Ironing
Ironing that does bring memories!! my mom had one of those sprinklers and we still have it with the root beer bottle!!! I got it first when mom discovered a spray starch like stuff that dampened instead of being starch. then one of my sisters wanted it then another we pass it around don't use it but want the memories. I grew up with 6 females and 1 male in the house in the cotton dress and such era like most of you. We also started off with hankies and pillow cases and by the time we were 12 we were responsible for most of our own clothes plus some extra each week 10 pieces of extras! of course my twin sister was mentally challenged and did not have the capability of ironing so we all helped do her stuff as mom wanted her girls to look Crisp and Neat!!! Never did sheets and such as there was too much other stuff. What a fun thread!!!
Great thread Candy. Mom used to come get my soiled baby laundry so she could wash them, hang them on the line to dry, iron and return the sweet smelling clothes.
She refused to use a clothes dryer. When she & Dad moved in with us, Tom had to remove the deck umbrella and install a circular clothesline for Mom's stuff.
Ahh yes, good memories.
Annette 
I have loved reading all the posts about ironing. I have not ironed in a few years, but I do remember enjoying it and may get the ironing board out soon. I also remember the sprinkler thing that went on the top of the Coke bottle - different countries but the same memories!
I recall my poor mother, who never had a dryer, bringing in the "stiff as a board" sheets that she'd hung outside that morning after trekking up and down the stairs to the wringer washing machine in the old, dingy basement. The entire house would smell fresh when she brought those sheets in - what a wonderful memory. My mother, if she were still alive, may not have remembered it with much fondness as she was the one (with five kids) who had to go out in the cold to retrieve the sheets.
We also rolled our clothes, after sprinkling them with water, and kept them in the fridge until we were ready to iron them.
How did your mother make the starch? I remember my mother stirring it on the stove! I'm not sure what the starch looked like before, but when she was done it was a translucent, whitish mixture in a pot.
My mother also used to "blue" her whites to make them whiter. She used "La France" bluing to do the job. Did you have a product like that to whiten other than bleach?
Great post.
Margaret
I recall my poor mother, who never had a dryer, bringing in the "stiff as a board" sheets that she'd hung outside that morning after trekking up and down the stairs to the wringer washing machine in the old, dingy basement. The entire house would smell fresh when she brought those sheets in - what a wonderful memory. My mother, if she were still alive, may not have remembered it with much fondness as she was the one (with five kids) who had to go out in the cold to retrieve the sheets.
We also rolled our clothes, after sprinkling them with water, and kept them in the fridge until we were ready to iron them.
How did your mother make the starch? I remember my mother stirring it on the stove! I'm not sure what the starch looked like before, but when she was done it was a translucent, whitish mixture in a pot.
My mother also used to "blue" her whites to make them whiter. She used "La France" bluing to do the job. Did you have a product like that to whiten other than bleach?
Great post.
Margaret
We used to use a bluing agent too. I am not sure the name of the product but I remember it being a bold color blue that took the yellow tinge out. I had some that I used not long ago. I love the smell of fabric that have been bleached and hung out to dry. I really am going to hang a clothes line. I would love to hang out my sheets. I think it might be this weekends project.
What a fun thread Candy....I also have fond memories of smelling fresh laundry.....however, I was never allowed to touch an iron...that is until when I was 16 years old., I think my Mother thought she would teach me to cook and teach to to do housework....but I was definitely not intersted at that point. Up until then we had a live in housekeeper. She had an ironing porch and that is where she did the ironing especially in the summer time.[no AC then] There was a big old chair out there that she would sit in and take a break....I used to sit in it and talk to her about what I thought was very important. Sometimes I was with her more than my parents. So I have pleasant memories of ironing.
BUT....I did learn eventually.....but I told my husband that "I will never ask you to iron anything of mine, if you never ask me to iron anything of yours"...and you know in those days.....everything had to be ironed!!! AHHH memories..
Marti
BUT....I did learn eventually.....but I told my husband that "I will never ask you to iron anything of mine, if you never ask me to iron anything of yours"...and you know in those days.....everything had to be ironed!!! AHHH memories..
Marti
"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone is fighting some kind of battle"
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