Nobody thinks about them. They sit in a bag by the washer or clipped along the line, and they do their job. But look closely at an ordinary clothespin and you’ll notice the two openings where the halves meet: a small one near the spring and a larger one toward the tips. Most people clip laundry with whatever part of the jaw lands first. Those two openings were designed for two different jobs, and using them the right way changes how your clothes come off the line.
The detail has been shared across Europe as one of those small everyday discoveries that makes people check their own clothespins. It’s worth the thirty seconds.
What each opening is for
The smaller opening, closer to the middle, is meant to grip the clothesline or the rail of a drying rack. The larger opening at the outer end is meant to hold the fabric. Clip the pin so the line sits in the small hole and the garment in the large one, and the pressure is spread where it should be: firmly on the line, gently on the fabric.
Do it the other way, or squeeze fabric and line together at the tip, and the pin presses hard on a small area of cloth. That’s what leaves the dents, ridges and creases that then have to be ironed out.
Why the design looks the way it does
There’s also a manufacturing logic. The cut-outs save material and weight, which matters for the millions of plastic pins made each year, and they make the pin flex more easily and spring back better. On wooden pins, traditionally made from birch because it doesn’t split or leak resin onto laundry, the openings help the wood cope with repeated soaking and drying.
Where to clip, garment by garment
Using the right opening is half of it. Where you clip is the other half:
- T-shirts and light tops: by the hem, not the shoulders, which stretch and dent.
- Pants and jeans: by the leg hems, hanging upside down.
- Dresses and skirts: at the waistband or sturdy side seams.
- Socks and underwear: by the elastic.
A few more habits help. Shake each piece out before hanging it, so it dries flat instead of in the shape it came out of the drum. Hang dark colors in the shade, since strong sun fades them. And bring pins indoors when the washing is done: left on the line through rain and sun, wooden pins turn gray and can mark light fabrics, and plastic ones grow brittle and snap.
There’s a bonus. When clothes hang from the fabric rather than being pressed flat against the line, air circulates better around them, so they dry faster and more evenly, especially thick items like towels and jeans.
Line-drying is also one of the gentlest things you can do for your clothes, along with choosing the right washing machine cycle in the first place.
Small hole on the line, big hole on the fabric, clip by the hem. Fewer marks, less ironing, faster drying. That’s the trick.
