Iron Dry

It's Tuesday --- which means it's time to do my weekly ironing here at Casa Jitterbug. I've set up my ironing station in the kitchen and retrieved an armful of hangers from the bedroom closet. While the iron heats up to the "nylon" setting, I thought it'd be a nice time to pay a call on my readers...

The authors of The Manual advise their own readers to begin the week's ironing by about 10:00 on Tuesday morning - after giving each of the rooms in the house a "light cleaning." After lunch, it was back to the ironing board. By 2:00 p.m., the efficient and skillful housewife should have all her ironing put away. That seems awfully quick. A whole week's ironing for a family in just a few hours? Especially for a woman working with a clunkier iron than we have today. And with all the different kinds of linens and things that were considered "must-irons" back in the day! Well, I guess if you didn't have any interruptions - and with several years' experience - you could probably get the job done in a few hours.

I shudder to remember how I used to iron everything on-demand. I had to drag that board out several mornings a week as I never ironed anything in advance. I was convinced they'd just wrinkle up again while hanging in the closet --- boy, was I wrong. (It helps when you don't have your closet jammed full of clothes that you don't wear any longer or don't fit you any more. Ironed clothes need a little elbow room.) Those of you who've been following me for awhile will probably remember what an adjustment this was for me. Now I love dispatching a whole week's ironing in a single evening. Last winter, when I was just getting started with the weekly ironing, I posted some general tips on ironing from The Manual. America's Housekeeping Book (1945) also gives detailed instructions on how to iron various kinds of wearing apparel or linens. Maybe it's time for me to check in with this vintage advice. How does my technique stand up? How 'bout yours?

Flatwork

1. Table Cloths: Fold selvedge to selvedge, right side out. Iron first on one side, then on the other. Fold again, lengthwise. Iron again on both sides. Fold to put away.

I have to admit I've never ironed any tablecloths. Of course, I only own two - an antique formal cloth that's never seen the light of day in my household and a floral one that dates to the early '40s and which I'm terrified even to launder. It only gets spot cleaned and shaken clean of crumbs once a week. One of these days I'll brave up...

2. Sheets: If you wish to be especially careful, iron as for tablecloths. Or iron 4 thicknesses at once: fold hem to hem, then fold in half, bringing hem side to fold. Iron first on plain side, then on hem side.

Check! Though I'm not always sure that I iron my sheets "right side out." I'll double-check them tonight.

3. Embroidered Pieces: Place heavy padding such as a folded bath towel on board or roll. Place the right side of the embroidery on the padding. Iron flat and perfectly dry.

Haven't had the occasion to iron any embroidered pieces lately. Do I even own any embroidered pieces?

4. Round Doilies: Iron from center toward outside edge. Keep turning the doily. Iron in the direction of the warp and filling yarns, not diagonally across them, or the doily will lose its shape.

Now this tip would have come in very handy when women kept as many doilies around the house as we do remote controls. I don't own any doilies, but I'd love to crochet a chair set one of these days for my club chair in the living room. I'll have to keep this tip in mind.

Curtains

1. Straight: Iron selvedge edges first. 2. Ruffled: Iron ruffles first... Iron a few inches at a time; finish edge first, then nose iron into gathers... After ruffles are finished, iron the body of the curtain, starting at the top hem and ironing downward. Avoid stretching, and iron in the direction of the yarns.

My only window coverings are blinds. I'm planning to amend this as I do some redecorating over the next several months, but in the meantime... My apartment sounds pathetic, doesn't it? Not a linen in sight!

Wearing Apparel

1. Dresses and Blouses: Iron in this order: trimmings, sleeves, back, front, collar. Double thicknesses such as hems, collars and cuffs should be ironed first on the wrong side, then on the right. A sleeve board is helpful auxiliary equipment. If material is dark in color, use a pressing cloth when ironing on the right side.

I'm definitely catching sleeves first these days, but I haven't saved collars for last - and haven't paid any attention to which side of the collar gets ironed first. I always iron dark-colored things wrong side out.

2. Men's Soft Shirts: (a) Collar: Iron on wrong side, then right side until perfectly dry, pulling taut and working from points in. Iron neckband completely dry. Shape collar by hand, iron edge of crease. (b) Yoke: Fold flat and iron dry. Iron armhole seams dry. (c) Cuffs and Sleeves: Iron cuffs same as collar. Nose iron up into gathers. Straighten sleeves from underarm seam; iron on both sides. Iron underarm seam dry. (d) Back and Front: Iron back first, then buttonhole side of front, then button side of front. Iron both sides of front pleat, holding it taut to prevent wrinkles.

