Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Ironing - But Were Afraid To Ask

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launderess

launderess

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Highly recommend this book for those seeking to brush up on their ironing skills. Parts may be dated, but considering the 1940's to 1950's were the last heydays of housewives ironing it is a pretty good manual. Book also covers things such as using soap verus modern detergents for laundry, bluings, bleaches, softening water, and so forth.

Mary Proctor was a member of the famous Proctor family of appliance fame. Rather than let her work in the company, guess the powers that be put her to work writing these sort of manuals. While it may seem silly to us today, housekeeping was (and still is) very hard work. Modern science coupled with "home economics" devoted research into every aspect of managing a home so a woman could use her time and energy wisely.

L.

 
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solution to the ironing duress

When my children were young..esp. those teenage years it seemed like every articial of clothing they wore had to be ironed..not to mention I wore a starched white shirt to work everyday..soooo sunday afernoons were spent at the "board". I'm rambling I know..Somone told me to make the chore more enjoyable try saying a short prayer for the person's articial of clothing your ironing. Needless to say..I prayed myself silly. But it really worked/mark
 
Launderess I am curious...

How much ironing do you do, and on what type of clothes? Curious what others do.

I do ALL the laundry in the household. I must admit, as much as I love the machines and appliances, I know very little about laundry. I know how to seperate, wash my towels seperate in hot, most everything else in warm. I dry on the lowest setting to avoid shrinkage. I dry sheets all together to avoid issues, and of course, do whites seperately, and even save up reds and pinks and do them by themselves...just in case.

All that said, when I hear my friends here talk about different detergents, suds lock, and all different types of techniques, this is honestly over my head.

Results wise, my laundry usually comes out quite well...wish I could get whites whiter. On ironing, I used to iron my white business shirts but then gave up and just had the dry cleaners do them. Now I rarely iron. I usually take things right out of the dryer and hang them up and avoid most wrinkles. The only time I fire the iron up is when a previously pressed suit or dress shirt has been wrinkled somehow, and I "touch it up".

My mom, however, irons alot. Even her sheets are ironed. I always say, you have not slept in a proper bed until you have slept at my mom's house. Fresh pressed sheets, no stains on anything, no exceptions. And some of her beddings are many years old, so I don't know what she does!

What does everyone iron here, and how does it improve things?
 
I've found an acceptable (to me) workaround for ironing is to hang shirts that need it wet out of the washer (300 RPM spin, Downy Advanced in the rinse), on hangers to dry. Then run them through the dryer on a 20-min heat cycle the next day. They're certainly not pristine, but good enough for my casual workplace. Anything that really does need ironing, the grandmother insists I take to her. I don't like to do that when she's complaining about this and that aching, but she gets pissed if I don't. I may iron on rare occasions, but my spiffy "new" iron with retractable cord, variable steam, yada-yada, hasn't gotten much use.
 
All linens (bed and table) as well as shirts/blouses are ironed. Have one of those hotel type "trouser presses" and often will use it for pants/slacks and jeans as it does a pretty good job.

Most all my bed and table linens are vintage cotton (Pequot or Wamsutta), or pure linen, thus do not look nor feel the same if they are not ironed after laundering. Cannot abide those ghastly polyester/cotton blends or worse pure cotton linens.

As one of my aunts would say "anything worth doing is worth doing right". You've not tlived until you've slept on freshly laundered and ironed sheets.

L.
 
I will agree with you, Laundress. There is something wonderful about 100% cotton sheets hung outside to dry and then ironed. I FINALLY got an outdoor clothes line this summer and love to hang the sheets out in the breeze and then press them. It is a little bit of work, but I really enjoy crawling in between those covers that night. Nothing smells or feels quite so good. But sheets are about the only things I will iron on a regular basis...all of my dress shirts go in with the weekly dry cleaning. (Sometimes I cheat and only iron the pillow cases and half of the top sheet...because that is what shows. Ha!)
 

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