Prairie Pin Pouch Handmade Clothespin Bag – Made for Heavy Use
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure here.
The Prairie Pin Pouch is a modern rendition of a classic clothespin bag. I found these handmade laundry helpers in a somewhat unusual fashion. Some friends were visiting from out of town one afternoon when the phone rang. On the line was Julie Pruett, creator of the Prairie Pin Pouch.
As it turns out, Julie read a review I wrote several years ago on Amazon.com about a clothespin bag that didn’t stand up well to our high winds. The flimsy thing kept blowing off the clothesline, which dumped my pins 12 feet below. (Our clothesline is on our raised deck.) It was very frustrating.
Julie saved that review, contacted me about her handmade clothespin bags, and sent me a sample.
Prairie Pin Pouch Handmade Clothespin Bag Basics
These clothespin bags are made of durable duck cloth to help them stand up to years of wear. They measure 13 by 11 inches, so they have plenty of room for clothespins. If you compare my old bag side by side with the Prairie Pin Pouch (old bag is on the right), you can see how much larger the new bag is.
Stay Open Top
The Prairie Pin Pouch is also hard wired to stay open for easy pin access. If you look at where the hanger connects to the bag, you’ll see the Prairie Pin Pouch has closed wire loops, as opposed to the original pin bag which has the hooks stuck through grommets.
Would you like to save this?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Deep Grip Hanger
When you examine the hanger itself, you can see how much more substantial the Prairie Pin Pouch hanger is compared to the other bag. It grips the clothesline with over an inch of metal, so it’s much tougher to blow this clothespin bag off.
Thank You Gifts
Julie packs each bag with a little something extra – a bar of Fels-Naptha soap for laundry stain removal (or making your own homemade laundry soap) and 15 clothespins to help get your started. These are the peg styled pins, which work better on a narrow/wire laundry line. I have a thicker cloth line, but I thought it was still a nice touch. If you have the right line for them, they don’t have any springs to get unsprung in high winds. (I killed many clothespins over the years via sprung springs, until I found Kevin’s Quality Clothespins.)
The only thing I might suggest would be to tweak the design a little to place the hook towards the back like the Original Champion Bag from 1950s. I remember my mom having one of those bags, and it wore like iron. That laundry bag lasted through six kids and roughly half a century. I suspect the Prairie Pin Pouches will hold up as well. Julie has seven different fabric options shown on the site, so you can brighten up your laundry line while you hang up your clothes.
I got my Prairie Pin Pouch in 2013. Four years later and it’s still holding up well.
You may also find useful:
- Do It Yourself Laundry and Household Cleaners
- Natural Stove Cleaners
- Portable Clothes Washer Review and Comparison – What Works
Originally posted in 2013, updated in 2017.
I love to sleep on sheets that have been dried on my clothesline. No fabric softener can compare with fresh air and sunshine.
Ohhh!!! I really need one of these!
dry the clothes outside!
Mine is a question: How to get black scuff marks off of terazzo without harsh chemicals – I would love to know this!
One idea on the scuff marks (you may want to test on a very small area first): Apply two to four drops of tea-tree oil to the spots. Wipe excess oil with a cloth and rub in distilled white vinegar.
Hi!, I find if I hang the pants upside down legs on top and put one let on one line and the other leg on the return line the winds goes thru it better and drys faster.
I’m with Mary, vinegar and baking soda are amazing!
Someone sent this to me recently for fresh fabric stains.
A tablespoon of Dawn dish detergent, a couple tablespoons of baking soda and a couple tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide made into a paste and scrubbed into the stain with a brush. Wash as usual.
This gives me great memories of hanging wash with my grandma.
Best laundry tip – twice a year I throw all my towels into the machine (well, a few loads) and run it through three times: once with detergent, then again with vinegar, and a last time with baking soda. They smell FRESH, they brighten up color-wise, and the whites get white again, and no bleach!
I finally got a clothesline again after years of living in a community that didn’t allow them. I missed the smell of sunshine on my clothes! And I agree with Mary – vinegar and baking soda are two cleaning must-haves.
I hang out clothes all the time. This bag looks great
I use vinegar and dryer balls in my dryer when I can’t hang my clothes out to dry.
This bag is awesome and seems much more durable than the one I made for myself. This is a great giveaway and I would love to have a bag like this. I love to hang clothes outside. It gives me time to myself to think and pray and be with nature and just some quiet, peaceful time. Time just seems to stop when I hang up our clothes. It also gives me satisfaction as a future homemaker and wife that I am achieving my homemaking skills whilst saving our family money that can be redirected to some other bill. Money is so tight right now too. Anyways, awesome giveaway!
I sure could use a new laundry bag! The one I am using is falling apart because of the high winds we get where we live. I was thinking of making my own just to have a heavy duty material that you can’t find when buying them at the store. I love hanging the laundry out to dry!
My cheaply made bag has big holes and I definitely NEED this bag!
My mom hung clothes outside when I was a kid and I remember how they smelled. I have been reading about homesteading and saving money lately and hanging clothes outside keeps coming up. I need to just do it. What does everyone do in the winter? Dryer? hang inside?
nothing smells better than sun dried clothes! Vinegar in the rinse is a natural fabric softener.
This is timely! I was just griping about the little bin that I use for clothes pins. I set it on the ground and get a sore back from bend, pin, repeat.
Don’t laugh, but I’ve learned the beauty of the Rainbow load! Unless I’m washing something really nice (very rare) or something that is new and I think might bleed, I don’t sort clothes anymore. It’s so much easier just to load them in as they come. We find Rainbow / Combo loads to be easier to deal with….just a few pairs of socks in any given load. Before this we always hated dealing with the White load and all it’s little bits and pieces. It’s much easier to keep the laundry moving this way. Plus we are training the kids to run their own loads when their basket is filled (Rainbow-style).
Would love to win a pin bag!
Do you have a homemade stain remover? I make my own detergent but would like to find something that would remove those tough stains.