Laundry Love

by Patric Richardson

  Here are my two favorite ways to air out clothes:

  Place your strong-smelling clothes on hangers and then hang them outside for a few hours on a porch, deck, or laundry line. In a pinch, you can even hang them up in the garage. A friend of mine used to attend sales meetings where most of the sales reps smoked cigarettes. Once back home, she’d strip down to her underwear in her (attached) garage and hang up her clothes to air out.

  When your clothes smell like smoke, French fries, or something else a bit off, you can use one of my favorite tricks—relied on by many professional costumers and hockey parents everywhere. I use this a lot, including after visits to a local Thai restaurant whose coatrack is located right outside the kitchen. While I love Thai food, I don’t want to smell like kao klook gapi when I get home.

  So here’s what you do: Simply pour vodka (cheap vodka works just as well as the fancy Belvedere) into a spray bottle and spritz on the article in question. The vodka kills any bacteria and removes all scents, including cigarette smoke and strong food odors. (This technique also works on carpets for pet smells and sanitizes cutting boards in the kitchen.)

  One of my customers, a high school marching band director, offered up a challenge for me regarding this advice. While his band’s uniforms began to smell after just one or two halftime shows, he couldn’t afford to dry clean them regularly, but he also couldn’t keep bottles of vodka at school. No worries, I told him. Simply add a tablespoon of rubbing alcohol to each spray bottle of vodka to make it denatured, or undrinkable. Adding the rubbing alcohol to the vodka is a good method, too, for anyone who—for whatever reason (a religious objection, a recovering family member, etc.)—doesn’t want alcohol in his or her home. As a bonus, stir in a few drops of an essential oil for a great scent. Problem solved!

  Let’s review:

    To dry your garments, hang your woven items on hangers, hang your knits on a drying rack or clothesline, and throw your T-shirts, socks, underwear, sheets, towels, and kids’ clothes into the dryer.

    Drying textiles on drying racks and clotheslines will make them last much longer, save you money, and treat the Earth more kindly.

    When you use your dryer, add wool balls to make your clothes dry faster, bumpy dryer balls to make your towels fluffier, and an aluminum ball to eliminate all static.

    Never use fabric softener or dryer sheets—period.

  Now, what are you waiting for? It’s time to dry your textiles!

  5

  Time to Pump Some Iron (or Blow Off Some Steam)

  I find it soothing to take something wrinkled and make it smooth. It feels anticipatory.

  —ALEXANDRA STODDARD, INTERIOR DESIGNER AND AUTHOR

  Ever come across a word that looks odd to you? Like the letters have landed in the wrong order on the page? And the longer you stare at that word, the more bizarre it appears. Is that really how it’s spelled? Is that even a word?

  Not long ago for me, that word was wrinkly.

  My questioning sent me to the dictionary, where I came across an even crazier-looking word: gewrinclod, an Old English term meaning sinuous, and the origin word for wrinkly, wrinkles, and all such related expressions.

  I wouldn’t have been surprised if I’d discovered a word of Chinese origin instead. After all, ironing was invented in China. More than a thousand years ago, they’d heap hot coals into small metal bowls and then move them, via long handles, over stretched textiles to smooth out the wrinkles. Obviously, the Chinese were fine dressers even back then—wearing gorgeously embroidered and flowing gowns. No wonder thousands of young people in China today are part of the Hanfu movement, wearing clothing inspired by their ancient dynasties.

  But ironing with hot bowls was just the beginning. Over centuries, ironing was performed around the world with a wide variety of tools—among them, flat round stones, glass smoothers that looked like giant upside-down mushrooms, screw presses used to flatten large damp linens, and mangles.

  Ah, the mangle. As a small boy, I thought the mangle was the fanciest of all household appliances. That’s because my neighbor, Ruby, a woman who’d traveled around the world four times, owned one. She was super chic, with friends in London and a personal shopper in Pennsylvania. I loved her travel stories and her big-city ways. Ruby would often invite me over for dinner, and we’d dine on filet mignon, mashed potatoes, green beans, and rolls—every dinner was identical and wonderful.