There aren't any men in residence here, so I don't have any men's shirts to lavish this kind of attention on. I'm a little offended, though, that women's blouses just got junked in with the very brief instructions for ironing dresses! The authors of The Manual certainly had men's shirts down to a science.

3. Men's Washable Suits: (a) Iron linen suits while very damp; seersucker suits when slightly damp, gently stretching to original measurements. (b) Iron trouser pockets and waistband. (c) Place waistband of trousers over end of ironing board. Starting at fly, iron top of trousers. Remove from board. Place one trouser leg on board, straightening it from the "in-seam." (d) Press crease sharply for the entire length. Repeat, ironing second trouser leg. (e) Hang up to dry thoroughly. (f) Iron body of coat first, keeping lower edge in a straight line, and working from front to back and then to front again. (g) Iron sleeves, collar and lapels. (h) Iron shoulders on extra padding placed over the narrow end of the ironing board.

I guess the women who wore trousers would have to refer to these instructions, too. And I just finished ironing a pair myself! I'll have to check back in with these next week... All of this "iron dry" language reminds you how women used to dampen clothes before ironing them in these pre-steam iron days.

4. Pajamas: Iron like washable suits, above.

Shoot! We're supposed to be ironing our pajamas?

Trimmings, etc.

1. Smocking: Dry smocked sections with iron. Fluff up smocking with finger tips.

2. Pleats: (a) Iron hem of skirt first. (b) Pin pleats to pad or ironing board from under side of hem, using rust-proof pins. Be careful not to catch fabric where pinpricks will show. (c) Iron from bottom to top.

3. Tatting: Press tatting, never iron across it. Fingerpress while still damp, then press dry.

4. Tucks: (a) Vertical: Pull taut and hold taut while ironing lengthwise. (b) Horizontal: Iron downward from top tuck toward bottom tuck. Iron each section dry before going on to the next, or puckering may result.

5. Slide Fasteners: Close before ironing or pressing.

6. Laces: (a) Place face down on soft pad. (b) Iron from center to outside edge. (c) Lace used as trimming should be ironed from the attached edge outward if it is sewed on flat. If ruffled, iron from outside edge inward. (d) Fragile or rare old lace must be given special care by experts. Museums can advise you where special treatment is given.

7. Fringe: (a) Do not iron. (b) Comb gently when wet.

Velvet and Pile Fabrics

1. Do not iron.

2. Steam small pieces as follows: Tie several thickness of cheesecloth over teakettle spout. When steam emerges, pass the velvet rapidly back and forth through steam, so the steam passes through the velvet from the wrong side to the right side.

3. Send velvet garment or large pieces of velvet or other pile fabrics to a good dry-cleaning establishment for cleaning and steaming.

I can safely say I don't currently own any velvet or any clothes or linens trimmed with smocking, tatting, or fringe. Lace - I don't think so. Slide fasteners - Are these the same as zippers? I do own some pleated skirts, so will have to have these instructions at the ready next time they show up in my ironing pile. I usually avoid the pleated areas completely, but if you're treating your clothes with an eye toward long-term wear, you can't avoid those pleats forever!

29 + 4 = 33

The halfway mark (155 lbs.) is finally in sight! Just close enough that - barring disaster - I can glimpse it at a few weeks' distance. I weighed in at 161 this morning, with a loss of 4 lbs. this past week. I was pretty nervous during those first few days when I'd worked my abs too hard and couldn't do most of my limbering and stretching exercises, but I was super stringent about my eating to try and compensate - and it paid off handsomely. (My abdomen is feeling back to normal again, thank goodness.) Here's to cracking into the 150s when I step on that scale next Saturday morning!

One of the areas in my kitchen that isn't really addressed in The Manual's daily or weekly housekeeping routines is the breakfast table.

Here at Casa Jitterbug, mine is also a lunch and dinner table. I don't have a separate dining room, so my only table sits at one end of my kitchen. It's a round wooden table that seats four --- though the leaves that make it round can be dropped when not in use, making it more of a rectangle. Most of the time I leave a vintage tablecloth on top. It adds such a punch of color to my kitchen! I'd like to purchase a few more of these cloths so that I can rotate them seasonally and give the kitchen a different look from time to time. Since there's usually only one person seated at my table, I have it positioned against one wall with a 1950 Zenith radio opposite my chair. A small blue footed stand holds whatever fruit I've got in the house which doesn't need refrigeration. These days, I leave my vitamins and blood pressure medication sitting right there at the middle of the table. It isn't ideal. I'd love to keep them in the cupboard or something, but it keeps me from forgetting to take 'em if they're right there in front of me when I sit down to eat my breakfast.

