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Location: The Land Mass Between NOLA and Mobile, AL
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oldgardener
Drying them on the line makes clothing stiff, dryer softens them up. Also, not rising enough/using too much soap will make them stiff.
All my cotton clothing is soft, not stiff.
I would agree with this; the OP might be using too much soap or soap with too many surfactants. I wash most of my clothes in cold water and dry them very gently, but people should use less soap and a gentler kind if they do so because soap dissolves more easily in warmer water than cooler.
Think of it this way: when you do dishes, notice how they rinse more easily with warm to hot water. The same principle applies to clothing.
Put white vinegar in your rinse water, to cut the residual soap. I put the vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser, and use a double rinse. Spousal Unit's stiffening clothing is soft again.
Thanks, everyone. I actually wash them in cold water and then line dry. And they aren't good quality (or at least not expensive), although they are 100% cotton. Guess I will break down and put them in the dryer. If they shrink, they shrink. And guess I won't need to worry about this for the future, considering most of the softer tees now have spandex, rayon, polyester, etc.
If you worry about shrinkage, then pull them out before they are quite dry and let them finish drying on a hanger. I think shrinkage happens when they get fried on high heat. But I have experienced enough shrinkage of tee shirts to know that sometimes they shrink no matter how they are handled.
I think if you use a fabric softener with the wash, it will make things stiffer over time. Laundry soap can also build up causing stiffness. It sounds like they aren't being rinsed completely.
You might want to try washing them with a cup of white vinegar and a couple of rinses. It may take a more than one wash to get rid of the residue.
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