Four Items That Should Not Be Left to Dry on a Line (Or Clothesline)

Many people prefer to dry their laundry on a rope or clothesline in the open air. It's a practical and economical way of taking care of this household chore. Unfortunately, you can't dry every type of garment or textile in the house. Experts, quoted on Martha Stewart's website, mention the exceptions. Read them carefully.

Four items you shouldn't tumble dry:

• Thick sweaters. They can become very heavy when wet, especially when washed on a delicate cycle, meaning that hanging them out to dry “can cause them to stretch and become misshapen,” says Sammy Wang of P&G Fabric Care;

• Heavy knitted blankets. Drying heavy knitted blankets on a rope or clothesline can stretch the fabric, warns cleaning expert Sarah McCallister. She also explains that “these blankets retain a lot of water when they are washed, so you can expect an especially long drying time”;

• Denim garments. Many people choose to dry these garments on the clothesline in order to preserve the color, but this can make them “rougher or stiffer after drying in the open air due to their high cotton content”;
  

• Bath mats. “Although they won't be damaged by line-drying, this method takes much longer and the bath mat can become flat and tangled,” says Sammy Wang.