On Mesh Bags for Small & Delicate Garments, Then & Now

We had a mesh bag for smaller items (like this one), which Mom would use for our combined hosiery when necessary. Everything else we’d wash among the family’s combined laundry loads. Back then, the garments we’d wear, we’d typically only have knee highs (like these) in the mesh bag, where Mom would tie a pair together in a knot in order to keep those which matched together more easily.

We’d line dry the bag's contents after the wash load had finished; the hosiery contents were best cared for this way & not by using the dryer. Other delicates that we’d have in the wash didn’t seem to get too mangled too soon (in other words, they seemed to last well through the years), despite all the twists & turns & inner plastic pieces of the washing machine where fabrics easily got tangled.

This, however, isn’t so much the case nowadays & my use of mesh bags has grown quite a bit (I use mesh bags like these & these). Rather than concern myself with the insides of the washing machine, I’ve found it best to use a mesh bag with each of my non-linen loads (those loads full of sheets & towels). If I’ve a white & a dark load, or a white, colors, & a dark load, I have a mesh bag for each with the corresponding hosiery & other, similar, delicate items. This way no fabrics can become stretched or mangled around another garment or a part inside of the machine. The garments I tend to wear often nowadays aren’t so much knee highs, rather most every day I find myself in tights (like these & these) or pantyhose (like these & these). These, along with most every other undergarment, I’ve found, work best for me, to be washed in a mesh bag. It’s also easiest to remove the bag from the machine, get it into the pop-up hamper basket, & onto the drying rack after having been washed in the mesh bag rather than loosely.

In previous experiences I’d feel I was removing large, long strands of spaghetti from the washing machine as I pulled out the loose hosiery as one pair would be wrapped around multiple pairs of hosiery as well as other items such as the torso of a top. It’s kept condensed, contained, & safe within the mesh bag. Fortunately mesh bags are sold in varying shapes, sizes, & shades.