I use a clothes line whenever possible - but like you don't like the stiffness of the clothes after their being dried in the sun - my answer is when I bring them in I simply throw them in the dryer for a few minutes. This fluffs them up and uses very little power. Or just wear your "hair shirt"!

I'm living in Ketchikan, Alaska, where rain is measured in feet, not inches.  An outdoor clothesline is a dream, a fantasy never to be.  However, an indoor clothesline works wonders, and probably does anywhere someone has some extra indoor space.  Plus, the cardboard clothing effect is greatly reduced.

The No. 1 consideration must be your outdoor space: its dimensions, location, and availability of line-stringing spots.

Probably your number one consideration should be legality. Many municipalities and homeowners associations have rules against visible clotheslines.

Hey Being a Brit it's kind of in your genes to use a clothesline ALL year round. I too live in the Pacific NW where it rains more than in Blighty...yep it does I spoke to my Dad today and it's in the 70'-80's over there!! During the winter and the rain my Mum would string a never ending clothes line under our carport and our clothes would hang out there all day. Come the evening they would be transfered into the house and our stock pile of coat hangers would come out  and everything from our undies to shirts were pegged or hung over the hangers. The hangers were then hung over door frames, heaters, hooks, etc. in fact pretty much anywhere inside the house where they would stay. Sometimes I felt like I lived in a Chinese laundrey, but when your dont poscess a drier you have to improvise the best you can. In fact it was not till 1990 when I came to the States that I met these energy consuming things you call driers!! I do pocess a drier but if I can get away without using it then I do, I have a indoor clothes horse and an outside whirly drier (we call them that as they whirl around in the wind.) A couple of years ago I spoke to PUD regarding my energy consumption, and they said that compared to most families of four we use a 3rd less energy than the average family. My Mum was born in 1929 and went through rationing and living in London in the 2nd world war, she nagged at us if we walked out of a room and left a single light bulb on...I now do the same with my family, I guess it's all what you grew up with!!!  

Despite being a resident of Wonderfully raindrenched Copenhagen - Salty'n'Soaked Queen of the sea - I must profess to being a clothesline fanatic. Nothing quite beats the pleasure of going to sleep in linen that smells ever so nice after being dryed on a garden clothesline.
As for the cardboardiness of the clothes a neat trick is to add a little vinegar to the washingmachine during the last rinsing cycle. This also eliminates the need for fabric softener, a nasty chemical cocktail for the aquatic environment and allergic humans alike.
The recreational value of the garden can also profit from a clothesline arrangement with two poles and a rope. This can, if used only in times of total vacancy on the clothesline, be a great football - that is soccer to you - goal.

air drying is totally the way to go! the only things i put in the drier ever are my sheets and bath towels, and the occasional item covered with cat hair. two plusses that haven't been mentioned are: drying your clothes inside helps humidify your environment in the winter and cool your environment in the summer (yay, latent heat!); also it's generally better for your clothes (less wear and tear). of course, if you haul your clothes to the laundromat, you dry them there because, well, water is heavy.

also, it should be mentioned that natural gas is much better than electric for driers as with most other appliances.

Why no vinyl?