It's a lovely spot. A cozy, cheery place for a meal I've worked hard to prepare. But my current kitchen cleaning routines don't include any kind of maintenance for this part of the kitchen. I've been sweeping the floor underneath the table on a weekly basis and washing it on a monthly basis, but what about the table and chairs? What about the tablecloth? How about the items I leave on my table? Every breakfast nook needs a little attention... I took a look at The Manual's routines for care of the dining room, but they were so focused on care of upholstery, furnishings, carpets, and "buffet appointments" that they didn't seem to apply very well to this particular situation.

So let's break it down. My kitchen table, first and foremost, is not just a dining table. It's a work surface. Tuesday evenings find me folding the cloth back so that I can set up my tabletop ironing board and work my way through a basket of clothes. (That table's the perfect height for ironing!) On Fridays or Saturdays, I fold the cloth back while I'm cleaning the kitchen so that I can store small items there while I'm cleaning the range and counter tops. If I have any baking to do that involves kneading or rolling or cutting, my tablecloth is whisked away to a safe place while I use the table as my breadboard.

Well, I guess this answers one of my questions. One of my weekly duties in the kitchen has long been to "Wipe... all work surfaces in need of cleaning." If my kitchen table is just as important a work surface as my counters and range top, it too needs a weekly washing. Here are some instructions on the care of wooden furniture which might be of help:

Make a light lather, using mild soap and lukewarm water. Wring a soft cloth out of this lather and go over a small area. Rinse with a cloth wrung out of clear water. Dry with a soft cloth.

The Manual goes on with instructions on polishing wooden furniture, but I'm not going to use any polish which might damage the tablecloth. The table has a good sturdy finish, so a weekly washing should suffice. I think that'll do for now. I'm headed into the kitchen in a few minutes to begin my work in there for the week. Next week, I'll add another step in the care of my breakfast nook to my housekeeping routine.

20 + 1 = 21

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind. For those of you following my little reducing saga, you'll remember that two weeks ago I had to stop taking the diuretic I'd taken for the last couple years to help control my blood pressure. After losing 20 lbs., my blood pressure had dropped so low that I needed to begin stepping down on the meds, and the diuretic was the first to go. Within four days, I gained 4 lbs. in water weight. During the last 10 days, I've worked my patooty off and managed to lose not only 4 lbs. to compensate for the water weight but 1 more lb. to boot. And all the time I've continued drinking 64 oz. of water per day - the same amount of water I was drinking while I was taking the diuretic and the same amount I drank everyday last week --- so I'm feeling pretty confident that what I've lost this last week has been genuine poundage. At any rate, I weighed in at 173 this morning. We're back on the move, dear readers!

The red Mexican bird of paradise is now in bloom which means our long-winded desert summer is about halfway over --- it also means, unfortunately, that my little apartment is starting to smell very stuffy. I've tried to keep things sealed up in here since it became blazing hot in June. The windows are never opened and the door opened just long enough for me to exit or enter. I'm not sure what the cure for this midsummer stuffiness might be. Is there some secret none of the natives have filled me in on yet? It's too hot even in the middle of the night to crack the windows. Ah well, I guess I can endure the stuffiness for a couple more months.

The Woman's Home Companion Household Book (1948) has some wonderful suggestions for those seeking to cool their homes - in looks and in temperature - during summers in a pre-air conditioning world. Maybe these'll come in handy for you lucky dames living in a more temperate climate! It's fascinating to me how much more amenable people once seemed to adapting their decor to the season instead of fighting Mother Nature tooth and nail to keep things looking the same year-round. It was almost expected - either when you did your spring cleaning or about the time you put up your window screens - that you would switch out the furnishings, linens, and draperies throughout your home for the summer ahead.

The first few are very practical tips for cooling your home and circulating air:

• Closed windows and drawn blinds throughout the day will prevent sunshine and warm air from penetrating the house, as southerners learned long ago. Wait until the sun has left the horizon before opening windows and raising blinds to welcome any cool air the evening may bring. Opening upstairs windows and keeping the lower ones closed will permit the warm air, which has risen to escape.

• Electric fans put in action in strategic points throughout the house will keep the air in circulation... In front of the fan or fans, place a tray filled with chunks of ice - they will cool the air which is circulated by the fans.

• Evenings will be somewhat cooler if candles are substituted for electric lights.

