Just one more thing about IRONING....before I leave the subject alone.
I found this book years ago at Half-Price Books and it's full of great tips and household tricks.
And it's the perfect red that caught my eye in the bookstore's vintage book section.
Yes, I judge a book by its cover.
It's important to note that it's Copyright 1947.
This book was probably a God-send to the housewives of that time.
It even has a section about how to get Mercurochrome and Iodine out of fabrics.
If you don't know what those are then you are not in my age group.
Mercurochrome was bright orangish-red and was the "cure-all" for all scrapes and cuts....much like Neosporin is today. Only Neosporin is clear in color.
Iodine and Mercurochrome stained.
I still have an orangish stain on my knees from
all the scabs that lived there my entire childhood.
Back to ironing......
This is the book where I found the photo of
the extremely satisfied housewife doing her ironing.
She looks content and knows she is a good wife.
And she was having a Good Hair Day.
She's dressed for the day, has her apron ironed and is ready for the basket of dampened clothes to be pressed and folded. The roast and potatoes are already in the oven and the children are roaming the streets on their bikes. Except Little Tommy.....he's down by the lake......fishing. Alone. It was 1947.
She would finish her ironing,
polish the silver,
get those Mercurochrome stains out of Becky's Sunday School dress,
rinse out the baby's dirty cloth diapers, hang one more load of clothes on the line
and then call the children in for dinner.
She liked for them to be bathed and dressed in their nicest clothes
when her husband came home from a long day at the office.
She didn't mind the extra load of laundry this caused.
It was her pleasure.
Poor guy, he worked so hard.
(read this with a huge hint of sarcasm)
Thank goodness she could refer to this book
if she ever had a question about how to iron certain items.
Her husband was a complete bear to live with if his shorts (underwear) was wrinkled.
Brassieres?
Are you kidding me?
All I'm saying is ......
THANK GOODNESS
I WAS A YOUNG WIFE IN THE 80'S!
We've come a LONG way.
I never understood why anyone would ever feel the need to iron pajamas or pillowcases... they're going to get wrinkly as soon as you lay on them! Which is exactly why I refuse to ever make my bed.. I like it to be more like a "nest" where I can curl up in the middle of my 7 pillows and 4 circularly-wadded comfortors/quilts/blankets. :)
ReplyDeleteThe ironing board will be up on Sat, here's hoping you'll give lessons.
ReplyDeleteAmen Cameron! Your Mamma did you good. When I was young my job was to iron the hankerchiefs, pillow cases, and anything else flat. I remember having a sprinkle top in a bottle of some sort because we didn't have the sprayer built in then. Julia, I love how content this housewife looks doing the most important job of her day! She does need some help with fabric coordination.
ReplyDeleteI might just try ironing my bra and take a pic of it, haha (not). I have to admit though, that I used to iron my pillowcases because I had been so used to my Oma (german for grandma) iron mine and I loved the crisp feel.
ReplyDeleteI don't know...were they robots? I don't remember ironing underwear or pajamas. I mean pajamas are worn in BED. I suppose they were too restrained to roll over much less roll around in bed. I do remember ironing sheets and pillow cases and even just maybe 4 years ago when I paid way too much for some cotton sheets that were so pretty but had to be ironed to look good. Dumb move. And I totally think the lady in the book and the one who wrote it were drunk and it was a no one realized it was meant to be a joke.
ReplyDelete