As I was sorting through my dirty laundry last night in preparation for this morning's wash, it occurred to me that I've spent more time during the last two weeks reading the labels on my clothes than I ever have before. I guess I'm getting to know my clothes more intimately. And after you've seen the label a few times, you almost don't have to look at it again. There were three rayon blend pieces I washed by machine and let air dry. Three handwashables. One silk blend piece I washed by machine and forgot to pull - so ended up running it through the dryer by accident. My bathroom is filled with clothes in various stages of damp, while my clean laundry has been folded and put away.
Except for the pieces that need ironing.
What to do overnight with those? In the '40s, freshly cleaned articles that needed ironing were "sprinkled" with water and spent the night rolled up in the refrigerator. Since I do have a steam iron, I'm not going to create any extra work for myself. I'll start with dry clothes. That's the plan for now. I may change my mind later on when I've been able to work more and more of these chores smoothly into my routine.
The manual does give me one tip that I put to use today:
When the washing is taken down, smooth each piece and fold it carefully, keeping like pieces together. A little time spent now will save a great deal of time in sprinkling and ironing later.
So I folded all the pieces that need ironing - like with like - and stored them in a clothesbasket for the night.
5 comments:
i'm usually only ironing shirts and dresses and skirts, so I hang them on a coat hanger to dry and just leave them there until I iron them the next day
This is funny, as I read this this morning I have various things hanging in my bathroom upstairs on hangers and hooks. I also did not get through all my ironing and that is folded away. I use an old iron which I assume is from the 50's but it does have a steam option, I wonder when the steam iron was first made, will have to check for blog today.I love that image of the women for the Duz ad!
W-E, do you hang them all on one hanger or separate hangers for each item?
50s gal, the first ad I've been able to find for a steam iron dates to 1943, but I suspect they didn't truly become available until 1946 - and then were probably pretty pricey. They seem to have become widely accessible during the early '50s.
separate hangers for each... mostly just those wire hangers you get from the dry cleaners but i do have a good collection of wooden hangers that i bought 20 for about $12
So far, folding the clothes up and leaving them in the laundry basket overnight has worked out pretty well. They don't seem to have any added wrinkles to iron out anyway!
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