Ironing as part of enjoying your wardrobe

fuzzylogic

I was a bit surprised and excited to see how many people enjoy ironing/pressing (in response to Angie's recent blog post)!

I enjoy laundering (both machine laundering and hand washing) and ironing/pressing. I'm not so diligent with mending though; sewing on buttons and hemming reaches the limit of my skills......

For me this is a part of really enjoying my wardrobe- selecting pieces, organising them, creating outfits, wearing outfits and caring for the pieces.

Do you relate? Or do you enjoy one part of the process more than the others?

10 years ago

General

31 replies

Latest reply was from fuzzylogic

Neel

Veteran

I don't really *enjoy* any of those activities fuzzy :D. I just like to wear clean and ironed clothes. If someone else does it for me, I won't stop them :D. But for now, since I don't have that privilege, I do it myself.

I would choose cooking any day over washing/ironing!

10 years ago

fuzzylogic

Veteran

Bwahaha! And bless you for your honesty, Neel.
I have to say, for all your self-confessed lack of sartorial enthusiasm, I love your style and you always look TOTALLY fabulous!!! Mwah!

10 years ago

Neel

Veteran

Lol fuzzy! A girl has to do what a girl has to do

10 years ago

Jeanie

Veteran

I am happy to do laundry any day but am a bit of a mood ironer. I do it all when I am in the mood and then it's ready to wear. Now cooking, I'd happily leave to someone else. Perhaps Neel and I should swap chores!

10 years ago

fuzzylogic

Veteran

Jeanie- giggle, giggle! Perhaps that's how it was all done in a village?!

10 years ago

carter

Veteran

I will happily cook for anyone who will iron for me!

10 years ago

fuzzylogic

Veteran

We have a contingency of cooks and chefs amongst us!
Perhaps I should have a sign 'Will iron for duck l'orange'!!!

10 years ago

gryffin

Veteran

Fuzzy - I like laundry, which is good, because there is a lot of it!! I also take really good care of my wardrobe, closet is organized, always hang things up and put things away. I'm not great with a needle and thread but I'll do buttons if needed. That said I hate to iron, probably because I'm not good at it. Although I have a thing for perfect tablecloths, so even though they go to the cleaners I iron them so there are no folds same with cloth napkins. I do not like the feel of stiff cllothing against my skin, I guess that's why I prefer knits. the rare tux shirt and all my husbands things go to the cleaners, I could not reproduce that perfection of finish if I tried. I was shocked too but how many people like to iron! I think it's great but I'd trade to cook or do dishes!!

10 years ago

Laurinda

Veteran

I'm not crazy about on-going care, but I enjoy customizing my clothing.
Changing over the buttons or adjusting a hem or adding a dart helps me to 'bond' with my clothing ;-).

10 years ago

Anonymous

I'd choose cooking over wardrobe maintenance stuff any day too! Good thing my natural preferences are for types of fabric that don't really need to be ironed. And my husband sends his work shirts out to be cleaned so, generally, I can get by with sneaking the few things I have that need to be pressed after washing into the bag with them.

I like the moment when I take clothes out of the dryer and everything is all warm and fresh-smelling. Other than that, don't particularly like doing laundry either.

10 years ago

April

Veteran

I like some parts of the process more than others.

First favorite is putting the wash into the machine. While it's washing, you feel like something is being accomplished, yet you're not working hard to accomplish it.

Second (and I would hardly call this a favorite) is folding. I will do what I can to avoid folding (i.e., hanging all my tees) but my son generates a LOT of folding. He wears one clean white undershirt under his other shirt (which is often another tee) every day, then a fresh one to sleep in. After a few days, that's quite a pile of folding.

Last and least favorite is putting away. It just involves too many locations.

I used to find mating socks to be the most odious part of doing laundry. Now I use the little plastic sock-sorters intended for people with visual impairments and never have to deal with it. No mating, no folding, just toss each pair into the drawer joined together by their little plastic device.

