Ironing

I did something this morning I haven't done in a long time – I drug out the iron and ironing board. I don't think they've been used since sometime around Thanksgiving. That's okay, though I don't really mind ironing. But our winter was so cold that I was wearing sweaters and sweatshirts day in and day out. In fact, the last day I remember using the ironing board was when I finished up the Christmas decorations for the kids and grandkids.

Ironing's not my favorite thing to do, but I don't mind it. When I was a kid, it was one of my summertime chores. Doing laundry has evolved so much since then – it's so simple now! The fabrics used in clothing then was much more susceptible to wrinkling. When the laundry was done, the clothes that needed a good crisp finish were dipped in a liquid starch that had been made from boiling water stirred into powdered starch. The excess was wrung out by hand and everything was hung on the line to dry.

In the evening after doing laundry, all the ironing was set aside for the next day. But before it was set aside, all these carefully dried articles of clothing were sprinkled with water to make them damp and then tightly rolled so they stayed damp all night. Frankly, that was something I never quite understood – why dry them completely and then dampen them again? Why not just take them off the line before they were completely dry and roll them up for ironing? It seemed like wasted effort to me!

Not everyone had to do this dampening process. The really lucky ones – and I think my Grandma Edwards was one – had a glass Pepsi bottle with a sprinkler top that slid into the neck of the bottle. The bottle was filled with water and you could sprinkle the clothes to be ironed as you did them. That was right uptown, let me tell you!

Back in the “olden days” (!) we ironed so many more things than we do now. I vaguely remember Dad's jeans being ironed, some people ironed their bed sheets. Luckily by the time I was old enough to iron, we had stopped most of that nonsense. Still, there were shirts, shorts, slacks, pillow cases, and so many other things that needed to be pressed – and then there were those infernal pieces we'd starched. It took more effort to iron them and make them all crisp and perfect. And so many of those items were dresses with what seemed like endless yards of skirt.

Polyester and permanent press clothing was such a blessing – things that would wash and dry and be ready to wear. Of course, some things that would've been fine coming out of the dryer didn't have the same effect when they came off the clothesline. Especially if it was a really still day, they would come off the line wrinkly and need to have a visit from the iron.

I think Mom still uses an iron that she moved with her off the farm 22 years ago. Those things lasted. But I wouldn't trade it for my steam iron – what a great invention! The old irons, though, were good. If the ironing plate started dragging on the fabric, all you had to do was get a piece of waxed paper and iron over it repeatedly until the plate was waxed up and slid again.

Mom's iron could also be a source of entertainment on nasty days. I remember times of digging out old crayons, grating them down or slivering them with a paring knife, them placing the crumbs between two sheets of waxed paper. Once you ironed over the waxed paper, it melted the crayons and made unique artwork. So my association with Mom's iron wasn't always a negative one!

Still, the hot summer mornings sweating over the ironing board aren't among my favorite childhood memories.