Mother's teachings

[Oma]

I have just been ironing the fresh bedding and as I was ironing the pillow cases I remembered what my mother taught me about ironing , she was in service before the war and this was one of her jobs
She taught me to always iron pillow cases inside out that way you get a smoother finish the fold over flap at the top won't wrinkle and putting them on to pillows will be easier as you can just roll them on
Ironing shirts I was taught always iron the back yolk then the back of the collar again so no wrinkles show on the right side then the back of the cuffs before tackling the body of the shirt , Pleated skirts if you tack the bottom of each pleat they are easier to press , iron the top part of trousers inside out so you flatten the pockets and you don't get outline shine on right side before turning to right side to press the legs ,
She was a fountain of useful tips and I can clearly see and hear her telling me these things , I passed them onto my DD she does most of them but said life is too short to sit sewing pleats in a skirt before you iron them 😀

[Nanto2girls]

I learnt those tips at school Oma.The only one I don't do is tack the bottom of pleated skirts. Mind you, I haven't got any pleated skirts now. I do the shirts in a similar way to you, but I iron the sleeves long or short before I do the body of the shirt.

[Oma]

Isn't strange how we remember some things and not others and how for no reason things come back to you , we didn't do ironing at school only cleaning and cooking then it was only cakes and the basics I was only interested in needle work anyway , 😊

[Libra Gran]

My Mother loved ironing, sadly I do not. I remember her in the summer if bedding had dried to well, flicking water from a jug to dampen it making it easy to iron. This was in the days before tumble driers and steam irons. Funny she could never get used to a steam iron.

[Oma]

Can you remember irons plugged into a fitting on the overhead light , Mam used to use a pressing cloth always had a bowl of water she would wet cloth in I can still smell the steam coming from it , even when we had our first steam iron she always used the pressing cloth on trousers , she hated if the sheets got too dry Elaine she had the same method flicking water on them

[ZIZI]

WHAT? Sorry ladies but I do not understand that of which you speak. What is this ironing thing - is it from the iron age? I have a fairy who comes and makes the creases come out of my clothes for which I pay her handsomely, no money would be too much..........

[Gemini]

I am sure an Ironing Fairy is a very valuable thing, Zizi!

[Oma]

I bet this ironing fairy is worth her weight in gold
😀

[Shemadee]

WHAT? Sorry ladies but I do not understand that of which you speak. What is this ironing thing - is it from the iron age? I have a fairy who comes and makes the creases come out of my clothes for which I pay her handsomely, no money would be too much..........

I too have an ironing elf who doesn't require money but I do have to remember not to grumble about whatever sport happens to be on tv!

I can remember my granny's iron being plugged in to a light socket. She also had some that were heated on a sort of range.

I always add a drop of water when making omelettes. I don't know why - just that my Mum told me to do it!

[Libra Gran]

Yes Oma Mums plugged into the bayonet fitted for the light bulb,no elf and safety then lol. And she'd spit on the iron to check it was hot enough Mum used brown parcel paper for trouser pressing.Thank goodness things have changed ,Hubs does the majority of the ironing, but not to be trusted with anything of mine that may burn. Did anyones Mum get you to hold the other end of the sheets and pull, heaven knows why then corner to corner, fold and fold again reading for ironing.

[Daisy]

LG - yes, my Mum always wanted help from me or my Dad to fold sheets. Then a friend of her who worked in a laundry showed her how to fold them on the line. Flat sheets then, of course. You put the sheet on the line so that it's hanging down evenly front and back, then when it's dry you take hold of the fold on one side and walk it across to the other edge, make sure it's level, then fold it again and as you pull it from the line your fold in the other direction. It works for duvet covers!

My mum taught me to iron anything flat (hankies, table cloths etc), by putting them face down on the ironing board. Ironing the wrong side, fold bottom to top, ironing the bottom bit you'd just folded. Repeat that, then fold edge to edge, iron, flip the item over and iron the last bit. That is the sum total of my ironing education! I don't think there were any irons in our school apart from soldering irons in the Labs.

[Plantaholic]

I can remember all of your comments, I was always told to iron the underside of the shirt collar first to check the temperature of the iron. My mother didn't have an ironing board she used the dining table with a thick blanket to protect it. I can remember pulling sheets Libra, I used to do that with my OH.

[Mimi]

Ironing...errrr....ummmm...error.No it's no good , I'm going to have to go and Google it.
It's not some sort of 'swear word is it ?
I don't want to have to explain my 'search history ' to the powers that be in case they are monitoring me !

[ZIZI]

I am feeling distinctly ill..............

[Glammanana]

Folding straight off the line works best for me and makes the chore easier but with being incapable of ironing for the past few months Mr Glamma has proved invaluable but he was always good at said chore as his mum died when he was very young and he and his dad had to do the dreaded deed themselves,he does find that steaming is better than actually ironing he bought a steamer and has not stopped raving about it since