Questions about drying clothes on a rack/line

[lbonga1]

How do you keep the colors from fading by the sun, and how do you get rid of the crunchiness when they're dry? I just bought a drying rack from Ikea, and I set out a bunch of green microfiber cleaning towels to dry. They now look tie-dyed with lighter green areas, and they're definitely crunchy feeling.

[Villanelle]

How do you keep the colors from fading by the sun, and how do you get rid of the crunchiness when they're dry? I just bought a drying rack from Ikea, and I set out a bunch of green microfiber cleaning towels to dry. They now look tie-dyed with lighter green areas, and they're definitely crunchy feeling.

I've never dried stuff in places that have enough sun for fading to be an issue.  But for crunchiness, if you have a dryer, you can toss them in for 5 minutes toward the end of their drying, and that should be enough to soften them. 

[johnny847]

I've never dried in the sun either, but I find adding a bit of vinegar to the wash cycle works as a great fabric softener.

Though I prefer my towels to be crunchy actually.

[Primm]

Crunchy generally means there is still some soap left in the clothes, and the most common cause of this is using too much soap powder. I use about 1/3 of the recommended amount and my clothes are beautifully clean and not crunchy. I also put vinegar in the rinse water with my towels to neutralise any left-over soap.

Fading? Turn jeans and anything else that can fade inside out to dry, and take them off the line when they're dry. Don't leave them hanging for days (don't laugh, some people do, and wonder why the colour fades!).

[lbonga1]

Apparently the sun is baking here in Southern CA because I only left them out for a few hours. I guess I'll have to rearrange our patio furniture so I can put the rack in the shade. But it makes sense that extra soap could be causing the crunchiness since they were cleaning towels; they already had cleaning product on them when they went in the wash. I'll be sure to do an extra rinse next time. Thanks!

[Primm]

Yeah, I'm in Queensland and the sun is the same, some days I hang one load out and I'm bringing it in when the next load is finished an hour later!

[chemistk]

The reason your towels started to turn a bit lighter in areas is because of the tendency of strong, direct UV light breaking down the pigments used in clothes. Long before there was liquid bleach, people used to lay their out on the grass in direct sunlight to get them very white. If you don't want your clothes to end up being white when you come back out you can hang them out in a shadier area on a sunny day, wait until there is an overcast but drier day to do laundry, or you can hang your whites/things you don't care about bleaching in direct sunlight and everything else behind them.

[MayDay]

They'll always be crunchiervthan using a dryer, no matter what. You get used to it after awhile.

Fading on towels, etc doesn't bother me- I find sun drying stubborn stains helps get then out. That said obviously you don't want nice clothes getting too lightened. I can't comment with authority but I think most clothes will be fine.

[CindyBS]

I dry all my clothes on racks/lines indoors - so no sun issues.  As for the crunchies, I agree with previous posters - that is from using too much detergent.   

Read the directions on the detergent bottle/box and then measure that amount out.  Chances are that is way less than the size of the scoop or top.  Remember that the main reason the cup/scoop is provided is to make the detergent company money, it is in the manufacturers' best interest for you to use the most detergent possible without noticing - not what is actually required by your machine or clothes.

You may need a little adjustments on detergent amount to get it right and if you have been using too much for a while, it may take a couple washes to get all the old detergent out of clothes. 

[JLR]

I've lived in a hot, dry environment here in Australia. As the Queenslander said above, where we lived you could hang your washing around the line and by the time you got back to the start it was dry enough to take off.

I've never had washing fade badly from one day on the line. Having said that, I hang my dark blue towels on a rack that I don't leave outside all day. I often just dry them on a rack in the laundry.

Over time (years of line drying) the fading can be quite noticible if you always hang your washing the same way, so, all my other washing I turn inside out to wash and hang it inside out to dry on the line outside. And I hang it in such a way that the proper side of the item won't be in the sun (eg. I turn t-shirts inside out then hang with the back facing up so the neck scoop is 'inside' the item hanging over the line/against the line). It always surprises me how the inside of an item can be so faded, but the outside still looks fine to wear.

I don't use fabric softener or vinegar, just a fresh water rinse. I don't find things overly crunchy, but they are stiffer than my mum's washing (she is big on fabric softener and clothes dryers). She finds my towels a little brisk and I find hers sticky with fabric softener. You get used to either over time.

When hanging I give every item a firm shake as I take it out of the basket. This helps to soften them and get rid of wrinkles. They also get a bit of a shake as I taken them off the line and fold them, but it is all such a habit now I don't even think about what I am doing. :)