BS: Ironing!

Subject: BS: Ironing!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 07:55 AM

OK, ok! I'm not the 'new man' I should be. I do a fair bit of cooking and shopping. I do most of the DIY tasks and repairs around the house. I am quite familiar with the washing machine and tumble dryer. I don't do much cleaning but in my defence I reckon Mrs does too much of it! But ironing throws me a wobbler every time. I don't iron socks and underwear. T-shirts and jeans get a cursory run-over. Trousers and jackets usualy go to the cleaners anyway, but shirts!

How the hell do you stop them from getting the ironed in creases that I always seem to manage? Some are OK. Why can't they all be 'easy iron' btw? But some, usualy the cotton and more formal styles, take me an age. And they are still never right! And ladies tops and skirts! How on earth can anything that shape be ironed without breaking the laws of physics?

Just musing...

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 08:19 AM

good to know you don't waste time ironing socks & underwear! Now all you need to do is slowly replace the difficult stuff with easy iron stuff as they need it. If you suddenly come into lots of money you could replace them immediately!

I have lots of silk shirts (long & short sleeved) that have to be ironed, but as I have over 20 it isn't weeekly! I was taught to iron the collar first, then the body, next the cuffs & sleeves, finally the yoke, then put them on padded coathangers (never thin metal drycleaners wire hangers) and not allow them to get squashed by other clothes. Well, as I have 20+ shirts, that bit is not the easiest so I just try to put the sleeves across the body anytime I close the doors! And ignore the creases.

As to the more shapely female stuff, JennyO might be able to help there as she was once a professional ironing person!

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 08:34 AM

I love ironing shirts, collars first fronts, sleeves and cuffs, and then the back. Remember the ironing board has a pointy end for a reason!
G

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: skipy
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 08:39 AM

We have an ironing machine, she comes in everyday, take the dried washing away & brings it back an hour later.
I don't do "mother in law" jokes!
Skipy

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: Leadfingers
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 08:40 AM

With all the Easy Care fabrics on the market these days . is ironing de-creasing ?







OK -I'll get my coat -again !

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: Leadfingers
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 08:43 AM

Actually , I have more pressing problems !

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 09:19 AM

Just be glad you're not ironing too much with pleats in. Both getting rid of them, or getting them in place is too much like hard work.

wrap around trousers are a right bugger too...

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 09:35 AM

We have an ironing board...somewhere....and 3 irons. I think one of them was used, oh, maybe 10-12 years ago. I shop (when I shop) with an eye for the label that says "no iron". I still have 2-3 shirts that ought to be ironed if they are ever worn, but I so seldom dress up for anything any more that they just hang there.

Modern washers and dryers have settings that make all this much easier.

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing! Do believe your own press?
From: Severn
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 09:41 AM

And if you, my a-steamed friend, get too good at it, the press gang will come and take you away. O the irony of it all!

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 09:57 AM

That fell a bit flat Severn!
G.

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 10:08 AM

As an ex British soldier, I use the following method, iron what shows, nothing more.

eric

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: Alice
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 10:31 AM

People iron tee shirts and jeans?

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: artbrooks
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 10:34 AM

I mostly wear t-shirts or other non-iron shirts, but I do still have some with buttons and collars. I save them up and wait for an 85-cent-each (US) coupon fron the cleaners, then take a dozen in at once.

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 10:59 AM

My entire family has had an allergy associated with ironing since about 1936 or so, when daddy's dry cleaning shop exploded and wiped out half a city block in downtown Pretty Prairie. Kansas. (It was a gas leak, not the boiler; but one can't be too careful)

My (idiot?) son moved to Pretty Prairie briefly about 5 years ago (that's 65 years later) and was asked within a few days of arrival

"You any relation to that guy what blew up the town?"

Apparently small towns (where there's not much one needs to remember) have very long memories...

(Incidentally, there were no injuries reported, and the only thing other than the dry cleaning shop that was "damaged" appears to have been an adjacent vacant lot.)

I will confess that I do iron my pocket hankies, since the tend to bunch up in the pocket if you don't. Don't need to iron the undies since I ran out of the ones mom made out of feedsacks (after I graduated from the U). Otherwise ...

John

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: Leadfingers
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 12:40 PM

Undies made from FEEDSACKS ?? My Word !! What Luxury !!

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: GUEST,namegame
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 01:02 PM

The smell of ironing still makes me sad because of the woman's house we had to stay at when I was little, and we were bored, and she ironed.
Ironing is the shackles of youth.

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: Leadfingers
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 01:11 PM

Ironing is supposed tp be Pressing , NOT DE-Pressing !

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 01:13 PM

You crease me up LF.
G

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 01:29 PM

Leadfingers -

When I was a kid everything that wasn't denim or leather was made out of feedsacks. (And they didn't wase much good leather on kids.)

John

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 02:31 PM

Litte tip... start by straightening out the seam and press upwards from there. A gentle tweak here and there will straighten the creases and you can press them in. I've got a huge pile of the stuff here if you would like to come and practice....

