I love JCPenney. They sell real clothes for real people, including short fat people like me. Some of my favorite clothes were purchased from JCP. However, the new spring catalog has me baffled. I was browsing through it last night, looking for a new dress to wear to church. I found several possibilities UNTIL I started reading the descriptions. Over and over, the phrase “line dry” appeared. Eight dress descriptions actually say “hand wash, line dry”. Do what? Not only do I not have the time to hand wash a dress, I don’t have the hand strength to hand wash a dress! And who still has a clothes line? Give me a break! We’re not talking about delicate silk either. We’re talkin’ $59.99 rayon/polyester. I thought man-made fabrics were supposed to save us time and energy!
Maybe I’m just behind the times. Maybe those new super-duper, space-age washers and dryers have settings that say “hand wash”, or “line dry”. The Maytag Epic washing machine has a “Smooth Balance Suspension System, Sensi-Care Wash System, IntelliTemp Automatic Temperature Control, Time Release Shower System, Sensor-Controlled Suds Detection, and Thermal Optimization”. I don’t even know what some of those mean, but surely it can handle a rayon/polyester dress! If I could scrape together $1,400 for a washer maybe I could buy all the “hand wash/line dry” dresses I want!
No, I’m not going the boycott JCP or send them a whiny email. I’ve already talked to friends who say all their favorite retailers sell the same dresses with the same annoying cleaning instructions. I already avoid anything that says “dry clean”. I’ll just add “hand wash” to the list. Maybe I’ll go back to sewing. I used to be pretty darned good with a sewing machine and length of fabric! Just have to avoid rayon/polyester. And find the time to sew...
Maybe I'll take another look at the washable dresses. Some of them weren't that bad.
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