• Sofas and chairs, which in the winter faced a cheerful fireside, should now be directly or obliquely in the path of any breeze the windows or doors may lure into the room.

These next two have the comfort of the housewife in mind:

• With an eye to relief from the burden of cleaning tasks, many housewives use a blanket cover instead of the traditional bedspread. A dressing table which has good lines can be left unskirted during the warm months.

• Summer is no time for laundering fine damask, babying fine crystal or polishing prized silverware. During the warm season, use only the simplest, most informal luncheon cloths and place mats.

This last series is all about "cooling" your decor:

• Bright slipcovers [examples: white with green ivy print or a floral print in blue, white and a bit of wine] rank high in importance among summer transformations. Not only do they play a part in cooling off the color scheme but they protect upholstery fabrics from the harm to which dust and sunshine streaming through summer-open windows expose them.

• Large rugs - Oriental, velvet broadloom, wool piles, etc. - deserve a professional cleaning annually and it is practical to send them out for cleaning and storage when the warm days arrive. Living room, dining room or bedroom floors left bare by their departure will look much cooler and will have a chance to display their own hardwood beauty.

• Use sheer white fabrics to make cool, filmy summer curtains to replace warm winter draperies.

• In place of the usual kindling wood and logs, pile laurel or pine branches across the andirons and in the woodbasket. For a more dramatic change, store the andirons, etc., and set a big potted plant or basket of greens in their place.

• Wooden bowls... are nice for serving rolls, fruits and vegetables, as well as salads.
  
  
• This is the time to use vegetable-shaped soup bowls, leaf-shaped serving dishes. Hunt out amusing salt and pepper shakers and relish dishes of all kinds. Have pottery vivid in hue - in one solid tone or colors which combine.

Catch-up Time

It's high time for one of those lil' bit of everything kinda posts - a catch-up post. The Great Housekeeping Experiment has left me curious about lots of things along the way, and I wanted to report on some of the things I've discovered.

First of all, my decision to straighten up the living room just before going to bed at night seems to work really well for me right now. I haven't forgotten to do it in quite some time, and having that extra few minutes in the morning for bedmaking has come in handy. For now, it works nicely. I'm not sure that'll be the case as I add more chores to my housekeeping schedule. The evenings may become a little more busy. Well, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Remember that article on "eating to reduce" in a vintage copy of Good Housekeeping? I was curious about the portions I've been eating and how they compare to 1945 diet advice. According to the magazine, a standard size portion of cereal (suitable only for the men and teenaged boys in your family) was 2/3 cup. Women, teenaged girls and children should have a slightly smaller portion. A few days ago, Malt-O-Meal was on the menu at breakfast, and I prepared one serving according to the instructions on the package. When the cereal was finished cooking, it turned out to be 3/4 cup. Larger than even the serving size recommended for men and growing boys! I think I'll try cutting the size of the portions I'm making by just a smidge and see if I can get the finished servings of cereal down at least to 2/3 cup. I'd love a vintage waistline!

Speaking of cereal, this morning's menu was perfect for a chilly day:

Oatmeal with Prunes

The description is ever-so-slightly different than a similar meal I had a few weeks ago:

Stewed Prunes

Oatmeal

So instead of serving the Prunes on the side, I cut them in pieces and dropped 'em into the pot of oatmeal while it was bubbling away. A subtle twist on words here, but I think the author of the cookbook meant for these to be two different meals. In a vintage magazine article on bringing your family back to the breakfast table, I read that you might make cooked cereals more tempting to Jim or little Patty by adding dried dates, raisins, figs, prunes, or apricots. No doubt.

One of the questions I took up about a month ago was the wardrobe appropriate for a 1940s housewife during the early hours of the morning. Should I be fully dressed and ready for company by the time I start breakfast? Would a housecoat be suitable for morning housework? How 'bout a robe and slippers? Since I head off for work after breakfast, I've been getting dressed before getting things started in the kitchen - but hadn't given up my comfy slippers until yesterday. Let's face it, though. If a '40s housewife went to the trouble of getting fully dressed before breakfast, she probably didn't dumb down her outfit with slippers! So shoes it is. And though I love wearing a pinafore-style apron while I'm working at the stove, it doesn't seem quite right once I'm sitting down to eat. It's funny --- there's nobody here to see what I'm wearing - or not wearing - at the breakfast table, but wardrobe can really have an impact on your state of mind. Breakfast should be a festive meal.

