning a dryer.  Everything was hung to dry.


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## Rosemarie (Apr 28, 2021)

In my bathroom, there is a hanging rail over the bath which is obviously intended for drying laundry. However, whoever installed it must have been 7 feet tall, as there is no way I can get up there to use it.


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## funsearcher! (Apr 28, 2021)

I have a wooden folding laundry rack which I found at a garage sale--it comes in handy at times. Used to use it in my flea market booth to display embroidered tea towels and doilies.


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## Aunt Marg (Apr 28, 2021)

Had I not had an old-fashioned pulley clothesline at my disposal, a quality wooden drying rack, along with a portable folding laundry line would have been the order of the day.

Wouldn't have dreamed of being a fulltime homemaker (and mom) without a good old-fashioned clothesline at my disposal.


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## RadishRose (Apr 28, 2021)

My mother had the taller version in the backyard. Then came the dryer- which reminds me, I still have clothes in the dryer from yesterday!


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## StarSong (Apr 28, 2021)

RadishRose said:


> My mother had the taller version in the backyard. Then came the dryer- which reminds me, I still have clothes in the dryer from yesterday!


Throw a damp towel in and run it for ten minutes.  That's my go-to solution when I forget!


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## RadishRose (Apr 28, 2021)

StarSong said:


> Throw a damp towel in and run it for ten minutes.  That's my go-to solution when I forget!


Thanks @StarSong!


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## squatting dog (Apr 28, 2021)

Heck, summer, winter, and anything in between, nothing beats outdoor dried clothing. We even included a small clothesline in the empty bay of our converted bus and between our motorhome and trailer in the desert. 
We're clothesline crazy I tell ya.


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## Aunt Marg (Apr 28, 2021)

squatting dog said:


> Heck, summer, winter, and anything in between, nothing beats outdoor dried clothing. We even included a small clothesline in the empty bay of our converted bus and between our motorhome and trailer in the desert.
> We're clothesline crazy I tell ya.
> 
> View attachment 162271View attachment 162273View attachment 162275 View attachment 162276


Good on you guys, Squatting!


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