This vintage ironing board was a long-ago find which has lingered some time in the "has potential" bin due to a split in one of the legs. Abbie caught sight of it a couple weeks ago and begged and begged to have it. We took a few minutes yesterday to bind up the board's wounds. Today was her test run. Happy to report the dollies' dresses are all pressed and they can hold their heads high once more.
Ish.
It was a play iron after all.
Ironing isn't a cool thing to discuss these days. It was a staple of my childhood and I assumed everyone did it. Turns out just mentioning ironing stirs up some intense feelings among modern moms. In fact it's likely to be met with snickering or outright aintnobodygottimeforthat scorn. I'm making the case for it anyway and here is why. If you buy clothes from consignment and press them nicely they automatically look 100 times newer and nicer. Ditto for lower end fabrics. So much so that the posh consignment stores will starch and press the life outta their stock and it looks oh so much more appealing just for that.
A little starch goes a long way. If you or your husband or a child in your home works in an office or is applying for a job, personal presentation still goes a long way towards projecting professionalism. If you are regularly out with a gaggle of children, you are far more likely to make a good impression and dash people's assumptions that one cannot adequately care for more than a single child or two. We've got to represent, ladies.
It doesn't take a fortune. Just a little elbow grease and a few minutes to run an iron over a skirt hem or church sleeves. By the time they are in middle school children can do it themselves. Our sons iron more or less capably. We do not press every item by a long stretch but for church and other outings and with woven cotton items, yes.
My husband was active duty military for 20 yrs. Another military wife asked me recently if I ever brought uniforms from the cleaners that you had to peel apart they were so stuck together stiff? Oh yes, and his dress shirts for work are not much less starched these days. Mind you when we have had super busy seasons of life he has taken them out for laundering – not going to mislead here. Professional pressing really does take special care, equipment and time though doing it yourself – like simple home haircuts and other similar tasks wise folks learn to do – can be a great way to save a chunk of money annually. Actually, adding up all the miscellaneous services typically farmed out in a family is a great way to discover the value of the mom who "doesn't work." Another post for another day.
So anyway, yes – we press. In fact it's a job that hasn't been done enough this fall and I am actually missing it.
Ok I'm done. Let the tomatoes fly. : )
how to iron a shirt here
But I far prefer the lovely binder-worthy tute sent free from here
Starry Sky Journal 
No tomatoes from this corner. I love to iron. it’s quiet meditation time for me. So satisfying skimming over those wrinkles, making something look so new and fresh… Life should be so easy.
Ironing is one of my favorite chores. It’s a little bit of heaven on earth — making something wrinkled and mussed fresh and smooth again! It’s one of the reasons it makes me so sad to have this nerve condition in my leg that makes it painful to stand for long (that and cooking). I used to spend hours every week making sure all the shirts and trousers were pressed and ready to wear. At one point, with two boys in all-boys high school, I had fifteen shirts and pairs of trousers every week, and in the summer all my skirts and blouses. I love the smell of “baked” starch and the feel of running the iron over the placket on the front of a shirt. Now I can only do a couple of shirts at a time, but I enjoy even that. And rarely does any one come to bother me in the (dungeon) laundry room.
I know what you mean though. Whenever I am in the school (high school) I am saddened that probably 98% of the boys are in wrinkled shirts — some look like they’ve been in a laundry basket all week. I do think there is some pride involved in ironing, but it’s pride in knowing you love someone enough to help them give their best.
We don’t have a dryer, so we love the difference ironing makes to our clothes! My husband and I have a deal- he can take a couple of hours to watch a football game on Sunday if he does the ironing at the same time- win-win!
No tomatoes from me! I don’t mind ironing at all. I fix myself something yummy to sip, put on some nice music and away I go. It also helps to have a lovely ironing board cover. 🙂