I adore ironing, but partly because I have really good equipment for doing it.

That's not intended as a brag, but to highlight the point that many boards and most consumer irons are so light-duty that they take a pleasant task and make it a miserable chore.

First the board: narrow and short ones are the pits. Having a board attached to the wall (either pull-out or fold down) makes it difficult to use a good part of it as there is no room for your arms on the attached end. A board on top of another surface (as pictured above) would make pressing and keeping the just-pressed surfaces unwrinkled very difficult.

The typical (thin) width boards require more set-ups as you press so go for a wider one, which really will speed things up, especially for men's shirts. Expect to pay over $100 for a good, wide, well-padded one. Better boards have wider and more stable legs. A wire shelf underneath (for holding just-pressed items) is moderately useful, but not necessary. An iron rest on the end is even less necessary and can interfere when ironing large flat things like curtains or sheets. I prefer to have a separate hanging rod, rather than one attached to the board itself. My most-favorite board is a higher-end Brabantia. I have an extra all-cotton padded cover for it and find that very useful.

I have several irons but use an older Braun steam iron and a vintage GE non-steam one for most of my work. I have played around with the expensive activated steam-iron plus steam-sucking ironing board systems but never found them all that useful for the kind of hand work I do. They are also very expensive (multiple 100's of $$). If you do a lot of home-sewing they might be worth it.

I also have a large flat 27" x 60" ironing table for large items, plus a flatbed -i.e. clamshell - press (like an Elna press) and an old Ironrite mangle. The last two are specialized tools and not for everybody. The flat bed press is great for working with new, heavy, un-treated, all-cotton men's shirts (older shirts are fine using a hand iron) and the Ironrite is most useful for flats. You can do anything on an Ironrite (think gathered puffed sleeves on babies' dresses!) but flats are where it excels: tea towels, napkins and pillow cases rip right on through it at the rate of about 5-8 secs each. Some people do sheets with an Ironrite, but I line dry all my sheets so can skip that step. I do large damask linen tablecloths on the Ironite, too. (I bought the Ironirite on eBay for about $100. They look massive and impossible-to-move heavy, but easily disassemble-able. We got ours stuffed into the hatchback of a SAAB.)

I usually stand to iron, except when using the Ironrite which is too low for that and designed to be sat-at. Being able to move around on foot while ironing makes it a physically less-demanding chore as there should be no reaching. And as someone above noted if you stand at an ironing board that is slightly lower than typical counter height you can put your weight on the iron without havng to keep your shoulders raised and strained.

The last point is this: don't try to iron (even with steam) stuff that is bone dry. It should always be slightly damp; either not fully dried from the wash or re-moistened. Depending on the season my stuff may be "dampened" by exposure to dewfall or misted with water indoors. Or tossed in a low -or no heat- dryer with a fairly moist towel. Or hung in a shower room, or even moistened with a garment steamer. No matter how you do it, heat (as approrpiate for the fabric content) and moisture are what makes ironing easiset. There are a VERY FEW fabrics (moire silks and taffetas) where steam or moisture is incorrect, but these aren't in every day washes so pretty much no worry there.

Spray starches are an abomination, IMO: they use propellants (nasty to breathe) and stinky gunks that build up on your garments, iron and the floor around your board. I find spraying/misting with water to be a boring chore so I try to capture and iron the garments before they are fully dry. Or hang them out in the early evening so dew can do the work for me. If everything is dampened before I start ironing, it goes very quickly.

As a chore, ironing ranks as one of my faves. You (for very little work) complete the transformation from dirty to wearable. Aesthetically it's highly pleasant, since it smells and feels nice.

I don't carry it far enough to iron underwear or knits. Except for pressing while sewing, I only do woven shirts and blouses, slacks and shorts, summer dresses and skirts, aprons, and a large whack of household stuff: several dozen of dish-drying towels and cloth napkins per week; plus pillowcases, and placemats and tablecloths. Plus occasional oddites like curtains and guest-bed sheets. I lightly press (after hand-washing) woolens like sweaters, skirts, trousers and a few dresses and jackets. I'm trying to eliminate as much dry cleaning as possible.

If you "hate ironing" try to borrow someone's wide board and a good, heavy iron and try the job with properly dampened clothing and see how you like it when you're not hampered by marginal equipment.

HTH,

L.

I don't mind ironing. It's calming & soothing and you can actually see that you've accomplished something. I keep the iron & board in the linen closet and use it in my bedroom.

That said, I don't do my husband's shirts, I send them out. He wears 6 dress shirts a week and 2 casual (but still button down shirts that look better lightly starched & ironed).

