Ironing Woes...Love the vintage Hate the ironing

RebeccaMUA · Oct 2, 2008

I too use a steamer. I've tried ironing and I just don't have the knack for it. For now, its good enough for me...I hope my boyfriend doesn't watch me "iron" when we get married...ignorance is bliss, right??

miss_elise · Oct 2, 2008

i like ironing... i actually really like the smell of freshly ironed things... i find though it helps to iron in front of something...tv, movie, radio play... whatever you like and get an iron with a steam setting...

love it

RedHotRidinHood · Oct 2, 2008

I love ironing...yeah, I'm weird. I have an Oreck iron at home that I love, and at work we have a professional Rowenta. But what I love the most is my 1958 Ironrite mangle, Betsy. She's not very energy-efficient but she can do a men's dress shirt in 4 minutes, a tablecloth in about 3. I use her when I have a huge amount to do and I just sit there happily and iron for a few hours and get it all done. It's really relaxing for me!

celtic · Oct 2, 2008

Do those handheld (like the Jiffy mentioned above) steamers actually work?

I recall years ago owning a $20 personal steamer that looked similar to an iron and it never seemed to work...I don't remember the brand, and I'm guessing that it didn't work because it was a cheapie, but...I've neglected to attmept buying another steamer because of that experience.

I too used to like ironing.

Now it seems that I can't stand it for some reason.

Miss_Bella_Hell · Oct 2, 2008

Blondie said:
My tip for a more pleasurable ironing experience is....
....pay someone to do it for you ! lol

Yeah...or don't do it at all. Those wrinkles will probably fall out as you wear the item! lol

KittyT · Oct 2, 2008

Miss_Bella_Hell said:
Yeah...or don't do it at all. Those wrinkles will probably fall out as you wear the item! lol

And if you did iron it, the wrinkles will just be back as soon as you put it on

Fleur De Guerre · Oct 2, 2008

My mum loathes ironing and doesn't even own an iron. She has perfected a method of putting shirts in the dryer for exactly the right amount of time to remove creases and then smoothes them on a radiator. Unfortunately I have neither a dryer nor radiators! :eusa_doh:

KittyT · Oct 2, 2008

I also have some spray-on wrinkle releaser. You spray it on your clothes and just kind of pull the wrinkles out by tugging on the bottom hem. It's not fabulous but works well enough in a jiff.

Rachael · Oct 2, 2008

RedHotRidinHood said:
But what I love the most is my 1958 Ironrite mangle, Betsy.

all appliances work better if they have proper names

. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who does that!

RedHotRidinHood · Oct 2, 2008

Rachael said:
all appliances work better if they have proper names . I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who does that!

Oh goodness, I have such a thing for giving inanimate objects names! It's like a thing in my family. I also have a pink 50s Hoover Constellation vacuum named Lulubelle.

Yeah, I'm strange. lol

Grnidwitch · Oct 2, 2008

RedHot honey, you and I are sisters. I love to iron. It reminds me of my grandmother. She started me off with hankerchiefs and pillow cases. I iron just about everything. And yes, I have a set of sheets that just has to be ironed. And they are so wonderful on the bed. Crisp and nice.

KittyT · Oct 2, 2008

Grnidwitch said:
RedHot honey, you and I are sisters. I love to iron. It reminds me of my grandmother. She started me off with hankerchiefs and pillow cases. I iron just about everything. And yes, I have a set of sheets that just has to be ironed. And they are so wonderful on the bed. Crisp and nice.

When I lived in France, I noticed that they iron pretty much everything. You name it - sheets, towels, jeans, underwear...

RedHotRidinHood · Oct 2, 2008

Grnidwitch said:
RedHot honey, you and I are sisters. I love to iron. It reminds me of my grandmother. She started me off with hankerchiefs and pillow cases. I iron just about everything. And yes, I have a set of sheets that just has to be ironed. And they are so wonderful on the bed. Crisp and nice.

I LOVE ironed sheets! I run my vintage french linen sheets through Betsy and put them on the bed...mmmmmm...feels so good. I iron all my pillowcases, every time. Things just look and feel so much better when properly pressed! I have a steamer too, but you just can't get the fresh look sometimes unless you iron. We have a good steamer at work, though, and rayon and velvet things just perk right back up when we use it.

