Jeans problems

Anyone have any advice on how I can get my jeans not to come out of the dryer so darned wrinkled? I wash about 5 pairs along with some shirts and stuff on warm and then rinse on warm since that is what's on the care tag for the jeans says to do and they run about a half an hour all together from start to finish, then I put them in the dryer sometimes with a fabric softener sheet and sometimes without if I'm using the detergent that already have the softener in it (tide) , they run about 50 minutes to dry , but when I take them out, they're just as wrinkled as when the went in the dryer. I have to iron them everytime and even if I get the wrinkles out, you can still see where the wrinkles were. This is very frustrating, because I want them to come out nicer but we don't have a permanent press setting on our dryer. Grateful for any suggestions.

Many years ago, before jeans became a fashion plate, there were just a couple of brand names with Levi's heading the list. You bought a pair and they were impossible to be comfortable in. Before long you learned the trick to put them on at the beach on hot sunny day and rush into the water. When you came out after about a half hour, the jeans just clung to your body. You looked hot in those wet jeans. You begin walking the beach and within a half hour in the hot sun, the jeans relaxed and eventually dry soon after. That was the recipe of the early sixties. And then came designer jeans, bah!

Joe

I've had that problem before. There are a couple of things I can recommend. First, it sounds like your dryer drys extremely hot or not really hot. Either extreme will cause your clothes to wrinkle.

When I wash Jeans, I first try not to make too heavy a load (that's why I don't wear jeans all the time anymore) and only wash them with other denim. One reason for this is that denim is thick and needs room to expand and allow the fabric to relax. Then, I don't try them until they are 100% dry. I get them almost done and then shake them out and dry them on a clip hanger long ways. Oh, and too much fabric softern may be as bad as too little, as well. This gets expensive, but you can also run the jeans load through a extra rinse cycle to make sure you've got all the detergents out.

Second thing I can recommend is if you have "Dollar General Stores" or "Family Dollar Stores" ( not like run of the mill 'everything's a dollar store', more like general merchanside stores) I have found a "generic Downy" wrinkle release spray. It's great because it is about $ 1.50 for a fairly large container and the name brand in this Large size would be about $5.00. If you want to wear jeans that day, take them off the hanger and spray them, shake them well and put them in a pre-warmed dryer (that takes about 3 mins for the dryer to warm up)
for a couple of minutes. I usually get crisp no-iron jeans that are also softened up a little when I put them on.

Other neat laundry tricks....
* Try scrubbing the filter in your dryer. The stuff in the fabric softener sheets gunks up the lint filter. Just take some Hot soapy water and scrub it with an old toothbrush. You will notice the difference in how much water runs through the filter.

* always clean the lint filter, it's the second highest cause of appliance fires behind stove/ovens.

* though it's the ultimate pain, and it says to do it on the container anyway, always fill your washer with water and your cleaning solutions before you put the clothes in, it helps distribute the cleaning agents and makes your clothes rinse cleaner. Oh yeah, last thing, the hardness of your water may vary. You can usually find out the general info about that from your county home extention agent. Last time I checked, Wal-Mart had Borax (now there's an old name for you) which is an old fashioned water softener to help your soap work better in hard water areas.

Sionora, Sk8m8

My favorite jeans are AG's because they are made of denim that is softer and not as thick as traditional jeans and they have stretch that makes them more comfortable to wear and also makes them the best fit. I wash them in the washing machine and lay them flat to dry and they are not wrinkled.

Try hanging them to dry instead of putting them into the dryer. If you use a hanger with clips, clip them at the hem and hang them upside down. There will be few wrinkles.

My Jeans Tip...

In my laundry room, I wash only jeans with other jeans. And what is one normal size jeans load in the washer becomes 2 separate batches in the dryer. I find if I put more that 4 pairs of jeans max in the dryer, they come out wrinkled.

Sk8M8, LOL you seem to know WAY too much about laundry. I hope you're not spending too much of your time on that particular task.

DG

Wrinkled jeans are cool!

Mathman said:

Wrinkled jeans are cool!

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Now we're talking!! Obviously you have a life outside of your laundry room. I think I will start spending less time there myself and dry all the jeans at once. When my hubby complains about wrinkles, I'll just tell him that Mathman said wrinkles are cool.

Better yet, aren't dirty jeans cool?????