  But it was her mangle, “the ironer,” that most captured my attention. This machine, invented during the 1500s, uses rollers to press clothes. Much later, during the nineteenth century, “mangle women” would hand-crank fabric through steam- and later gas-heated rollers, taking it from wrinkled on one side of the machine to smooth on the other. Ruby’s mangle was electric, and because she owned one, I aspired to have one, too. I assumed that once I had my own mangle, I would be cosmopolitan—just like her.

  I’m sad to say I still don’t have a mangle. I just don’t have room to fit one more thing in my combination laundry room-master bathroom. Someday. In the meantime, I have a steam-generating iron that I adore—more on that later.

  The Vinyasa of Ironing

  In today’s society, ironing often seems like a chore of yesteryear. But it wasn’t that long ago that ironing was something practically everyone did. As a kid, my mom pressed most of our clothes. For me, she ironed my shirts but not my jeans—even today I like wearing rumpled jeans. So I remember being surprised one day to find her ironing my brother Jarrod’s jeans. She explained that his shirts didn’t need ironing, “So ironing his jeans shows I care.” Taking care of family members’ clothes was a big way we showed love in my family.

  As I grew older, I started ironing my own clothes because I wanted to learn how. Eventually, I took over all the ironing; I had the luxury of time, unlike my working mother, and I enjoyed making our clothes look splendid—crisp button-downs, pants ironed with sharp creases, and impeccable handkerchiefs ironed into four stacked squares—ironed flat, folded and ironed, and then folded and ironed again.

  Suffice it to say, I love ironing. There’s a gracefulness and a meditative feel to the task. Plus a pure satisfaction as you smooth out the wrinkles, making a shirt or pair of pants look just so. When the world feels out of whack and the bad news keeps coming, it’s a relief to perform a household routine that gives both pleasure and a bit of control.

  I’m not alone in this feeling. Of all household activities, ironing may be the most frequent topic addressed by poets. In “Ode to Ironing,” Pablo Neruda suggests a higher purpose with this line: “the hands keep moving, the sacred surfaces get smoothed.” I know of several other ironing-themed poems—including “Ironing” by Vicki Feaver and “Ironing After Midnight” by Marsha Truman Cooper. But my favorite may be Julia Alvarez’s “Ironing Their Clothes,” in which this Dominican American poet writes of expressing love for her family through attentive ironing, shrugging the world off her father’s shoulders by pressing his shirts, caressing the “collars, scallops, ties, pleats” of her mother’s blouses, and tickling the “underarms of my big sister’s petticoat.”

  Do you regularly iron your clothes? Or perhaps you prefer to steam them? If you don’t iron or steam your clothes, I’m here to suggest you do—some of them anyway, at least some of the time.

  I understand that ironing may feel unnecessary. After all, lots of our clothes are made with modern fabrics that don’t tend to wrinkle—at least not that much. Plus, the idea of adding ironing or steaming to a long list of other household chores and life to-dos may seem unfathomable. And perhaps ironing feels like a hassle: Maybe, like me, you have to move items around to create a space for ironing and set up your ironing board—or you may have to collect all the stuff that you’ve heaped onto your ironing board and move it elsewhere in order to actually iron.

  Despite all that, both ironing and/or steaming are necessary—sometimes. Here are four important points to encourage you in your ironing.

  First
, you have more time than you think. Now that you’ll be washing everything on express, your laundry routine will be much shorter. Plus, you’ll no longer be using dry cleaning, so you’ll be saving all that time that you used to spend on gathering up your dry-clean-only items, driving to the dry cleaner, waiting in line, picking it up again, etc.

