Ironing....and who does it? Do you??

Well, I do sometimes, and actually much more than my daughter, who loves to iron her duvet covers and pillowcases.  A girlfriend only irons cuffs and collars of her shirts, I mean the bits which show, and of course, all of her husband's clothes; but very, very quickly, so that she doesn't use too much electricity.

They are terribly conscious of not ever using too much energy for household things and always use their washing machine and dishwasher at night time to catch the Economy 7 rate, and I applaud their efforts to be cost effective.  However, even though my friend irons very quickly, she still manages to make the finished item look beautifully smooth and finished to perfection.  She also has an absolutely wonderful steam iron and a very wide ironing board, neither of which I currently possess.

Now my daughter actually has some of her ironing done each week by her cleaning lady, because both she and my son-in-law work have very busy jobs,  and I think it's mostly my son-in-law's shirts which are done, and possibly some of my daughter's work shirts too,  the duvet covers and pillowcases.  Of course, with today's modern fabrics and advances in technology. many clothes don't require ironing, being washed and tumbled dried almost to perfection, which is a great boon to many of us; especially those of us who have to  "do" for themselves, so as to speak, or who simply cannot bear to wear non-ironed items of clothing.  Like me!  I simply cannot stand wearing clothes which are wrinkled and creased.

Unless of course, one is wearing seersucker fabric made into shirts and children's' frocks, but I think I'm being a little old-fashioned, suggesting still the use of this particular cloth, as I'm not sure if it's still used.  Of course, I do know they can now use certain chemicals to produce a wrinkled finished product, and I've heard that the use of this chemical can produce very unpleasant side-effects for the workers involved in its production.  So perhaps fashionably wrinkled clothes are not really on?

So ironing is either a chore you love or hate.  Some people earn an income from its activity and another girlfriend of mine did just that; even I, in my younger, yummy mummy days, succumbed to the temptation of home enterprise earnings by ironing for others.  But not for long, oh no, not me, just too much hard work, and the deadline, just too inconvenient for family life.  Then another lady I know absolutely refused to do any ironing at all, even for her children, and now her son positively ridicules my sometime, passionate determination, to have beautifully smooth and wrinkle-free garments to wear.

So there you have it, or not, as the question goes.  To iron, or not to iron, is the question I have in mind right now, and it would be absolutely splendid to hear from you, or anyone out there, just what you think about the pressing matter of crumpled clothes?

Happy steaming........Daisy