tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post6400206480272864280..comments2023-10-20T11:17:47.246-04:00Comments on Two Nerdy History Girls: Pressing Matters: Yes, IroningUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-39471475112338463652010-01-27T15:35:24.883-05:002010-01-27T15:35:24.883-05:00I think an iron makes a great doorstop. Some peop...I think an iron makes a great doorstop. Some people say ironing relaxes them. They are not me. Just more proof that I would not have done well in times past unless I'd been a very wealthy woman. Yet I do see a value in having different shapes of irons. Maybe if we bought irons in sets, they'd be more fun. Or maybe not.LorettaChasehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03641586650738945106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-17950566549028010442010-01-27T13:45:24.213-05:002010-01-27T13:45:24.213-05:00Can't imagine spitting on the iron to tell if ...Can't imagine spitting on the iron to tell if it's ready to use! I have one of those antique flat irons. It's not as old as the ones in your picture, but it has raised flowers cast into the top of the iron. I use it for a doorstop.Mme.Tresbeauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09946280107593133692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-22952316746312775082010-01-27T13:38:59.826-05:002010-01-27T13:38:59.826-05:00My mother-in-law did not have electricity until sh...My mother-in-law did not have electricity until she was 13 in 1939. She lived in W. Pennsylvania and the lines didn't run to the farms. She told me about using an iron they kept on the stove. She alternated two. My mom loves to iron. She irons her sheets. I do not have the ironing gene at all. Thank goodness for dry cleaners.Lyn Snoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-14170237861091341792010-01-27T11:59:00.677-05:002010-01-27T11:59:00.677-05:00We had a wringer washer and a clothesline when I w...We had a wringer washer and a clothesline when I was growing up. In fact, my mother didn't switch over to an automatic washing machine until 1982! Because I bought it for her, I couldn't stand seeing her slave anymore.<br /><br />Anyway...I learned how to iron first, from my gran using a box iron, then from my mother with an electric one (thank goodness she jumped on that one!) We'd use a pop bottle with a cork that had a perforated top like a salt shaker to dampen our clothes.<br /><br />I had to iron everything. Shirts, t-shirts, pillowcases, sheets, underwear, socks, tablecloths...if it got washed and hung to dry, it got ironed.<br /><br />I was never so glad to see permanent press in my life! :)<br /><br />I'll have to pick up a copy of the housekeeping book you have. I do like Mrs. Beeton's, though it's a bit more 'modern.'<br /><br />I'm glad of one thing though. There isn't a thing made, ruffle, pleat, even creases, that I can't do now. And do well. Now, if only my girls would want to learn...nightsmusichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05984119792540771870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-54238889655127839532010-01-27T11:55:28.787-05:002010-01-27T11:55:28.787-05:00How I wish I could find a cheap modern iron to my ...How I wish I could find a cheap modern iron to my liking. I would love to wear crisply ironed clothes. I think it would put a skip in my step.Jillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05536293384635588296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-29316061003051081632010-01-27T11:36:30.799-05:002010-01-27T11:36:30.799-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Isabella Bradford/Susan Holloway Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00997375216314200469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-38714954380747516982010-01-27T11:36:24.579-05:002010-01-27T11:36:24.579-05:00Huh, who would have guessed that ironing would be ...Huh, who would have guessed that ironing would be so interesting to y'all? *g* I have to admit that I CAN do it, but I don't enjoy it. It always seems like I'd get to that last sleeve, and somehow manage to crumple and press the part I'd already done, grrr...<br /><br />But my mother, too, has always been a big-time ironer. The over-night dampening, a sheet on the floor beneath the board to catch the spray starch, the whole routine. She's 86 and almost blind, but she still irons my father's shirts AND his handkerchiefs, which just totally stuns me.<br /><br />Welcome and thanks to all you new post-ers, too!Isabella Bradford/Susan Holloway Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00997375216314200469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-15485962484326956152010-01-27T11:01:09.637-05:002010-01-27T11:01:09.637-05:00Thanks for yet more great links!Thanks for yet more great links!Victoria Janssenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12259793807283856761noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-47592219897284248952010-01-27T09:55:49.894-05:002010-01-27T09:55:49.894-05:00I love this blog. And I love my friend who pointed...I love this blog. And I love my friend who pointed me in the direction of this blog because hanging out with other people who love history as much or perhaps even more than I do is like going back to my best and happiest years of college. *sighs*<br /><br />I'm also glad I don't have to iron unless I'm sewing something. <br /><br />(I really love the blogs that feature stuff about Colonial Williamsburg. I only got to spend one day there, but it's one of those places I know I could spend the next ten years there and still not learn everything there is to know.)Hellie Sinclairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03933713255844695337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-55611613052040637622010-01-27T09:32:46.191-05:002010-01-27T09:32:46.191-05:00This is just a fascinating topic! I'm always ...This is just a fascinating topic! I'm always amazed at the care and skill it took to perform tasks that seem to be just household drudgery. Not that these tasks weren't boring or hard, just that they took way more skill than we usually imagine.<br /><br />I remember my mother setting aside one day a week to iron my dad's shirts, linens, etc... She would dampen everything the evening before and iron the next day. It pretty much took her all day, too.Vanessa Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14571549124283013391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-84696134715498764642010-01-27T09:01:58.717-05:002010-01-27T09:01:58.717-05:00Love the photos! Those "geese" make suc...Love the photos! Those "geese" make such good sense--seems like they would be much easier to maneuver through new seams than wedge-shaped irons. <br /><br />I can see why people sent their laundry out if they could afford to--what a chore!Rowennahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09757364614589686606noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-80376608742707867492010-01-27T08:50:39.315-05:002010-01-27T08:50:39.315-05:00'morning, NHGs and friends! Unfortunately, I d...'morning, NHGs and friends! Unfortunately, I do know how to iron, which, of course, is different from "pressing," doncha know. My oldest bro, a career Navy guy, taught me all the tricks for pressing creases, as well as a trick w/the board when ironing shirts. sometimes it's relaxing to iron. but i don't seek it.<br /><br />I think 'girl w/pearl earring' was the first novel that got me thinkin' on drudgery of old-school ironing. This post rocks.Michelle Buonfigliohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06518257512285810829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-78030005376948407492010-01-27T07:45:17.715-05:002010-01-27T07:45:17.715-05:00Interesting! But it makes me grateful we don't...Interesting! But it makes me grateful we don't have to iron anymore!Miss Kirstenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04690141344818238274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5022318990784415929.post-10297980525739853422010-01-27T05:34:26.236-05:002010-01-27T05:34:26.236-05:00Interesting post. I hate ironing! I always maintai...Interesting post. I hate ironing! I always maintain that body heat will smooth out the wrinkles as you wear a blouse. Most people are not totally convinced by this. I wonder why.<br />An important aid to getting your ironing really perfect was starch. I've seen caps that stand up by themselves, and starch was also what gave men perfectly smooth shirt fronts. A friend of my mother's told me once how my uncles would rub together their clean shirts before they put them on. And that after their sisters had ironed them so beautifully. 'It made my heart bleed', she said.Ingridnoreply@blogger.com