DG

Sk8M8, LOL you seem to know WAY too much about laundry. I hope you're not spending too much of your time on that particular task.

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Yes, I probably do at that hwell: What is really great is where I got the knowledge, though. My mom had a girl and 3 boys. She insisted that not one of us boys was going to marry becuase we couldn't cook and clean and do laundry. I think my mom was a non so secret late-blooming feminst

It was good that she did too. Two of us are bachelors and my other brother married a girl with a home economics background. By the way, people who earn thier living doing home economics don't much like to cook and clean when they come home. But fortunately between my mom and my sis-in-law I picked up a few pointers that keep me fed and help me to keep from looking like a bum.

Unfortunately I can tell you many things about laundry except how to motivate yourself to do it. Now there's the tip I NEED

skatingfantasy said:

Anyone have any advice on how I can get my jeans not to come out of the dryer so darned wrinkled? I wash about 5 pairs along with some shirts and stuff on warm and then rinse on warm since that is what's on the care tag for the jeans says to do and they run about a half an hour all together from start to finish, then I put them in the dryer sometimes with a fabric softener sheet and sometimes without if I'm using the detergent that already have the softener in it (tide) , they run about 50 minutes to dry , but when I take them out, they're just as wrinkled as when the went in the dryer. I have to iron them everytime and even if I get the wrinkles out, you can still see where the wrinkles were. This is very frustrating, because I want them to come out nicer but we don't have a permanent press setting on our dryer. Grateful for any suggestions.

Click to expand...

Take them out of the dryer while still slightly damp and then lay them down flat and sort of "press' them with your hands. Hang them up on pant hangers, don't fold them over the hanger this will put a crease in them or you can dry them in your bathroom on the shower curtain rod. Just don't leave them in the dryer for the full cycle and also don't leave them sitting in the dryer for too long once the dryer stops. I also believe Sears sells wrinkle free pants now. I don't know what is available in blue jeans, but worth checking out!!!

sk8m8 said:

Unfortunately I can tell you many things about laundry except how to motivate yourself to do it. Now there's the tip I NEED

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Resist the temptation to stop at Walmart for a new pack of underwear and socks when you run out of clean ones.

DG

skatingfantasy said:

I wash about 5 pairs along with some shirts and stuff

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I think this is a lot of your problem for the wrinkling. Don't dry so many, especially jeans, at the same time. Also, I know that a lot of people use too much soap in the laundry. I only use about half the soap it calls for because all you really need to do is freshen your clothes. You can get a soap buildup on your clothes. Many times, I put a cup of white vinegar in my wash. Vinegar is wonderful for soap buildup, removing the sizing from clothes and for hard water. I also use it to set colors. I would also experiment with the time you have your clothes in the dryer. I know that I can dry 2 pair of jeans, and 2 tops in 30 minutes. I take my jeans out immediately and hang, then shape cuffs and run my open hand down the legs. It would be like petting your dog. If there were wrinkles by doing this I petted them out. A lot depends on the fiber content too. For instance 100% cotton will probably always wrinkle. Cotton with added synthetic fibers will give you less wrinkling. I hope all these suggestions help, let us know.

Dee

Alright, Dee! Now, do you put soap in to wash with the vingar or do you wash the clothes in vinagar alone and wash them again in soap?

THAT is truely a "helpful hint"

I put about 1/2 to 1 cup of vinegar with the soap into the washing cycle. The vinegar helps with hard water and those other things I mentioned. I usuall buy the white vinegar by the gallon to keep on hand. I know a lot of people have asked........does it make the clothes smell and the answer is "NO." A lot of times I have reds and will use the vinegar to set the color so it won't bleed every time I wash them.

Vinegar is one of the best cleaning agents around and cost practically pennies. You can wash windows, clean hard water spots off of faucets, bathroom tile, do laundry and is one of the best footsoaks.

Dee

Great tips! Thank you! I think I'll try the "dry less jeans together" tip first and see how it goes, thanks again.

You can also use vinegar to kill the weeds in the cracks of your driveway. It will also do a good job getting rid of hard water spots on glassware. It is also a kind of antiseptic. Put some in your water to disinfect shelves, etc.

Definitely don't let the jeans lay in the dryer after the cycle is done!
I never iron anything....so if I don't line dry OR manage to get the clothes out of the dryer immediately, we wear wrinkled clothes....but we don't live a fancy life-style so it doesn't really matter.