  To make the most of your available time, I recommend multitasking—something you’re no doubt familiar with. When I’m doing the laundry, I usually multitask, ironing clean yet wrinkled clothes that have accumulated—typically while a first load is drying and a second load is in the wash. After all, I need to stay close to my laundry room anyway. Watching an episode or two of my favorite TV show or listening to podcasts while I iron is another great way I pass the time.

  Second, understand which fabrics actually need ironing. While some items require pressing, such as an oxford cotton shirt, others don’t. Take it from me: Steaming linen can give it polish, but you never need to iron a linen shirt, suit, or skirt. Wrinkly (there’s that word again) is kind of the look of this lightweight, summery fabric. The same goes for seersucker. I also don’t iron flannel shirts. While doing so can dress them up, ironing decreases the loft of the flannel and lessens the shirts’ warmth.

  But some garments simply demand ironing. For example, I iron all my cotton shirts (excluding T-shirts) and all my dress pants. In many situations, a crisply ironed outfit provides a confident, pulled-together look.

  Third, ironing helps prevents stains. Ironing smooths the rough fibers of a garment, making it less likely to trap a stain. In addition, if you use spray starch during ironing, you’re more likely to get rid of stains that occur later. (More on this ahead.)

  Fourth, and most important, an iron or a steamer is the tool you can use to get the look you want. That’s true for your everyday appearance, your weekend style, or a special occasion. That’s also the case for your kid’s upcoming job or college interview, or your partner’s big presentation.

  If you’re on the fence about ironing, try this: Iron two of your shirts or blouses. For one, simply use the steam setting of your iron, or use a steamer to relax the wrinkles. For the second, go all out: Iron with steam and starch, adding creases where they’re supposed to be, and cleaning up the look of the pockets and the seams (see all my how-tos, beginning on page 70).

  Now, put on the steamed shirt and check yourself out in a mirror, thinking about how this shirt’s appearance serves, or doesn’t serve, various purposes in your life. Then, do the same with the ironed shirt. Finally, repeat this process once more with a third, unironed shirt or blouse.

  Which do you like best for work, for play, for a special event? Your answers will vary based on your life. Maybe you work in the back of the house at a restaurant and typically wear a uniform, but you like to get decked out for clubbing. Or perhaps you work at a financial institution that requires a suit, but you love to relax your look on weekends. Or maybe you throw on jeans and a sweatshirt for your college classes most days, but an upcoming wedding means you want to step up your style. Obviously, understanding how to best care for your clothes, and how each item looks and feels when steamed or pressed, will let you know what you prefer for each occasion.

  You may decide that steaming is what you want to do for your work clothes, but that a friend’s engagement party or a class reunion requires more attention spent at your ironing board. Or perhaps you’ll find that full-blown ironing not only gives you the look you want most days but is conducive to your peace of mind—a little like yoga. Then, by all means, iron away.

  Steamer or Iron?

  Whatever look you desire, I’ve included lots of helpful information regarding ironing and steaming in the following pages. To decide which you prefer, ironing or steaming, let’s take a closer look:

  To begin, know that you can steam everything. Steaming is best for providing a soft, wrinkle-free finish for silky blouses and skirts, drapes, and any garments for which you like a softer finish. For example, I like my oxford cloth shirts to look soft, not crisp. In addition, while a steamer can’t clean, it does revitalize garments between washes and can be used to remove odors from your clothes, plus your sofa and drapes (without taking them down). Be sure to read your product’s manufacturer guide for all the directions and how-tos.

  Ironing, on the other hand, is best for creating a hard finish. Think crisply pressed shirts, fine pant creases, perfectly ironed napkins.

  Of course, the perfect choice is a steam-generating iron, which combines the best attributes of both the steamer and the iron, delivering killer results for both purposes—the steamed soft look and the crisp hard finish. I’ve owned my steam-generating iron for nine years and I love it for myriad reasons. For starters, it’s a two-in-one appliance—a steamer and an iron. That means, unlike other irons, it can be used both horizontally and vertically. Second, unlike most steamers, a steam-generating iron uses pressurized steam, which is way more effective for both steaming and ironing. And third, you’ll likely never need to replace it. These high-quality appliances can be serviced professionally or, with a little troubleshooting over the phone with the manufacturer, you can fix it yourself with a replacement part.