Nice to know there's another person out there who likes it!

Mike in Seattle · Oct 2, 2008

I'm another who likes to iron...if the mood's right. And another advocate of using a steamer. I had one of those small, hand-held $20 things you put water & salt in (the salt doesn't go out in the steam - to make the steam, it's basically "electrocuting" the water. That worked OK for a long time...but just so-so / OK.

I went to Target a couple months ago to check them out. They were out of stock on the bigger models (Shark & the other big name one that's been around since the 40's) but they had a smaller Conair on sale. I thought I'd give it a try - if I wasn't happy with it, I'd return it and order one of the others. But it's done a great job. I loaned to to the theatre this summer for South Pacific so the cast could do a little touching-up before heading on stage (but wrinkles and bedraggled looking outfits aren't THAT much a problem with that particular show) and five or six in the cast went out and bought one after seeing how easy it was to use.

I still iron a lot of things, but with the wrinkle-resistant things that sometimes still don't look quite as good as they could, a minute or two with the steamer makes a world of difference.

Miss Sis · Oct 2, 2008

It's not that I like ironing so much, just that I was bought up to do it.

If my mother came across an unironed t-shirt, teatowel or pillowcase, she'd say something like, 'Oh! An un-ironed ..... (insert whichever word is appropriate here) How SLOVENLY!!!! Disgusting!'

So I just have to do it cause I can hear her in my head, and now, I prefer things ironed too.

Although I draw the line at underwear, unless it's vintage stuff.

epr25 · Oct 2, 2008

I totally agree with this! Use a heavy vintage iron. They are everywhere at thrift shops. Spray Starch is wonderful!

LizzieMaine said:
Use a *heavy* iron. It might sound counter-intuitive, but modern lightweight irons are actually more work to use. A vintage heavy iron might seem harder to push around at first but they do a much better job with a lot less repetition.

Mine is a Sunbeam Ironmaster, c. 1935, and it gives me a workout -- it weighs about six pounds -- but I never have to go over and over a piece. It heats up, holds the heat well, and the sheer mass of the thing presses out the wrinkles the first time over. Plus it makes a convenient doorstop when I'm not ironing.

64tonya · Oct 6, 2008

decodoll said:
Jiffy makes great steamers. They've been doing it since 1940. I have one of their professional ones, but they make hand held steamers too.

Thanks Decodoll, I'll look into that

Warbaby · Oct 15, 2008

I'm going to chime in as another guy who likes to iron (which makes my wife very happy since I do her ironing as well). I find it very relaxing and satisfying - sort of a Zen Ironing thing.

After going through a half-dozen thrift shop irons that were mediocre at best, I found an Avantis 90 from France that is a real joy to work with. Another thing that makes a big difference in ironing is a good ironing board cover. Get the best one you can find - should cost about $25-30 bucks, but it's definitely worth the extra expence.

Sunny · Oct 15, 2008

We don't have an old iron; we're pretty hard on our modern ones (drop them, accidentally use the wrong water, get ants in them) and just go through them with fair regularity. That's life. But I do like our old ironing board. It's completely wooden except for the necessary metal hardware. It's fairly heavy and incredibly sturdy. It will not rock from side to side, no matter how vigorously I iron; I could scarcely knock it over if I tried. I was appalled the first time I tried to use a modern cheapy aluminum board. It wouldn't stay upright! When I move out, I'm going to scour the antique malls for another good old wooden board.

Miss Neecerie · Oct 15, 2008

See and I have a built in ironing board circa 1930 or so. The only slightly depressing thing is that it is in the kitchen, so other then loud music, there is little entertainment to be had while standing there.

But it works perfectly, is full sized and means I don't have to figure out where to store an ironing board, since I live in a small bungalow. It even swivels out so that it is in a convenient spot yet does not block any walkways or other cabinets.

If you ever get the joy of having a house with a built in, go for it. Sadly, far too many houses converted them into shallow spice racks.

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