Tuesday, July 2, 2013

#DIY #Tutorial Easy #Fabric #Laundry Clothespin Bag

         Ok now, show of hands as to how many of you out there still use an outside clothes line for drying your laundry?   Truth be told, I bet it's a lot more people than you think.
   Maybe I'm old school but, I love hanging out laundry to dry in the summer months.
Not only does it save $ money on your electric bill but it keeps your house from getting so hot running the dryer & the clothes have such a fresh scent & feel to them afterwards.
  And I usually just hang out things to dry like my towels, table clothes, curtains, sheets.
Though I remember when I was a young child that my mom & grand maw would hang out every speck of clothing they owned which I thought was embarrassing lol. Thinking everyone in the neighborhood seen what our undies look like. Though back then every house did the same thing so I guess it was no big deal.  I even see the really elderly people who live around me today or in our rural Tennessee area still do the same thing & hang it all out :)

  Well, if you do hang out your duds to dry then I have a great DIY  project that you can enjoy keeping your clothesline pins inside. Perfect for easy reach as you just slide the clothespin bag out the line as you go along, hanging up your duds!

   My mom, granny, or anyone around here in Tennessee always used some type of laundry bag that housed their wooden clothes pins inside as they hang out there clothes to dry on the clothesline outside.
   The ones I remember  were always made from fabric. Back in those days, money was always tight so housewives had to be frugal and make anything they could from re-using any and all items from the things they used already. They definitely recycled back in those days to have what they needed.
  One of the most prettiest clothes spin bag holders that everyone used back in those days, was one made from a little girl's dress they had out grown or that had seen a lot of wear & tare and could now be used in another ingenious way.
   I went in search of some of those images to show you what I mean, shown below. I bet if you look in your granny's laundry room that you will see something similar hanging up from years gone by in which she used.

 Boy, does this style bring back memories for me. My mom always used or made a simple little open low neck dress to keep her clothes pin inside. I will be making one in a dress style soon. Not necessarily from scratch, which is easy but why do that when you can just find one in a yard sale & just stitch the bottom closed.
But for now, I wanted one this week so I just took the lazy road & seamed one up in a basic square pillowcase style. Which is really easy to do. All you need is a few basic items to create your own.
 Which are:
   A hanger ( Tip* Save one of those swivel hanger that you get on clothes you bought @walmart, target, etc) They have metal hooks that swivel, the plastic on them is thick & durable & can be used as wide as they already are OR snapped off the ends as I did to shorten it, shown here below.
             I used a piece of long fabric I had so, I snapped off the difference in extra length that I did not need. I did that by SCORING around the hangers plastic area with my scissors...then I just snapped it off by holding it against the tables edge. (You won't see it underneath your finished bag, so it does not have to be pretty on the ends.
     

You can make your bag any length you like. I just needed mine to hold the wooden clothes pins that I had bought at the Dollar Tree which was  36 count for $1.00 Wow great deal!


     Basically, you just take a long strip of fabric any width & length that you like it to be & just seam it up like you would a pillow case (shoot, you could even use a pretty,ready made pillow case and just follow the same directions) And turn it inside out but leave the top open so you can slide your hanger down into it (leaving only the hanger loop hook revealed).
Then stitch each side on top beside the hook in the center. I just seamed it up on my machine while the hanger was in it. But you can do that part by hand if like wish.
        Then your left with it looking like this
 

     And now...you bring up the bottom section to the point you like best by folding it up in front & then stitching the sides together. Then.. you can fold down the top corners of the fabrics top corners (that are on the hangers corners) most hangers are sloped down ward on the corners, so I just folded those fabric corners over, then I stitched on a pretty button to hold them down as embellishment.
  Old buttons sewn on each top overlapped corner & this also holds the hanger in place a bit better.
        I save buttons off of everything before I toss it out. Or buy old clothing items in yard sales & thrift stores...just to get those vintage buttons ;)
                      And here we have it!! With my wooden clothes pins inside
 
And with using a swivel hook on the hanger choice, I can turn it as I need to & slide it up & down the line as I hang more items & easy drop the pins into the bag as I take them down.
I use to have the round umbrella type clothes line pole. But I had hubby to put me up a retractable pulley wheel clothes line. Which I love because I can stand on my back porch & just roll out the line as I add my wet laundry to it & then roll back in to take them off.
You can hook your pulley wheel type line it to any object. So mine goes from my back porch wall out to my little mimosa tree up on the hill.
When I'm not using my clothes pin bag, I will leave it hanging inside my screened in back porch so the sun don't fade it or get my wooden pins all wet & molded.
 

I love projects that are simple to make, simple to enjoy.
This item now makes doing the task of laundry simple. So that I don't have to fumble with my hands to be dropping pins everywhere to hang up the laundry to dry.
By the way....If you are in search of a Simple Laundry Liquid that really Cuts the Dirt & Grime~~
Then try out   >>> @ Simple Green
It is awesome!!

         I hope you enjoyed this #DIY craft :) If you'd like to see more shared ideas then  Subscribe to Mamawjs Moment Away or Follow me on my networks of  facebook   twitter  pinterest
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                                             Have a blessed day y'all :) ~~~ Julie ~~~~

3 comments:

  1. Ivory velvet + black embroidery + golden hook is our most popular combination. We also love this classic choice - especially when gifting our heirloom hanger to a bride. And for those who desire more color - we have you covered with 16 stunning velvet hues and 4 embroidery colors. Personalized Wedding Hanger

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