Ironing Hankies

I recently ironed about a hundred vintage hankies...

 

...and it reminded me of when I learned to iron - something I was anxious to do because it meant I was growing up! I was first allowed to iron my mother's hankies and dad's handkerchiefs, and then moved on to pillowcases which had to be folded just so.

Obviously ironing was a very different process in the mid 1900's. First of all, everything was ironed. Fabrics were most often cotton, and clothes dried on clotheslines. If there was a good wind you might not have quite as many wrinkles, but they still needed to meet up with an iron. And we're not talking a steam iron, so clothes needed to be damp to provide the steam that removed all those wrinkles. So, grab the sprinkler bottle...

 

Ours looked very much like this except it was a 7-up bottle. I see on eBay that there are all kinds of fancy vintage sprinkler bottles, but we used a 7-up bottle with a sprinkler cap stuck in the top. Clothes were laid out on the table, sprinkled well, rolled up individually and put in a large bag to sit for a couple of hours so that the pieces were evenly damp. If you weren't going to iron right away they could be put in the refrigerator, but beware!, they can mildew if left too long - not that I would know about that, I've just heard tell!

 

Ah, memories... housework was a lot more WORK back in the "good old days."

 

And what am I going to do with 100 hankies? Well, that's a story for another day, but I am open to suggestions.

 



Till next time...
Blessings,

Gail