I do my own stuff, cloth napkins, our pillow cases and the part of the top sheet that shows. I do it weekly and don't allow it to back up or then I might dislike it.

No ironing here, except for an odd piece a few times per year. DH's dress shirts go to the local cleaners, which has a pick-up and delivery service.

I iron some things that need it-table linens (the good stuff, not the everyday cloth napkins-those I just smooth), some of my things.

I do not send out DH's shirts-he takes them to the cleaners. Not my job-ha! If he didn't take them, he would need to iron them himself!

I could never understand the appeal of an ironing board in the laundry room. I think that it must have been a man's non ironer's idea. Who wants to iron in a small room with no entertainment?

LOL Terri! It's no different than ironing in your closet. I have plenty of room, a place to hang, etc. and I never iron many pieces at a time. It's a time to let my mind wonder. I can see a tv in the adjacent room if I choose.

My dad and my brother both iron. My husband, however, doesn't. That's okay though, I don't change my own oil either ;)

We also have an ironing board in the closet and I iron as needed, after pushing all the junk piled on the board to the floor.
I don't like ironing as an "event" but rather a part of getting dressed- one or two pieces at a time.

Dh wears sport shirts to work, thankfully, otherwise I would send them out.
If I iron all my wrinkled clothes at once, they might get crushed in the closet or I might try them on then leave them in a heap unil hanging back up - thus wasting the ironing effect.

Tina,

We buy mostly wash and wear. The shirts I buy my DH are typically wrinkle free. I just make sure I catch the dryer as soon as it stops to ensure they stay that way. He doesn't have to dress up for work either, it's nice casual, so the wrinkle free shirts are appropriate. When he did have to dress up though, I always took his shirts to the cleaners, life it too short to stand around ironing, like you said, it's just not that expensive.

L, if I had to moisten clothes before ironing it would never get done. I remember sprinkling and rolling when I was a kid. Have a heavy duty Rowenta steam iron that does fine on dry clothes.

polly - Funny! Did you want polka dot walls?

Well, I found in my attic a few months ago a box of ironing--all white doilies, napkins, blouses, etc. from 2003.
I kid you not, my husband did much of the packing and labeling and they wound up there. Nine years of growing, my girls are grown women and can't fit into those blouses!

I did have a drawer with an ironing board built into my built in dresser in my closet and it's handy for ironing a blouse or pressing when I'm getting dressed, and an outlet for a steamer, as well. The guest bedroom has an ironing board and iron.

However, right now I have literally bins of sheets, t shirts, cotton pajamas, tea towels, napkins, and tablecloths that need ironing. Except they don't get ironed.

Curious this thread is here, because about 30 minutes ago I walked outside and found delivered by my garage door my dream ironing buddy--a Miele Rotary Iron. I figured how to get the 70 pound box on a cart, then on a dolly, and it's in the laundry room now, but I'm going to wait for help to arrive to unpack it. It's something I've wanted for about four years now and last week I was just sick of looking at all of those bins of ironing and figured I'd go for it.
I'm ready to rest on perfectly ironed sheets and use tablecloths again instead of always tossing place mats on the table.

At the least, it could be a second income--I could pick up ironing for people that don't like to do it and tie it in pretty satin ribbons and deliver it. Yea, right.

Ironing can be very therapeutic and calming, if we have the time. Yea, right.

Polly - LOL. That's funny - expensive - but funny.

I don't iron. My DH's shirts go to the cleaners and everything else stays wrinkled. When I worked years ago I only wore stuff that said "dry clean only" - blouses, pants, suits, etc. because I knew that the clothes would never get ironed. One of my chores growing up was ironing my dad's shirts and I swore I would never do it as an adult.

I would take the shirts to the cleaners, but that means a 40 min. round trip, twice a week. It only takes 5 min. to do a shirt. I've timed it. :)

I always use a spray bottle of water, not water in my iron.

I can't lower my board though. Because I iron on an antique wooden board. Yup! Only because when we were in college we rented a house from an elderly lady who gave us her own ironing board. Solid wood, legs and all. It works like perfection. The pads and covers I buy for it fits perfectly.

Lynn, I used to do a shirt a day, but it got to where I dreaded that time of day to iron, so I do about 2 or 3 at a time.

I received a new shower curtain for Christmas. It's like AuntJen's. I still have not ironed it!! I need to though, because I'm getting ready to put my Williams-Sonoma Spring-Summer tablecloth on the DR table, so I guess I'll make a big pot of coffee. lol.

