Guest Post by Elaine Codling:

Many of the machines that frame our lives in the modern world are ‘skill-saving’ rather than ‘labour-saving’ as we generally think of them. If you look around you’ll find very few that are actually labour-saving. That is: sparing us the drudgery of difficult, repetitive, non-productive work. The shining example of a labour saving machine is the washer. Even before I saw Hans Rosling’s fascinating TED talk “The Magic Washing Machine” I knew that the development of the automatic clothes washer was a huge step forward for women in the western world. His talk made me realize that of all the modern domestic appliances available it’s the washing machine I would be miss the most.

I love clothes and since I’ve bought my clothes at thrift stores since the late 70’s I’ve always had a huge wardrobe. So clothes, yes, clothes and no washing machine? Hmm. I began to think about clothing and laundry in the pre-industrial era. Doing laundry was the work of the poorest women. It’s drudgery and even if you couldn’t afford any other servants you’d want to have a laundress. If you were poor you’d do your own laundry as well as everything else. If you were really poor and had no other skills or ways to earn you’d take in laundry.

Even though the chore was pushed down to the poorest of the poor the way people wore clothes and the approach to laundry was very different than it is today. Clothes were aired and brushed, spot cleaning and stain removal was much more common and much more sophisticated than it is today. [It turns out washers are labour-saving and skill-saving.] There were also key differences in how people dressed. Houses and buildings were definitely cooler before the oil glut so clothes were heavier with high necklines and tight cuffs for indoor warmth.

As I thought about clothes and laundry in the post-industrial world I began to identify the following strategies for staying warm in cooler indoor spaces and still minimizing the laundry; a heavy, energy intensive, time consuming chore with, as Rosling points out, very low productivity.

Under clothes:
Dressing in layers keeps you warmer. Wearing a lightweight layer of easily washable fabric next to your skin absorbs sweat, body odours, and dead skin cells etc. This saves your heavier outer clothes. Under clothes are changed and laundered frequently so your outer layer stays cleaner. Depending on your climate and season you may think of these as over-underwear; a base layer of long sleeved t-shirt and long johns that are worn over your regular underwear.

Pyjamas:
Just as wearing under clothes saves your daytime clothes from bodily excretions so pyjamas save your bedding. In some places in the world your undergarments are your pyjamas. You strip down at night and go to bed in your base layer then get up in the morning, shower and put on clean under clothes. This is normally done only in those totally enlightened cultures where all the clothes are comfortable clothes!

Wearing pyjamas may seem optional and a matter of personal taste when a load of laundry is done at the touch of a button. But in a world without washing machines wearing pyjamas and airing the bed for a few hours before you make it up can keep the sheets fresher longer. Sheets and quilt bags are big and very heavy when they are wet.

Protective clothing:
Aprons, shop coats, coveralls, and smocks keep your clothes from the dirt and grit in your work space. Depending on the type of work being done this top layer would be made of lighter fabrics that were easily washed or heavier fabrics that would stand up to more wear.

In the last couple of decades aprons seem to have made a comeback as retro fashion. Unfortunately some of the more specialized forms of protective gear haven’t come back. Sleeve guards or gauntlets seem to be a thing of the past. A sleeve guard is a lightweight fabric tube that covers the cuffs of your shirt or jacket from the wrist to just above the elbow. These are very functional. Cuffs get dirty easily when you are working with your hands. A sleeve guard is a great option if you don’t want to roll up your sleeves while working outdoors or in colder indoor spaces.

Collars are another area prone to staining. The high necklines and detachable collars of the past aren’t likely to make a come back but keeping your neck warm can make the difference between being chilled and being comfortable when the thermometer is turned down a few degrees. A lightweight scarf or bandana that can be tucked around an open neckline might do the same job.

There is also a category of protective clothing that is heavier than your regular clothes. Overalls, chaps, work gloves, and gauntlets in canvas or leather are intended to protect you from more than just dirt. Leather was preferred were hard use was expected. Leather aprons were used by blacksmiths and farriers. Leather is much more durable than any woven fabric and needs no washing, These are work clothes that get dirty and stay dirty.

Jeans were part of this category before they became a ubiquitous item of fashion. Typically you wash them infrequently; taking them off and hanging them somewhere for reuse when the job is done. Taking them off before you come into the main part of the house is a good idea. A vestibule or mudroom is great if you have one. Keep the dirt out if you can.

Actual Clothes:
Your outer layer then is protected both from you, inside, and from the worst of the of the dirt outside. This layer is the one that shows when you aren’t working. In the pre-industrial world’s cooler indoor spaces these clothes are typically heavier and fancier fabrics that needed special care.

I’m an avid collector of wool sweaters. This means hand washing. Fortunately wool is very odour resistant so it doesn’t need washing very often. Airing, brushing and spot cleaning work very well for wool clothing. This makes it very popular for active wear. Easy care machine washable wool under garments or base layers are sold in outdoor stores. It’s pricy stuff but its well worth the investment if you can afford it.

In general natural fibre clothes are less prone to picking up body odours than synthetics. [There are lots of other reasons to avoid synthetics too but I’ll save that for another time.] The downside is that they don’t dry as quickly so getting as much of the clean rinse water out as possible is important. This is the step that makes hand washing laundry such a pain. The 10 minute of agitation needed to get things clean is relatively easy. Rinsing requires lots of clean water. Using the minimum amount of soap to break the surface tension of the water and loosen the dirt is both thrifty and easier on your clothes. Soap residues and any remaining dirt break down the fibres. Washing clothes is energy and resource intensive no matter how you do it. And it's hard on the clothes.

The multi outfit strategy:
My husband has a strategy that works very well for keeping the volume of laundry down. He usually has 2 or 3 sets of clothes on the go. He has a pair of work pants, work shirt, and an old sweater hanging in the basement stairwell for working outdoors or in the shop; he has a pair of warm comfortable sweat pants he wears as ‘house’ pants with a t-shirt and bulky knit ‘house’ sweater; and he has a pair of ‘dress’ jeans he puts on with a clean shirt if he has to go into town. The ‘dress’ clothes and the ‘house’ clothes stay pretty clean since they are never used for work. The work clothes hang in the stairwell and get thrown into the laundry periodically when we have a full load of really dirty clothes.

Even if your job requires a specific wardrobe that doesn’t fit into these categories it’s worth following some of these practices. Making a habit of changing to house clothes when you get home, hanging and airing your work clothes, dressing in layers and using an apron reduces the volume of laundry and keeps your good clothes good for longer.

We still have our old washer. I’m not sure what we’ll do when it's time to replace it. The newer high efficiency models use less water but don’t get the really dirty stuff clean. The human powered washing machines being developed for the poor world are not available for sale here. It has always frustrated me that appropriate tech is only for the poor world.

It's only since I started reading the ARD and specifically "Not the Future We Ordered" by John Michael Greer that I began to understand that dropping our energy use and our dependence on modern conveniences was heresy against Progress. I have my eye the Lehman’s Washer and wringer or maybe just the wringer. Washing is the easy part. It’s getting the water out; getting things wrung out enough that they’ll dry on the line that is such a chore. Fortunately the decision can wait. Until it breaks down I have the luxury of an automatic clothes washer: a genuine labour-saving device. Sweet.

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Further Reading:

Green Wizard Forum - Fifth Circle: Your Crafts

Forum Threads of Interest:
Any fibre craft masters/apprentices here?

Sewing Tips and Questions

Home made soap

Simple tips for keeping warm?

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("Laundry in Vintage House" by welcomia: http://www.kozzi.com/stock-photo-25929451-)