When Scruff and I got married, he didn’t have a dryer in the house. He isn’t necessarily opposed to dryers, but hadn’t had one in about 15 years. Partly because he couldn’t make one fit in the basement, partly because he was getting by without, so why bother?

I told him “I sew. I need to prewash and dry. I need a dryer!!”. I ordered one, a really nice one that matches the new washer he ended up having to get fairly recently. (The previous washer was old enough to still have a metal tag labeling it as made in US!)

By measurements, it fit in space we created for it next to the washer. The delivery folks had had no problem getting the washer into the house; however, the dryer wouldn’t fit through the outside door and couldn’t be brought in.

I’ve now gone 4 1/2 months without a dryer. A couple a times we’ve gone to the laundromat to dry my washing… but not very many. Hanging seems to work ok, but I will be researching better racks for sheets.

Towels and clothes are a little “crispy” hung to dry, which I’m sort of getting used to (and honestly, the crispness goes away as you wear or use the item).

I’m beginning to think I don’t need one after all. It fits more with my environmentalist tendencies, and Scruff doesn’t mind either way…. so for now, we’re not getting a dryer.

My concern – and if you sew, please proffer opinions! – is prewashing yardage. I’m thinking that they may need to go to the laundromat dryer once, to get the preshrinking in. And I’d like to sew more with wool… I’ve heard a steam dryer is great for pretreating it. What would be a good alternative?