For those of you under the age of 30, you may not know what an iron and ironing board is. It is a small electrical appliance that gets hot and you iron fabric with it. The board is made out of metal now, covered with teflon covered fabric. Sure wish I had my mothers wooden, collapsible board. My metal one is rusted/corroded open. Salt air- I live on the coast!
I just spent the last 3 hours ironing clothes for work for the next two weeks. Yep, most of my clothes are either 100% cotton or cotton blends, and they need to be ironed to look their best. (Listened to General Conference on the Internet as I was ironing. )
Does anyone else iron their clothes? The best iron I ever had was a Rival. My grandmother gave it to me for Graduation back in the dark ages: 1970! That thing lasted until 1995!!! 25 years, can you believe it? When it went it did so in style, blue smoke came out of the steam vents and it then caught on fire. I haven't had a decent iron since. They either don't get hot enough, or the steam/spray feature plugs up and won't work.
Do you have a preferred brand of iron? Do you still iron?
QUOTE |
Does anyone else iron their clothes? |
I don't particularly enjoy ironing, but I love the sharp, pressed look of freshly ironed clothes.
I think the problem with modern irons is that they are too LIGHT. I remember my mother's old black iron -- it was so heavy!! But the weight helped to "press" out the wrinkles. Mom found a new iron made by Black and Decker that is just like that old dinosaur -- really heavy, with a slide temperature adjustment. The colors and the shape are like the old one also. It cost something like $30, but I think it's worth it. If we weren't moving in together soon, I'd get my own
Roz
QUOTE (JB@Trinidad @ 5-Apr 04, 3:22 AM) |
What is the common thing to do up there? Yes, we do iron, it is the necessary evil |
I actually ironed for the first time in several years last weekend. There was a large family function out of town, very dressy and formal. Hubster had just bought a new shirt and in our hurry to get to our destination, I didn't have time to iron it at home. Luckilly, we stayed at the Doubletree Guest Suites. Those folks at Doubletree think of everything! There was actually an iron and board in the closet. I had that shirt neatly pressed in no time flat. Thanks, Doubletree!!!
One nightmare I remember from childhood was this old steam presser we had. It weighed about 50 lbs and was a monster! You were supposed to drape the article to be pressed over a padded, fabric covered cylinder. Next you lowered the pressing mechanism onto the cylinder, being ever so careful not to catch your fingers in it or otherwise burn yourself. The cylinder would then rotate the item through the machine. It often left more wrinkles than it removed. I hated that !@#$ thing with a passion!
I havent ironed in years so for me it is a lost art. I wear mostly jeans, and the nice pants I do have are the wrinkle free kind, so I usually dont have to worry about those. My wife hates to iron too so our home has become iron-free. Not that we dont own one or wont use one, but only if the shirt, pants, skirt whatever is horribly wrinkled. Otherwise, the dryer does a nice job of getting those smaller wrinkles out.
In my house, I often don't get the close out of the dryer soon enough so they end up wrinkled. Then I have to iron them even if they are jeans and a t-shirt. There was a time when I wouldn't wear anything not pressed. Creases in the jeans, etc. (Marine Corps influence). Now, I am a bit more lax. If I am just hanging out around the house or going grocery shopping, it isn't really necessary to have creases in my jeans. However, I can't have wrinkles either, so if I don't get them out of the dryer in time, I have to iron.
My dress clothes for work are all dry clean only which cuts back on my need to iron. In between cleanings, I usually just need to press out the wrinkles created up near the hip area from how they get bunched up when sitting. I also wear blouses under than that more often than not require ironing.
I don't iron in advance because I don't want to waste time ironing something and then not end up wearing it. Horrors! Plus my closets are so crowded that anything I hang in them gets wrinkled.