  There’s a financial aspect to these small electric appliances, however. You can buy a good-quality iron for roughly $25. You can buy a good-quality steamer for approximately $60. And you can buy both and still not approach the cost of that steam-generating iron, which can run you $200 or more. That said, if you live in a small apartment and don’t have a lot of storage, I’d recommend investing in a steam-generating iron. Besides, if you don’t dry clean anymore, you’ve paid for that appliance in no time.

  The How-Tos of Steaming

  If you like the idea of using a steamer best, buy the most expensive steamer you can afford. Most inexpensive handheld steamers provide less-than-robust steam and must be refilled with water every fifteen minutes or so; that means every time you add more water, you must wait for the water to heat and your steaming will take that much longer to complete. Alternatively, most large steamers boast more wattage and water capacity, heat up in under a minute, offer adjustable controls, and provide continuous steam for up to an hour.

  When steaming clothes, hang your garments first; then touch only the top edge of the steamer head to the garment, keep the steamer hose straight, and move the steamer head slowly up and down each garment so as not to accidentally burn yourself. As you steam, pull the fabric gently (not tautly) with your other hand; this helps remove the wrinkles and makes the process go faster. And whenever possible, place the steamer inside the garment (don’t turn it inside out) and steam to the front (away from you). This way, you can see what you’re doing as the wrinkles disappear from the garment. Steaming from the inside means you’re also less likely to make an error—if you create a water spot, it will happen inside the garment.

  While many people steam in their laundry rooms or bathrooms, you can steam anywhere. Also, if you’re going to steam a lot, install a hook high on the wall so it’s easier to steam—doing so means that you won’t be crouching on the floor to steam a hem. Finally, when you’re done steaming a garment, let it dry for a minute or two before you return the clothing item to your closet—you don’t want it to wrinkle again while it’s damp.

  To Sum Up

  Use a steamer:

    To get rid of wrinkles, steaming from the inside of the garment.

    To touch up your favorite shirt, skirt, or pants in a flash.

    To bring a cardigan back to life without washing.

    To freshen up window treatments without having to take them down.

  Use an iron:

    To create creases right where you want them.

    To give your clothing a crisp, polished look.

  Use a steam-generating iron to do all of the above, plus:

  To press even hard-to-iron fabrics like heavy cotton and twill.

  Now you’re ready to begin ironing and steaming! Specific i
nstructions follow on ironing shirts and pants, but please note that these instructions assume your clothing has no stains. If it does, remove the stains first to avoid setting them with the iron. More on that can be found in chapter 7.

  How to Iron a Shirt

  To start, gather your ironing supplies: an iron (a steam-generating iron is preferred), distilled or soft water (whichever your iron requires), a bottle of water for misting, and spray starch. Some irons specify soft water from the tap, because the extra minerals enable the water to get hotter. If you have hard water, you’ll shorten the life of the iron.

  For best results, iron your shirt not long after you’ve removed it from the dryer when it’s still damp. If it’s dry, mist the shirt generously with water right before beginning the ironing process. And always move the iron in the direction of its point. Once you’ve ironed a shirt or two, you’ll fall into a rhythm, much like doing sun salutations—only you’ll have a rack full of clean shirts at the end.

  Once you’re ready to begin, follow these steps:

    First, make sure your sole plate (the bottom of the iron) is clean, fill your iron with the required water for steam, select the setting based on your shirt’s fabric, and turn on your iron.

    While the iron heats, spray your entire (damp) shirt with starch; you can keep the shirt on its hanger for this step. Give the shirt a minute to dry, letting the starch set into the fabric, so you won’t create any white “snow” (dried starch) while ironing.