10 No-Messin’ Rules for an Efficient Laundry Day

The Mama of All Bung-It-In-Bags

You think I'm kidding don't you?  I'm so NOT kidding.  I've only gone and written a perrrrrroper, nice and domesticated blog post!  This will knock your socks off. Just make sure you pick 'em up and clean 'em after.

My Hardcore, No-Messin’ 10 Rules for an Efficient Laundry Day

Our new Piece & Jam Collection takes iconic shapes and phrases and turns them into mini-artworks on every day stuff. Sound a bit arty farty? It's not really - this approach to our products comes from trying to make the paraphernalia of housewifery fun, not just functional.

I am not known for my enjoyment of washing chores (I'm a very shoddy Domestic Operating Officer), but that’s exactly why I need it to be an efficient and time-saving operation.  I would rather be sewing, you see?!  So here it is:

1)   Count your pegs. Have I gone mad? Seriously – count your pegs, and check out how much hanging space you’ve got. We’ll come back to the pegs and line in a minute...

2)   Sort your laundry bins. Don’t have huge ones. But do have a few, because you’re going to sort clothes the moment you get naked, my friends. Establish the following laundry baskets:

a.   one for white undergarments

b.   one for dark undergarments

c.   one for workshirts

d.   one for dark clothes

e.   one for light clothes

f.   I tend to shove all the kids’ clothes in one or two bins divided into lights/brights

g.  I have one for woollens and silks etc (which, ahem, never really get washed.) Anyway – you get the drift, yes?

Try to plan your Laundry Baskets so they relate to where you put things away – so if you have all the kids' tops and t-shirts in one chest of drawers, have a laundry basket for that category.  All the husbands’ pants and socks in one chest of drawers?  A laundry basket for that category. 
Pyjama drawer? Pyjama laundry basket.

3)   DON’T move your laundry baskets from their allotted positions, on pain of death! They live there to catch yer smelly smalls – let your Laundry Bags do the moving jobs.

Disobey the Receptacle Rule at Your Peril

4)   Start thinking in ‘loads’ and ‘receptacles’. Have SMALL receptacles such as laundry bags to take your stuff from laundry basket to washing machine. We designed our Laundry Bags in two sizes – half and full load!  Don’t overload!  Too much and you’ll end up with ditched knickers on the floor. Moreover you’ll have too many clothes to hang on the line and not enough pegs to hang them with!  Ah, do you see? Told you it would make sense.

5)   Obey the Receptacle Rule: Always have Only One Load Per Receptacle, and Always One Receptacle Per Load! The laundry bag is like a faithful bodyguard – it stays with its load at all times.  Leave the bag by the machine (a line of rustic hooks on the wall by the machine is perfect for hanging bags on), and there it is – ready to decant your shiny smalls into when done.  

6)   The Load fits the Line! Now your perfectly size-defined load of washing will magically fit the number of pegs in your lovely Peg Bag, and the amount of space on your line.

Peg Bags like art. Bring it, they say.

7)   When dry – fold as you take down. And this is where that tip about matching your laundry baskets to where things live helps – on a good day, I fold all the items from the line onto a chair, then carry up and put them all away in just ONE place, not 18! No stray teatowels, no odd socks, no belligerent towels creeping in. And the trusty Laundry Bag gets put back upstairs, ready for its next lovely filthy occupants.

8)   One in the Machine, One on the Line, One to Put Away. Have a Maximum of 3 rule! A cheeky queue of Laundry Bags next to the washing machine isn’t so bad, if you have a utility room that can accommodate such guests, but get upstairs and put the clean and dry ones away first, you slattern you.

9)   Have a Washing Calendar.  If you’re really efficient, you can even do a calendar, for all your categories, including towels and sheets (for which bulky monsters our beefy Bung-It-In Bag is designed). Not forgetting of course, Sunday Evening at 9.30pm – School Uniforms.  Ahem...

10) Be green in your washing choices - if you prefer a stiffer alternative to Laundry Bags, you could try sourcing a fairtrade jute basket, or look for a recycled plastic basket like the ones in Folksy store Merja’s Crochet Recycle.  For other washday products, try Nigel’s Eco Store; for some cool British-made and green pegs, you could give these recycled clothes pegs from GreenTree a try and if you really want to have some fun – make your own cleaning products – that’s what I do.  For all the ingredients to make them, try Summer Naturals, and give this smashing little book a try – Natural Stain Removers, by Angela Martin.

Ooh, you'll be mean, green cleaning machines in no time!

The Piece & Jam Collection Launches!

Well, we are delighted to announce the launch of our brand new, hard fought, hard won, 'Piece and Jam' and 'Stratford' Collections!

Now then, when Amanda and I decided it was time our Kids' Collection got some company on the site, we wanted to get back to basics and sew something from our hearts.  We agreed to go off and pursue our own stitchy little agendas and come up with a collection each, that we would then market.  This allowed each of us to do her own thing, and remain faithful to it.  Teamwork is essential in business, but sometimes you also have to let your own creativity spark fully into a great big fire too!

Piece and Jam is my fire, and Amanda's burning desire is Stratford.


When I was a nipper, I and my several other nipper siblings used to play outside. Of course, then we'd get hungry and hassle that lady who lived in the kitchen.  That's right, Mum, her name was.  Or rather "Mu-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-ummm....." which is what all self-respecting children call their mother.  Even when they're grownups with children of their own and want their mother to take up a hem or design a whole product for their vintage and recycled fabric homewares company.  Ahem.


Wanyhoo.....so, she would lob at us what she called a 'piece'n'jam' to shut us up and keep us outside.  I believe it is a Scottish phrase, or at least, that's where she found it, her parents being Scots.  A piece'n'jam is just bread and jam.  No butter or anything fancypants like that, oh no.  Just a piece of bread.

With jam on.

Now, although our Piece and Jam Collection is sort of, essentially, my baby - in the end it was actually Amanda who has made the products.  Lazy aren't I?  So I was sitting here with my free-motion embroidery head on, sketching vintage sewing machines or radios or socks or pants or shoes (well, go and look!) and thinking up phrases, and fiddling with embroidery threads and having enormous fun 'writing' in thread on bits of vintage fabric, and then I'd turn up in the school playground, and shove my makes at Amanda.  Kind of drop them at her feet, like a cat with a dead frog.
And say things like - "Um, fancy putting that on a pegbag?" or "Hey, you know how good you are at making Tea Cosies?" or "Oh you're so pretty and clever at making great big laundry bags.....ooooh look at this, wouldn't that look nice on one?" and then I'd run, run like the wind....
Poor woman.

So, in the end - Amanda pieces together the fabrics, linings, straps and templates to make the actual product and I supply the 'Jam'! Of course, our lovely stitchers will make them once we have sent them the patterns and they're ready for the jammin', and so when you order, you must still have a look at your OriginalStitch Tag to see which of our stitchers made your product.

What's great about Piece and Jam is that you can choose your piece, and your can choose your jam.  Want wholemeal with raspberry?  No problem.  Rye and Stoneground with Gooseberry?  Ciabatta with Fruits of the Forest you say?  Done.
Oh, no, hang on - that's actual bread and jam, sorry....

Let's try again, yes?
Want an Apron with a Radio on?  We're on your wavelength.
Want a Shoe-Bag with a Sewing Machine on? We're sew with you on that.
A Tea-Cosy with Bunting on? Just flag it up when you order.
A Laundry-Bag with Shoes on?  We'll toe the line...

Am I having a little too much fun with this?  Well, why not.  This is a fun collection of iconic shapes and phrases turned into mini-artworks on everyday things.

Coz why should your laundry bag be boring?  Get jammin'!