I have an interesting cookbook, Notes from a Country Kitchen, which has a
nice photo of an old dairy with a marble slab with a 4 wide channel around
it. Water was piped in to run around the slab, which kept it cool. You put
prepared desserts, junkets, syllabubs, etc. on it to keep them cool.
By the way she talked this event
occurred when she was a teenager. If someone was sick, her mother had a
large cast-iron pot in the yard to boil water and wash the clothes.
from home. If there was clothing to be ironed and there wasn't enough time
to do it, the wet clothing was rolled
Thanks for this fascinating post, Penny!
By the way, the Foxfire Books are wonderful, and well known in some
circles (e.g., folklorists, cultural anthropologists,
conservationists, craftspeople, and former Hippies!). I believe you
can still get them all, and new volumes are still being
--- Ruth Anne Baumgartner [EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
By the way, the Foxfire Books are wonderful, and
well known in some
circles (e.g., folklorists, cultural
anthropologists,
conservationists, craftspeople, and former
Hippies!). I believe you
can still get them all, and new volumes
We too did not get electricty until 1949...the year my brother was born.(NH)
Much of what you have described was my own experience...except the 'spring
box'.
I did not get to wear a fresh dress every day until I was able to iron them
myself. Pressing cloths and the sprinkling bottle were old
After all these interesting tales of historical laundering, I asked my
mother what she remembers.
She was born in 1937; he father was an executive at the paper mill in
Old Town, Maine. She wrote:
My mother had a hired girl/woman who did all the personal stuff by hand
and then ironed the
I remember my mother told me, that when she was a child, she always had to
wear fine clothes on sundays. And she hated this because the sunday clothes
were starched and they scratched her skin.
My mother was born in 1917.
Bjarne
- Original Message -
From: Penny Ladnier [EMAIL
My grandmother did the dampen and chill method for ironing the cotton
muslin curtains in our house. She made them for every room, including
the mile-a-minute crochet lace to go on them. After she got too old to
do it, my mother took up the tradition. Me, I barely have curtains at
all, and the ones
Thank you Linda for the Robert Doyle source. I don't think my mother had a
frig when she was growing up. Her mother was very old-fashioned, so I am
curious for her response.
My mother visits us for two months every year. Last year, she taught me how
to starch the 1950s petticoats and
I wonder if this cooling method comes from mothers who put out their laundry
on the clothesline in the winter and the fabric froze. I had not
experienced the freezing laundering syndrome until we moved to Illinois. My
son's cloth diapers froze stiff on the clothesline. From all my years of
Yeah, in my house it was a timing thing. Mom would was laundry while
we were at school, but wouldn't iron with 4 kids between 5-11 running
around the house. And then it was time to start dinner, then
dinnertime, dishes (my job as the oldest), homework and she was done
for the day. She had to put
-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Behalf Of Penny Ladnier
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2007 3:07 AM
To: Historical Costume
Subject: Re: [h-cost] Ironing (Was Linen Shir)t
I wonder if this cooling method comes from mothers who put out their
laundry
My personal experience has been that ironing dampened linen works better than
steam ironing. But it probably depends on your steam iron. Mine just doesn't
produce enough steam to work well with linen. Good luck.
Lalah, Never give up, Never surrender
--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
From:
At 08:16 AM 8/15/2007, you wrote:
Hi,
Its ben a while since i ironed my linnen shirt, and considering that
i have to iron some fine linnen cambric i have washed and tumbled.
Wich way is the best to iron it?
Should i wet it a little and let it get damped for a while before i
iron it, or should
I wear lots of linen so am ironing it all the time. I use a spray
bottle. You can usually get these from stores that sell plants or, like
I did, just wash out a spray bottle from window cleaner or a similar
product.
- Hope
___
h-costume mailing list
My mother always ironed her embroidered linen tablecloths by taking
them out of the washing machine, putting them into the dryer for 5
to 10 minutes (so they became steamy rather than soaking wet), then
spreading them on a large flat surface (sometimes the table itself,
with heat- and
Why did i have to read this article before going to iron all our
underlinen from last weekend's event? It's much too dry, but time just
doesn't allow for me to catch it while it's wet. Spray bottle, where
are you?