For small jobs I put a thick towel, doubled, on the counter and iron. I really should get a table top ironing board though.

I can't ask my dh to iron, I'd feel too guilty. lol. I'm a "Kept Woman" now that the kids are grown, so I need to earn my pay. :)

I agree what iron can make a difference. I love a good steam iron. Any recommendations?

tina

Oak, We're supposed to iron our shower curtains? I never did, it never even crossed my mind. ooops...LOL

When I was growing up, there were usually clothes in the crisper drawer.

Lukk, this is a thin cotton curtain which is badly wrinkled. I thought it would be a heavier weight.

I have to iron most of my husband's shirts too. He does it himself when he doesn't have something ironed to wear, or when he goes on a business trip. I keep my ironing board and iron hung in our walk-in closet. I pull it out and set it up in front of the bedroom tv. I also only iron as needed. It's frustrating to iron a bunch of clothes and hang them in the closet and somehow they get messed up and need touched up again before wearing. I don't want to do that.
My mom used to LOVE to iron. We lived in the country and she ironed in the nude. Unfortunately she burned her stomach a couple of times and her boobs once. She was crazy :-)

Demifloyd, I am so envious. I really, really, really want one of those Miele rotary irons. Lucky you!

When I was growing up, there were usually clothes in the crisper drawer.

Me too! It was usually my dad's shirts and boxers. My mom didn't trust me to iron the shirts, but I had to do the boxers. Ick!

Now I feel like a real dork Ha! The one I bought for our guest bath is a thin cotton I got from Ballards and is really wrinkled too. It never even dawned on me! LMAO...

Do any of you remember your grandma dampening the clothes then putting them in the freezer before ironing. The ice crystals made the iron just glide right over the clothes. I still do that with my dish towels and pillow cases. I use those dish towels from Restoration Hardware and they just look better ironed when they are hanging up. I can't fit the sheets in the freezer though.

I own one shirt that needs to be ironed and everything else is wash and wear.

HI, I'm going to have to check out RH's dishtowels to see why they would need ironing. But don't they get wrinkled as soon as you use them?

For some reason my sheets and pillow cases don't need ironed, not that I would do it. lol.

How does one iron a shirt with the rotary?

i send my husb's shirts out- (LOVE having the service that comes to our door!!)... i iron an occasional shirt of mine or casual shirt of my hub or the couple of pairs of pants i have that get really wrinkled! (tho, i may send them out next time i wear them--took too long!)
i have a friend who always sends out her table cloths and i also may do that next time i use one of our really long ones...
i occasionally will iron our pillow cases or the upper hem of the tp sheet-but again, that's usually only certain sheets and only on our bed or the guest bed (depending on who's coming)!
i always iron in the family room or the hall in front of it and will turn on at least the radio or the tv if there's something decent on and i've really let the pile grow...

I had to look up a rotary iron. Oh my heavenly days - I would not want that monster! LOL Nor would I want to use one! While I do not mind ironing the things I have to, I don't plan on ironing sheets, etc. Tablecloths occasionally but I don't favor tablecloths, so we don't use them often. I occasionally iron linen napkins but a regular iron works fine.

I like Rowena irons also - they are a bit heavy, but honestly, you can see the difference. I could not do without a steam iron. I also have a small steamer, but have never used it!! Would be great on shower curtains, drapes, etc.

Oakley, I'm thinking the dish towels were for display?

My mother used to spend hours at the ironing board ironing everything from pillow cases and sheets to my fathers shirts, but I don't remember her chilling or freezing anything. I just put stuff back in the dryer with a damp towel and fluff them on a low heat. Takes the wrinkles out and makes them soft.

I detest ironing! What a waste of life! Still I do it and have a couple of gadgets that make it bearable. I have a pressure steam iron, one of those with the separate reservoir, and an upright steamer. Most of our clothes are simply steamed, which is very quick and easier on the clothes than ironing. Dress shirts and sheets, napkins etc. are ironed with the steam iron. It makes easy work of almost everything.
I have a radio in the laundry room and listen to NPR while ironing. I like the radio better than TV when ironing. I have just changed out the lighting in the laundry room too so I have multiple spot lights shining just where I need them. They give the room a lovely ambient light and sparkle too.

Here is a link that might be useful: My pressure steam iron

I must be one of the few people who avoids purchasing clothing that will need ironing (like linen or 100% cotton). There are random pieces here and there that I buy and it's unavoidable, but I hate ironing so much that I'm pretty choosy about clothing material. I don't think I have ever ironed dh's shirts. He takes them to the cleaners although in more recent years, he's been purchasing wrinkle-free shirts from Brooks Brothers. LOVE those!

