Top Ten Tips for Ironing

'Tis a sweet, solemn, beautiful day here in the United States of America...



As I listened to President Obama's motorcade making its way to the parade review stands, I fired up the iron and got started on my ironing. After doing some research with my trusty ruler, I decided to position my tabletop ironing board on top of my kitchen table. It's about 35 inches off the floor, so just a smidge higher than recommended by The Good Housekeeping Housekeeping Book (1947). There's an outlet to the right of the table, so I can plug the iron in without having the cord all twisted about. And plenty of light.

Here's a list of Top Ten Tips for Ironing, courtesy of the manual:

1. Remember that the amount of heat in the iron or ironer does not change the instant you turn the switch from one position to another. For this reason, it is best to start with fabrics needing low temperatures and work up to heavy damp linens which need high temperatures. (Check. I usually iron from hot to cold, so this was a whole new way of doing business for me. I also reorganized the stack of clothes in the basket so the items to be ironed first were on top of the pile.)

2. When you straighten material on the ironing board or roll of a rotary ironer, use the palms of your hands and smooth from the center out. Your fingers are apt to stretch the fabrics and pull them out of shape.

3. Iron with straight strokes, with the thread of the fabric. (I didn't do either of these two things. I was concentrating so hard on some of the easier tips that I forgot the others!)

4. Iron each section perfectly dry before you start on the next. (A reminder of just how damp clothes were after having been "sprinkled" and - in some cases - refrigerated overnight.)

5. Collars, cuffs, sleeves, belts and trimmings are ironed first, then the flat sections of the garment. (I forgot to do this. Not as many of my clothes, though, even have these features. There will be plenty of sleeves in the pile on Tuesdays. I'll try to remember this one next week.)

6. White and light-colored cottons and linens are ironed on the right side, dark cottons and linens on the wrong side; silks and rayons on the wrong side; damask on the right side, then on the wrong side. (Before plugging in the iron, I sat down with my basket of clothes and went through them one by one to decide which category they fell in. I ended up turning several items inside out again so I could iron the "wrong side." Thankfully, I didn't have any damask in my basket this week!)

7. If folds in flatwork are always made in the same place, the wear on the fabric from creasing will cause the fibers to break. Sometimes fold in thirds and sometimes in fourths to avoid this strain. (According to the manual, flatwork = "table cloths," sheets, embroidered pieces, and round doilies. Whoops! I just realized that the decorative kitchen towel I ironed was embroidered. I'll have to be mindful of folding this in a different fashion whenever I wash and iron it.)

8. Hang all ironed pieces on a rack where they may dry thoroughly before putting them away. (In the '40s, many items would still be damp from all that re-wetting! Thank goodness for steam. I was able to hang my pieces as soon as they came off the ironing board.)

9. Save labor in folding and improve the appearance of garments by using coat hangers for blouses, dresses and shirts. (Rats. I only own one coat hanger. Plastic hangers will have to be good enough for my blouses, dresses and shirts. For now.)

10. Do not use too hot an iron or shoe. Most hand irons are thermostatically controlled. Ironers are also equipped with thermostatic controls so that you can select the proper heat for the fabric.

Cotton and linen - relatively hot
Wool and silk - moderate heat
Rayon - low heat
Acetate rayon - very low heat
Combinations of fibers - adjust heat to fiber needing lowest temperature. (My iron is marked with similar temperature settings for each of type of fabric - with additional settings for nylon, acrylic, and polyester. I wish I'd remembered that last bit of advice about blends. Next Tuesday.)

My iron did give off a mysterious sweetish smell towards the end of my ironing that I haven't been able to place yet. There is a bit of scorch on the surface that may have come from having the heat set too high once for a synthetic. I'll have to look for some recommendations for cleaning the iron.

Label Conscious

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.

Week Nine: The Mission

There is no getting around the fact that skillful ironing is an art acquired only by experience and patience. No one is a "born ironer" but any one with an ounce of patience and two ounces of perseverance can become expert. It is a really worth-while accomplishment too, because perhaps nowhere else but in the field of cookery is there such a genuine pride of achievement.

With this homespun recipe for success, the manual opens its chapter on "Ironing Procedures." I've never really considered ironing a source of pride. For me, it's always been more about sheer endurance for the sake of not looking like a rumpled mess when I leave the house. Between modern fabrics and standards in appearance that have become incredibly relaxed over the last 60 years, there's never been much in the way of payoff for me when it comes to ironing. Does this week's mission have any surprises in store for me?

Early Forenoon (between 10:00 a.m. and noon):

Ironing

Early Afternoon (between 1:00 and 2:00 p.m.):

Finish ironing. Put away ironing.

For housewives guided by tradition, Tuesdays were quite naturally spent ironing all those fresh, clean clothes laundered on Mondays. I don't think steam irons had been introduced yet, because the manual gives detailed instructions on "sprinkling" every item with warm water before ironing. What might take us an hour today once consumed a good part of the day. Here in 2009, I'm going to reserve Tuesday evenings for ironing. Do you prefer doing your laundry on another day of the week? Not to worry. The manual gives a little leeway to those who don't do the wash on Monday, but the two chores are still in lockstep: "If washing is done on Tuesday, ironing is put forward to Wednesday."