In the homes of workers breakfast always comes at the all-too-brief period between waking and dashing off for the train to the city. It is the unusual commuter who rises early enough to spend much time at table in the morning... Set your table in the sun, if possible. Look out on a garden if you can do so, or, in winter, on a birds' feeding station. It's fun to have breakfast in company with the juncos and blue jays. It's also nice to pull a small table close up to the open fire on chilly mornings, or to set out breakfast on the terrace in summer. Flowers or fruit on the table. Place mats, or a gay peasant cloth. Napkins at left. People should wake up cheerful and breakfast should be serene and gay. Try to manage your household so that your husband enjoys his breakfast and wishes he could stay longer, even as you push him out the door with a kiss on his way to the eight-fourteen.

Lily Haxworth Wallace, ed., The New American Etiquette
(New York: Books, 1941)

Here's my last bit of catch-up for the day. A glimpse of my favorite vintage tablecloth, which probably dates to the WWII years. It makes my table so bright and cheery. Even on days with a menu like the infamous Tomato Juice and Waffles with Butterscotch Sauce.

Competing Visions

Since I still had a Grapefruit Half left over from yesterday, today's breakfast was more of the same. Once again, I ended up with citrus juice on my tablecloth. I've decided that I'm either going to have to loosen each of the segments at the kitchen countertop before bringing my grapefruit to the table or take the tablecloth off the table when grapefruits or oranges are on the menu! Maybe I'll have pick up some non-vintage table linens for just these kinds of mornings...

I came across an article in a July 1944 issue of The American Home with one woman's routine in keeping house. "I Run My Career Like a Star" was written by Celia Mattox, a mother of three. Here's the bit on her morning schedule:

Whatever day it is, it begins at 6:30. To wash, I slip into a becoming dressing gown - watch the shade, for a strong color gives a pasty look to a face without any make-up. Then I change into my blue denim outfit to prepare breakfast. [She explains earlier that while at home during the day she likes to wear a "becoming cotton blouse" with a blue denim skirt and "gay apron."] That over, the dishes are stacked, the house is aired, and I snatch a few minutes to do my exercises.

There's one woman who opted for a "dressing gown" while she spent some time in the bathroom washing up, but she was fully dressed before hitting the kitchen. I notice that she mentions stacking the dishes (maybe she doesn't wash her breakfast dishes right away either) and airing her house (fresh air is given lots of emphasis in the 1945 housekeeping manual). It sounds like Mrs. Mattox wouldn't have much to argue about with the authors of the manual - at least when it comes to her early morning routine. Heck, maybe she even owned a copy herself!



The Good Housekeeping Housekeeping Book (1947), edited by Helen W. Kendall, also contains a schedule for housework, though it's not quite as detailed as the one in the 1945 manual. Each member of the household is instructed to "hang up night clothes and put away slippers" before finishing up in their bedrooms in the morning. As soon as breakfast is over, "the dishes should be washed and the kitchen straightened up before you go about other household work."

• Remove dishes from the table, scrape, and rinse under the faucet if they need it. Stack them neatly at one side of the sink.
  
• Put away foods that belong in the refrigerator.
  
• Clear away waste food. Get rid of grounds from coffee or tea pot and empty cooking utensils which have been soaking during the meal.
  
• Clean sink so that it will be ready for dishwashing.
  
• Prepare dishwater and wash, dry, and put away dishes.

Kendall suggests that the living room be tidied up just before going to bed at night. "To start each day with the room neat, take a few minutes before going to bed to pick up newspapers and magazines, empty the ash trays, and take glasses into the kitchen." While the 1945 manual advises every member of the family to do their part in straightening up the living room at bedtime, they seem to have built this step into the post-breakfast routine just in case others hadn't done their part after Mother retired for the evening. Those crazy teenagers and their record players! As a one-woman household, I have more control over this situation, so tidying up the living room at bedtime rather than in the morning is certainly an option.

Kendall recommends that pots and pans be soaked during the meal so they're ready for dishwashing as soon as you are. A great concept, but what if your family's interested in a second serving? This would probably work out fine for me unless I had any leftovers that needed to be dispatched with beforehand. The biggest way in which Kendall's routine differs from my 1945 housekeeping manual is dishwashing. She is adamant that the breakfast dishes must be washed before doing anything else. This is not a bad idea, but the fact that I have a dishwasher which only gets filled up a couple times a week makes it kind of a moot point. I might give some thought to getting the pots and pans washed up and put away right after breakfast. If I straightened up the living room at bedtime, that'd free up some time for dishwashing in the a.m.

What do you think? Have you come across any vintage housekeeping schedules that offer advice for these early morning chores?