I suppose one of the reasons I detest ironing is b/c I can't seem to do a very good job when I do try. I always end up with a crease in the wrong place, or can't get all the wrinkles out around the cuffs or collars. I suppose I'm not too picky either about things not being perfectly pressed looking. My kids' school uniforms could stand to be ironed if I was a perfectionist (mostly I pull them out of the dryer immediately and hang them so they look decent enough). I figure as soon as they put them on and sit down, any "pressed" look is going to disappear anyway.

I'll never forget when I was in high school and living at the beach with one of my best friends. She was a complete slob - the only time her clothes came out of the laundry basket was when she was picking something out of it (clean) to wear. Some of the clothing was so wrinkled from sitting in the basket, but her philosophy was that as soon as she went outside, the humidity in the air would smooth out the wrinkles. To a certain extent, it did help!

in college, a friend of mine ironed her jeans. I'm just a slacker... :)

If you truly would like to see a shirt ironed on a rotary iron, I've attached a short video.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rotary Iron Video

Sorry. That last post should have said that I've attached a link to a short video.

Fourkids, I worked with a guy who wore starched jeans. Was the strangest thing I ever saw.

Fun2Bhere that is a hilarious video. I don't know what was funnier, the guy waiving off the phone call so he could continue ironing or the expressions on his face as he showed the dog he couldn't hurt his hands. LMAO

I agree, Lukkiirish. Just the man I want to find...one so obsessed with ironing that he can't answer the phone or help carry in the groceries. LOL!!! I've linked a video showing a woman's version below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Another Ironing Video

Does anyone know if one of these steam machines is available for home use? ;)
It looks awesome!

Here is a link that might be useful: Hi Steam Video

The RH dish towels are what I want to call a heavy weight potato sack cloth and I'm sure I'm misrepresenting it. What I love about them is number one they are indestructible. I've purchsed dish towels only 2 times in 10 years. I buy 4 at a time. They are white so I can bleach the death out of them. No, they don't wrinkle up like they would if I hadn't ironed them at all. They are great towels and if someone knew how to sew and had a surger I'm sure they could make these towels quite easily for only pennies because the cotton is inexpensive. It's an old timey type cotton material. If you get by a RH take a peek. Now I haven't purchased any in about 6 years so I'm not sure what they look like today. Like everything else today, their quality may have gone out the window by now.

Do any of you remember those metal pants forms? My aunt useS those to dry her son's uniform pants when he was a kid in Catholic School. She'd put them on the forms wet and they'd dry stiff and wrinkle free. I think it was a way to put the seam back in pants. I was just a kid so I'm not real sure why she used them.

sis3, which one is your iron, is it the steam station ? you called it pressure
iron but I can't figure out which one it is on the rowenta website.

My DH has always ironed his own shirts.

My daughter has a steamer and she steams her suits and blouses by hanging them up on a closet door and running the steamer from the top to the bottom of the item, then flipping it and doing the back.

I iron as little as possible, but keep the ironing board in the bedroom and watch TV while ironing. I hate every minute of it!

mitchdesj, mine is the Rowenta Steam Station. I have just read a lot of reviews and while most users rave about how many times better than a regular iron it is there are some negative reviews about longevity. That said, mine has not missed a beat in 4 years and I noticed at least one online seller that offers a 3 year extended warranty.

thanks sis, I'm tempted to get one !

The topics that get discussed here never fail to amaze and amuse me!

Living in Miami we strongly prefer cotton clothes, so I do a fair amount of ironing. My husband used to wear custom made Hawaiian shirts to work and years ago he started ironing them himself because he didn't think I did a good enough job...I think that was a case of me reverse-engineering the typical male 'honey I just can't do it as well as you do' strategy if I recall correctly :).

Anyway, I still iron my own clothes. For awhile I was ironing my sheets but that took too long. Although it felt nice to slide into those smooth cool sheets the first night they were on the bed, I didn't feel the bang for the ironing buck was there so I quit. I still iron my pillowcases and that does feel nice.

I usually set up the board in the LR and watch tv while I iron. I personally find Antiques Roadshow to be perfect viewing during ironing sessions. You don't have to actually watch every minute because most of the time the appraiser is explaining that the thingamobob was done by a furniture maker in the Popsadoodle school of Philadelphia fine cabinetry or that the Hoosawatsis firm manufactured this doll by the thousands after the 1908 World's Fair. I can zen out getting all the blouses and pillowcases nice and fresh while enlightening myself.

