The Home Corner: Ironing Clothes

The Electric Iron
The electric iron is very useful, and it should be counted as a piece of the modern home's furnishings, so long as the house is supplied with electric current for lighting and other purposes.
Indeed, the housewife should count the iron among her household furnishings, something she cannot do without however small the amount of laundry in her house may be; for circumstances may arise in which she needs to iron a garment or something else on the spot, and in such an emergency nothing will serve her but the aforesaid iron. It draws its heat from an electric outlet (a wall socket) and is connected by a braided cord of silk or cotton through which the current runs.

The Ordinary Iron
That is the iron heated with charcoal, used in houses that have no electric light.

The Ironing Table
The ironing table should be wide, steady, and of a suitable height. The ironing pad is usually made of two or three layers of felt or of cheap blankets, covered with a clean white sheet spread firm and flat, without folds or wrinkles, so that ironing and spreading the clothes upon it will be easy.

The Iron Stand and Its Handle Pad
The stand on which the hot iron is set is quite indispensable while the ironing is being done; it is usually sold with the iron, whether electric or ordinary. Its handle pad is usually made of a piece of felt with a piece of cloth wound around it.

Rules of Ironing
Practice is the only way by which a lady can become skilled at ironing clothes. The iron must always be hot; an iron that is half hot and half cold can never produce a successful piece of ironing. Likewise an iron that is too hot scorches the clothes; so the lady should first test the iron, before using it, on a useless scrap of cloth. The sleeves and collars should be ironed first, setting the iron down deftly and lightly on the garment to be ironed. Let the lady beware of bringing the iron down roughly on the clothes. Extra care, together with practice and training, are the only two means by which a lady can finish ironing a delicate garment with skill and dexterity. If she is a beginner at ironing, let her start with small, simple pieces such as handkerchiefs, until she works her way up in skill to ironing an elegant evening gown; and let her take up the work of ironing with a skilled guide beside her to show her, in practice, the basic rules of the art of ironing clothes.

Bed linens need no ironing; it is enough to fold them well — but wrinkled pillowcases should be ironed.

Tablecloths and the covers of other tables should be lightly starched and then well ironed. Table napkins are for the most part ironed and folded in the shape of a triangle, or rolled into a handsome cylinder and set in a small nickel ring shaped like a finger ring. Any piece of the fine fabrics used to adorn the table may be ironed on its back so that its face will look beautiful and attractive; if it is ironed on its face, it loses its luster and its splendor, and it may be spoiled and become unfit for use.

Ironing Silks
Silk is always ironed on the back if it is desired that the ironed garment come out polished and shining after ironing; it may be ironed on the face if the lady does not wish to give it a gloss. Crêpe de Chine and crêpe georgette may properly be ironed on the face or the back alike; foulard, Japanese silk, and the like are ironed on the face, and the remaining kinds of silk are ironed on the back.

Silk should not be too dry when it is ironed; it should be sprinkled with a little water before ironing, or else it becomes so dry as to be liable to spots and damage. The lady should keep the silk things she means to iron slightly damp and wrapped in a white towel until they are ironed. If the silk piece is very wet, let an old handkerchief be laid over it and ironed first, before the piece itself is ironed. And let the lady beware of setting a very hot iron on any silk fabric, whether natural or artificial, for that will make it stick to the iron and pucker the garment, or scorch it.

Ironing Woolens
When the lady wishes to iron woolen clothes, she must see to it that they are for the most part dry, and the iron must be very hot.

Ironing Velvet
In the case of ironing velvet the lady must be extremely careful and watchful: she irons it on the back, and the heat of the iron should be moderate.

Ironing Cotton Clothes
These should be dampened with water before ironing, and let the lady use a hot iron on them.