Vintage Clothes Sprinkler - How We Used to Do It

Growing up in the early 60s, this clothes sprinkler played a big part in taking care of our clothing. We didn't own a dryer. "In our neck of the woods" back then, it was a luxury. The clothes were hung on the clothesline to dry. Afterwards everything was ironed. Wrinkles were rid of by sprinkling the clothes with tap water which is where the pop (or soda) bottle comes in. 

The sprinkler caps were made of either plastic (some of bakelite) or aluminum with cork. The procedure was sprinkle, iron, sprinkle, iron, sprinkle, iron. When you couldn't finish all the ironing in one day, you sprinkled the garment, rolled it into a ball shape, stuck it into a large plastic bag with the rest of the laundry and cleared a space in the refrigerator to stash the bag. This process gave you a few extra days to finish.

This old clothes sprinkler hasn't been used in over 40 years, but it brings back a lot of memories. I do still hang laundry on the clothesline though. Yes, I have a dryer, but living in Hawaii I like to take advantage of the tradewinds. Plus in the islands, we have some of the highest electrical rates in the nation. So stay tuned for a clothespin bag tutorial in a few days and get ready to save some real money on your utility bill. Here's a peek at the bags...

I won't have internet access for the next few days, so I'll post again Friday and catch up on my blogging then. Till then.....be well!

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