Diary of a bad housewife: The pressing issue of ironing
Travel, as we know, broadens the mind. It can also show you that other people have better personal routines. I once found myself on a business trip with a woman I met for the first time at the airport. She was very stylish and it soon became clear she knew things about life I didn't. For example, when she got off the 14-hour flight, she wasn't wearing mascara under her eyes and her hair wasn't flattened to one side of her head. Not had she let "comfy" triumph over adult. Those feats remain a mystery but I did learn a few other things from her.
After we'd arrived at the hotel and our bags had been taken up, our minders presented us with a list of activities, the first scheduled in 15 minutes' time. "I think not," M said in silky tones, turning to me. "I'm sure we're agreed that our very first priority is to hang our clothes and have pressed anything that needs pressing."
I nodded, hoping to fake it as a member of her non-wrinkled universe. Clearly, this was one of the ways the Sophisticated Woman Traveller stays kempt. Just as she doesn't simply run a comb through her hair and hope for the best, nor does she shove a few smalls into the hotel drawers higgledy-piggledy and leave the rest in her suitcase so she can head for the champagne bar. I liked the worldly sound of "pressed", and how it implied someone else would be doing it.
I don't actually mind ironing. I just never seem to get on top of it, away or at home. I'd love to be one of those people who have a week's worth of clothes pressed and hanging in their wardrobe with space to spare,instead of the hangers locked together and fighting like siblings in an overcrowded tenement. Apart from the occasional satisfying afternoon doing a pile of tea towels or napkins, my ironing routine tends to be on an "as-needed" basis. As in: do I need to iron this shirt or can I get away with it as is? I have a friend who doesn't iron anything yet somehow manages to make crumpled cotton shirts look chic and intentional, the way French style icon Caroline de Maigret can pull off that carefree, "I-woke-up-like-this" look with her hair.
I'm also a lazy ironer, the kind who tries to speed-iron a T-shirt, or anything really, by tackling both sides simultaneously, i.e, without pulling it over the head of the ironing board to do each side. I can recommend my method, as long as you don't mind creases and the impression of the seams showing on the front. If you want to do it the proper way, the professional tip is not to move the iron in circles. Just press it onto one part of the T-shirt long enough to remove the wrinkles, and then lift and move to the next spot. It avoids tugging and stretching the fabric, responsible ironers say..
How to iron a buttoned shirt? Everyone seems to agree it's a good idea to keep a spray bottle of water handy to lightly spray and dampen the shirt, even with a steam iron. If you're doing a bunch, spray them all and put them in a plastic or cloth bag to stay damp as you go. Order of attack varies. Some experts start with the cuffs and sleeves, others with the yoke, collar and shoulders, ironing top to bottom and doing the front last. Buttoning the collar at some point helps to stop it flopping about. And don't iron the crease into the collar, says the man from Jermyn Street shirtmakers, T.M. Lewin, in his helpful video: just fold and steam-press into the centre back. Another tip: lead with the heel of the iron, not the tip, on collars and cuffs to avoid creating ripples. By the way, the T.M Lewin man reckons he can iron a shirt in just three minutes. Gentlemen, your time starts now …
The cardinal rule: Resist the urge to slip into any warm and freshly ironed item. Put it on a hanger first and let it hang – to cool and dry – for at least 10 minutes to reduce re-creasing.
I've only just discovered hand-held steamers, a domestic version of those devices you see people using in clothes shops and beloved by travelling bridesmaids in crumpled extremis. Even the cheap one I bought as an experiment is proving useful for steam-pressing coats, jackets or woollens and, I imagine, for difficult-to-iron items like cocktail dresses, silks or velvets.
It is another electrical gadget but, arguably, it's more environmental than dry-cleaning. Ditto that essential, zero-carbon-emitting but often neglected item for freshening up clothes: a clothes brush. Use it dry first, and then damp if necessary, with sweeping strokes, always in the same direction; first against the nap of the fabric and then with it.
I see that people who are really serious about ironing, or sewing, own things like padded sleeve boards, which allow them to iron sleeves or trouser legs without pressing in a crease. A bridge too far. I did see a second-hand one for sale recently, for $10. The ad said it all, "'Sleeve board, barely used".