Jean
Bjarne og Leif Drews wrote:
Hi,
Manny manny thanks for your help with
I tend to spray with water and steam iron.
that's with cloth or clothes for other people.
my own linen clothes I tend not to bother ironing at all. I find that the
creases drop out of pure linen in less than an hour anyway.
___
Please be warned--ironing wet or even just damp linen stretches it out a
LOT. This can have all sorts of annoying effects if you plan to make/have
made a fitted or supportive garment out of it, or if it's being used as a
lining for wool, or if you don't want to have to iron the garment EVERY
Subject: [h-cost] ironing washed linnen.
Hi,
Its ben a while since i ironed my linnen shirt, and considering that i
have to iron some fine linnen cambric i have washed and tumbled.
Wich way is the best to iron it?
Should i wet it a little and let it get damped for a while before i iron
it,
An interesting topic today... I ran into a problem today with a linen mix
dress.
I have a cotton / linen blend off-white dress that I had not worn in a
couple of years. I was cleaning out my closet and noticed the dress had
turned a dark tea color. I took the dress to the dry cleaners today
I am wondering where the cooling the linen before ironing
originated. Some
of you mentioned that your mothers taught you to do this. It makes me
wonder if this method was something that was passed down through the
generations. I checked in my 1894 Cole's Dictionary of Dry Goods and
I've never owned a steam iron and neither has my Mum. Now that I have a tumble
dryer, I only give the clothes a short tumble (which shakes the worst creases
out of knitted cotton garments) and iron them while still damp. If they have
got too dry I spray them with water.
Kate Bunting
Librarian
In a message dated 11/30/2005 4:15:17 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
I've never owned a steam iron and neither has my Mum. Now that I have a
tumble dryer, I only give the clothes a short tumble (which shakes the worst
creases out of knitted cotton garments) and
feature with the Rowenta.
Kathleen
- Original Message -
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2005 7:28 AM
Subject: Re: [h-cost] ironing
In a message dated 11/30/2005 4:15:17 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
I've never
In a message dated 11/30/2005 7:52:02 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
My problem with the Rowenta is that they 'spit' after a while.
Yes, and the spit usually indicates that the iron is not getting hot
enough--hence, the unreliability of the thermostat.
Ann Wass
My problem with the Rowenta is that they 'spit' after a while. When
behaving Well, it is still my favorite for long distance ironing.
Presently, I am enjoying the Sunbeam...especially since I discovered how
to
use the self -cleaning mode. I can even get the 'burst of steam' which
was
PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2005 10:41 AM
Subject: Re: [h-cost] ironing
My problem with the Rowenta is that they 'spit' after a while. When
behaving Well, it is still my favorite for long distance ironing.
Presently, I am enjoying the Sunbeam...especially since I discovered how
I am so glad I don't have any of these ironing problems--years ago I
bought a Euro-Pro system. It has a separate tank (no water in the iron)
and a suction table for ironing.
I found mine on sale, and have since had to replace the tank/iron unit
with another, but the suction table still works
Our iron here doesn't have any of the problems usually associated with
irons... My mother wanted one that made a lot of steam, so she checked the
ratings in Consumer Reports and other magazines of the kind, and chose the
Philips azur exel 10. It's been a few years so it's probably not sold
I had the same problem with my old Sunbeam.
Roger
Diana Habra wrote:
My problem with the Rowenta is that they 'spit' after a while. When
behaving Well, it is still my favorite for long distance ironing.
I love how my Rowenta presses (and the steam is great) but the spitting
is SOOO
Subject: [h-cost] ironing
I once did the ironing for the priest on my campus (the linens we use at
mass and such). He had washed them but did not put them in the dryer. To
keep them wet he kept them in the ridge and then while you ironed you not
only took out all wrinkles but also dried
Ironing? Ironing? Did someone say ironing? I am anally retentive when it comes
to ironing -- if it does not have a crease you can cut bread with, it ain't
ironed.
I guess it all goes back to my childhood, my first holidays job at a large
industrial laundry, work that included preparing formal
33 matches
Mail list logo