Between ironing sessions, which happen only every few weeks, I keep a portable ironing board next to my front loading washer/dryer. The iron lives on a shelf there too, plugged in and ready to go. So if I just need to do something quickly it only takes a minute or two and I'm finished and ready to go.

My only real requirement for an iron is that it have an automatic shut-off. I'm way too scattered and not infrequently forget to turn it off. I need the peace of mind that comes from knowing it will shut off in a little while.

Ann

I set up the ironing board in DS's room so he can play and I could keep an eye on him. Well he got away from me, and my mischievous little 2 year old DS, left the room, went into the bathroom cabinet and proceeded to open an entire box of contact lenses and stick them to the wall.

omg, Polly know it had to be painful to discover, but can't help it, the imagery of your toddler painstakingly plastering the wall with contact lenses has me ROFL. Smart kid, figuring out they'd stick, haha.

All this ironing talk reminds of of something. You know how you read things that just stay with you forever? I was an avid Ann Landers reader as a teen in the '70s. To this day I remember the lashes with a wet noodle (it was a good scolding) she gave to a reader who did not iron her everyday bath towels. Ms Landers implied her reader was not a good home keeper, because any woman worth her weight in salt ironed her everyday bath towels. Couldn't wrap my brain around it then, still can't. ;)

NO! Life is way too short! I would not iron towels, underwear, dish towels, and I confess I only iron the top 2 feet or so of the sheets and the pillowcases. The microfiber sheets do not get ironed at all!

A young colleague of mine many years ago said they if she ever found herself ironing sheets she would know that she had to get a life! My ex used to insist that he couldn't sleep if there were wrinkles in the sheets. His overbearing mother said the same. As a young woman I would be in a frenzy trying to get out the last wrinkle before my MIL's visits! The lengths I went to! Finally the light dawned and I left him, and I left him the iron!

Moonshadow- this little 2 year old has outsmarted me in ways I'd never imagine. He is the 3rd child, but had he been number 1 I don't know if I'd be brave enough to have another!

My mom used to iron my sweatpants as a child, I remember her friends all teasing her that her children's sweatpants all had a crease in the front. That's how she like our clothes. I think it may be the reason I'm so anti-iron. And speaking of mischievous toddlers, when my brother was 3, he plugged in the iron and burned a whole through the carpet while my mother took a shower. I somehow got in big trouble for this, b/c at age 5 I should've been minding my brother. The mischief must run in the boy genes in my family.

So between my mother's ironing of everything as a child, and the bad memories associated with my brother's ironing incident, I can easily say I detest ironing. A lot of it is a time factor though, with 3 small children and a full time job, I simply don't have enough of it.

"A young colleague of mine many years ago said they if she ever found herself ironing sheets she would know that she had to get a life!"

*

Well, I have a very full and very busy life, and I intend to start ironing my sheets after years of sleeping on wrinkled ones! ;)

The rotary iron arrived, is up and running and I knocked out pillowcases, dish towels, underwear, nightgowns, napkins and handkerchiefs in literally 15 minutes. Tonight I'm sleeping on freshly laundered, ironed, linen sheets.

Now to find a pretty glass and brass mister.

Great thread.

I love sleeping on ironed sheets!

demifloyd if I had a rotary iron I would iron EVERYTHING, including me (cos I need it!)!

Seriously, we have a lot of guests from overseas and the after-visit chore I dislike the most is ironing the bedding. A rotary iron would make life so much easier. Do you think you will be able to use the RI to press shirts etc?
I might have to go just to LOOK at a rotary iron ;)

Because of this topic, on Sunday I took the ironing to the LR and watched QVC! I got a lot of ironing done, including my tablecloth. I am so glad I did it, the dining room looks so fresh and spring like!

Speaking of, how do you get a large piece like a tablecloth inside a rotary iron without it wrinkling?

Oakley, the end lifts up and opens so that you can place fabric on the top of the roller before the top bar is placed down again.

You place the tablecloth crossway so the ends hang on either side of the roller and run it through, ironing the middle.

Then you fold in half with the unironed edges together, and place in the roller with the ironed portion, now folded, on the left side outside the roller, and run the edges through the roller.

Ironed a T shirt yesterday in 11 seconds!

I'm continuing to seethe with envy, Demifloyd. (Of course, I'm joking. I don't know how to seethe.)

lol@ F2BH !

Ironed a T shirt yesterday in 11 seconds!
Dang, I'm impressed. Something like that might just prompt me to want to iron.