This circular hanger comes in handy when you need to dry small items like socks, underwear, towels, caps, gloves and so on. They’re often seen around Amish homes. This photo was taken in an Amish shop in Adams County, Indiana.
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30 Comments
Round Clothes Line
I remember my mom having a wooden clothes dryer that folded up. Does anyone remember these?
I have 2 clothes dryers that fold up, and I want another one. My sister has one that I wish I had.
Oh yes, I still use drying racks. I don’t like using the dryer as it beats the clothes and expensive to use. Good weather I hang out my clothes.
jodie
Wood Folding Clothes Dryer
I still use the wood folding one for small items.
I believe you can still buy them but, there not made out of wood.
The one in the picture haven’t seen before.
Folding Clothes Dryer
Yes Jean, I still use both of mine.
I have a small one and lg one there really nice and i set it outside on my deck and clothes smell soooo good
better then electric dryer.
I have a clothes dryer that folds up but my is made of medal and where you put the clothes is plastic. I am it’s second owner. Comes in handy in my apartment.
I do remember the fold up clothes dryers. I have two broom handles hanging from the rafters that I dry clothes on now in our basement.
These clothes dryers are very common among the Hutterites as well. There are a number of different types.
Rack
I use one on wheels. I hang up clothes after being in the dryer. I love it. When I go to my sisters I can do laundry and hang wet clothes on the line. It’s one of the drawbacks of condo living. They don’t allow line drying!
I like line drying because your clothes don’t wear as quickly. It’s environmentally friendly. You cut down on your electric or gas bill. For me it’s a win win win. But then condo rules puts you into violations.
Folding Cloths Dryer
I believe that “Lehman”s Hardware” in Kidron, Ohio has fold up cloth’s dryers. Three different sizes! The have a web site so you may contact them.
With the weather becoming hot I will hang my things out side on my drying rack. I have a wooden one. I have often wanted to buy of of these and may just do that.
Walmart has them
My mother always has a fold up clothes dryer. I have one now that I bought at Walmart very reasonably. They also sell small versions of the one in the above picture posted except made of plastic. These are great for travel as you can hang them from the shower bar in motel rooms or when camping from your awning.
I totally remember the fold up clothes dryer. We used to set it over the furnace (floor furnace) when it was a rainy day or my mother had washed something that needed to dry over night. I could really use one right now.
Folding wooden clothes dryer
Those racks are great! It is faster than hanging them on a clothes line and you can use them indoors year round or on the back porch in fair weather. You can find them in many hardware stores and online here: https://www.lehmans.com/
I lived briefly in Japan and while there got myself all kinds of terrific Japanese clothes-drying aids — they mostly use washing machines but hang their clothes on their (TINY) balconies, so need to get maximum laundry in minimum space. All the ones I have are plastic, but I have a smaller version of this for socks and lingerie, and then a larger one that has about 2 dozen arms with hooks on the end for hanging larger items. They’re very convenient, and in recent years I’ve seen ones much like them in all kinds of different stores. The Amish and the Japanese should get together and compare laundry-drying techniques; they’ve got a lot in common!
I have never seen a circular clothes rack, but that would be handy. Seems that socks mysteriously get lost in the dryer! I had a clothesline on my deck that was on a pulley system. I loved the smell of freshly linens on the line! Unfortunately it broke after a harsh MN winter, but it’s on my husband’s TO DO list to replace it.
My in-laws do not own a dryer. They have several wooden folding clotheslines and they love putting moisture in their home.
Off topic, but is Don Curtis well? I haven’t seen a posting from him for a while.
If an Amish community is large enough to have a variety store, I’ve found that they likely will have both types of drying racks. I bought another style of the wooden rack at a store in the Arthur, Ill., area. It is about two feet wide,is hung on the wall, and pulls out to a length of about five feet. Very useful. Also, it seems like every Amish benefit auction I’ve been to in various communities always has for auctioning at least one rack of each of the two styles mentioned above.
Glad you mentioned Don Curtis. I also miss his posts and hope he is doing OK.
If this where a caption contest shot an entry would be “Now on display, the Amish chandelier, its sleek, stylish and functional. Lights the dinning room for winter parties that the Bishop might not know about or invited to, and also dries the daintiest and the less than delicate”
I also have a wooden fold up laundry rack…use it all the time….hang up most of my wash to dry,then take and put in dryer and spritz with water and dry for about 5 mins. and they come out as good as if I had dried them all the way in the dryer…..and I save money on my electric bill too 🙂 also hang up a lot on hangers….like shirts, jeans, etc. save that electricity 🙂 spend it on something else :)The only thing I fully dry in my dryer are my dish cloths & dish towels…..everything else is hung up……
Hanging Clothespin Dryer
I live in Shipshewana and these round clothespin dryers are very popular here. We even make our own using bicycle rims.
Yep and yep!
Yep, I saw virtually the same round dryer in a “chime” shop in Shipshewana last week, as well as a very sturdy (and much more reasonably priced than Lehman’s) folding wooden dryer, too–at least 4’high & at least 3′ wide. I wanted to get it, but didn’t know how much room was left under the bus—lots of souvenir hunters on tour! Maybe next year!
And YEP! At the same shop, I found a “reincarnation” of my grandmother’s old round wooden dryer (kind of like a carousel on tripod legs which also tucks down shorter for storage). My grandmother’s was made with round rods that folded out; the one in the Amish shop had more rectangular rods, but the exact same concept! (When I download all my vacation photos, I’ll try to send pics of both grandma’s and the Amish version.)
The young woman who was cashiering at the chime shop (daughter of the owner) was on Rumspringa—our tour guide said to look for a blonde girl, but SURPRISE! she had dyed her hair BLACK! And no Kapp! She was multi-tasking with phone calls, us customers, and charge cards, answering questions—very efficient, polite, friendly (and with an understanding & tolerant “Daed” who was not present).
Alice Mary
My brother-in-law in Puerto Rico, has two of these hanging in his laundry room. Very useful! 🙂
Location?
Anyone know which shop this is in Adams County? We’ll be traveling through IN in a couple of weeks and thought I might try to hit a couple of new Amish shops!
R & E Sales - Monroe, IN
Emily this was taken in R & E sales. I did a post on this business a couple years ago: https://amishamerica.com/marketing-amish-recipes/
More info is listed here: http://www.bernein.com/testimonials/
A huge thanks, Erik! I will definitely stop by on my way through that area! Looking forward to it.
I, too, have missed Don Curtis.
As for the round clothes hangers, I have seen them in most of the amish shops and craft stores than I have been in in Lancaster County. I keep intending to get one 🙂
As for as the old wooden clothes dryer/rack, I hung many diapers on those. I didn’t like to put it over the floor heat register as they dried stiff, but if I was in need of the diapers, I would do it. Thanks for the sweet memory 🙂
I dropped Don Curtis an email. Will be seeing Mark in a little over a week so I’m sure he’ll catch me up. I’m agreed with the above on Don’s posts, I wonder if he may have some other irons in the fire right now.
Thanks Erik. I always enjoy his input and noticed I haven’t seen any in a while.
Mark was at the E town Amish conference…I asked him about Don,and he is doing fine, just had some other things going lately.
Erik, thanks for the update. I always look forward to his contributions. Glad to hear he’s o.k.