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 03:07 PM

Huge piles?
TMI

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: maire-aine
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 03:07 PM

Ironing? I can't remember the last time I ironed something. Perhaps the tablecloth last Christmas. Just take things out of the dryer as soon as they finish, so the wrinkles don't set, and hang the clothes up. I am lucky that I don't have to dress up in a suit/dress for work.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 03:51 PM

If you can leave shirts to dry on hangers, then they dry, and therfore set in the right shape, and it reduces your work considerably. A cloth sided wardrobe allows you to hang things to dry like that very easily.

Of course, if you have the weather and space, a line outside is far better, and cheaper than driers. But you need a garden for that.....

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: open mike
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 05:28 PM

the best kind of ironing is the extreme kind

http://www.extremeironing.com/

now available as a DVD or book or calendar

other uses for the iron are:
to make stained glass window art by pressing
shredded color crayons between two sheets of
waxed paper
http://www.crayola.com/educators/techniques/meltedcrayon.cfm

also good to use for iron-on ink jet transfers
where you can make a design on your computer
and then attach it anywhere by printing it on
special paper available in most office supply
stores...a logo, motto or photo....or any other "o"

otherwise..wear clothes made from knit fabric
or other care-free material

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: harpmaker
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 06:46 PM

I have a problem with ironing, i can never figure out where to light the gas on the iron.

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: open mike
Date: 09 Jul 06 - 07:39 PM

you just need a sad iron http://www.irons.com/msicc.htm
no lighting or electricity required...just a hot wood stove

wood burning iron make so much more sense than a steam powered
aereoplane

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: dianavan
Date: 10 Jul 06 - 11:35 AM

Before my mom worked away from home, she took in ironing. As eldest daughter I had to help. At a very young age, I learned to iron hankies, tablecloths, etc. I soon progressed to shirts.

The fastest and most effecient way is as follows:

Both sides of the collar, front facings (around the buttons and eyeholes), sleeves and cuffs, yoke and then the body.

What a way to earn money! I'm glad I don't have to do it but it sure gives me alot of respect for my mom. We owned our home but it was a struggle to hang on to it.

Now I just take the clothes out of the dryer and give them a shake or hang them to dry. Everything else goes to work with my daughter and the company sends it to the laundry.

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: nutty
Date: 10 Jul 06 - 11:50 AM

If, after washing your shirts you spin them very lightly, and then tumble them dry on a cool setting, and hang them on hangers as soon as they are dry, you will never need to iron any.

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: JennyO
Date: 10 Jul 06 - 12:13 PM

I go to great lengths to avoid ironing these days - I've had enough to last a lifetime. However it looks like I might have to take drastic steps tomorrow with some curtains I've just hung. They are in my bedroom which I have just fixed up for my brother and his wife when they arrive from France on Wednesday. They are huge, heavy, stiff and very crushed from being stored in a plastic bag (the curtains that is) - not only that, they smell sorta musty, so I'll handwash them, hang them on the line and try to smooth them out a bit. If that doesn't work I'll have to iron them (shudder!)

The way I learnt to iron a shirt is collar first, then the yoke on the inside of the shirt, with the bottom of the shirt facing you, then turn the shirt sideways and work across from the right side, across the back, then the left side, then the sleeves last. You might have to touch up the area at the front next to the top of the sleeve if it has slightly creased. When you hang the shirt, do up the top button. It hangs better. Sounds complicated, but it isn't when you get used to it. I can do an average shirt in about 3 minutes.

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: leeneia
Date: 10 Jul 06 - 02:05 PM

I've never figured out how people get clothes to dry without needing ironing. I use the settings on the machines that are suppsed to work, but the clothes still need ironing, permanent-press or not.

Dave, are you using a real ironing board (big one on legs) or one of those small things that sits on a table? The small ones are awkward to use.

It helps to spray the garments with a fine mist from a spray bottle. I consider this kinda fun.

Get yourself a fine Rowenta iron. They comes in two basic types, heavyweight and lightweight. I like the heavy ones, but other people like the light ones. They are not cheap, but they're worth it. If you live in the US., you can get one from a JoAnn store.

If you are going to be ironing for more than 15 minutes, put on some music to keep you company. This is a good time to sing along and keep those vocal skills up.

You say you are a gnome. Can you recommend any good Gnomish recordings?

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 10 Jul 06 - 03:27 PM

I don't iron unless there's a decent film on TV.. then I can be there for as long as it takes.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: jacqui.c
Date: 11 Jul 06 - 07:54 AM

Same here Liz - I tape stuff and watch it while ironing. I try to change the order in which I iron the parts of a shirt, just for variety.

Subject: RE: BS: Ironing!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 11 Jul 06 - 09:33 AM

Proper Ironing board. Steam Iron. And, yes, I can't get the non creease tips working wither:-(

ALL gnomish recording are good:-) But they are very rare of course. You can get them at British Gnome Stores. Of course both David Bowie and Pink Floyd have tried. And failed...

Cheers

DtG