10 years ago

Joy

Veteran

I enjoy caring for my clothing most when my closet is small. I enjoy doing hand and machine laundry, hanging or folding and putting away, ironing, and simple mending.
I do not enjoy taking things to the cleaners and picking up. It just occurred to me that it may be because I leave it until it is almost too much to handle, waiting for a sale or coupon when I can. I also used to gag at the dry cleaning chemical odor but now use a green cleaners that is not as bad.
DH would probably love to do the laundry, but I don't want him to touch it. He won't sort and thinks everything should go I to a heated dryer. If it doesn't work out, he thinks that we just need new appliances with more bells and whistles. He loves technology. Fast and quick is more efficient. Too bad about metal jean zippers tearing lace on a bra. It's the machine's fault.

10 years ago

always trying

Veteran

things that need ironed get much less wear even if I love them..just too time consuming to iron.

10 years ago

JAileen

Veteran

I completely agree with Neel. Completely. And that goes for the house, too. I love when the house is clean and tidy, but I hate doing it, which is what I'll be doing today.

April, your description of clothes in the washing machine is much like fishing, right? Something is being done, "I'm washing clothes," yet I'm surfing the net, too. "I'm fishing," yet I'm sitting in a lawn chair sipping a beer, too. I think that's the attraction of fishing.

I did laundry yesterday, which includes changing the sheets on the bed. Everything is clean, folded, put away. The clean sheets on the bed were crisp and smooth last night. I like hanging them on the clothesline. Everyone says they smell good. I don't use dryer sheets, so there's no difference in smell between sheets dried in the dryer and sheets dried on the clothesline, IMO. The difference is crispness, which I really love.

10 years ago

April

Veteran

Yep, much like fishing. I have a load running right now, ("I'm 'doing laundry'") and yet here I am on YLF.

I also like to do laundry daily or almost daily. I hate when it piles up and because I'm usually away several days during any given week, having nearly everything clean nearly all of the time makes that easier.

10 years ago

Gracie

Veteran

I enjoy the whole process. I also feel like a multi-tasker when the clothes are in the washing machine I enjoy ironing. Like Lurinda I feel I bond with my clothes and I get to know them better. Putting outfits together after ironing them is a creative activity in my book. I also enjoy organizing my drawers so that when I open them in the morning to pick lingerie everything looks pretty and appealing... oh, look all those pretty panties!

10 years ago

(website)

Veteran

Here is where I admit we are living so minimally in our rental here I don't even have a laundry basket. I ball all the clothes up and balance the detergent in my hand and hope none of it drops on the way to the laundry room. It's only 20 steps from the front door, but opening and closing 2 doors and a spring loaded screen makes it a struggle.
I sometimes make 2 and 3 trips for the clothing out of the dryer back into our condo. Folding in the room gets hot, too. FL heat and humidity coupled with the dryer heat. Ugh.
It's fair to say I do not enjoy laundry here. Ironically, back home the machines are in the garage and it gets so cold the detergent will freeze if we leave it down there. Handling wet clothes in such cold can make your hands hurt. Guess I just don't have an ideal laundry situation no matter how I slice it!

And ironing and enjoying don't belong in the same sentence LOL.

10 years ago

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

April, I use safety pins to pair my socks when I put them in the dirty laundry. They stay together in the wash and in the drawer.

I love doing laundry and folding, maybe because I usually watch TV and like several of you mention it makes it feel like I'm being productive even when all I'm doing is watching TV and folding clothes.

I like ironing once I get started with it, but I do tend to put it off because the ironing board is in the garage and it's not that pleasant to spend a lot of time out there. Especially when the dryer's going in the summer; it's quite steamy. I can move the ironing board and the iron into the living room and watch TV but it's a bit of an operation.

10 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

No, clothes-care is not part of the joy for me. Either it's too fussy for me or I'm too fussy for it. I have *like* 10 laundry bags for sorting according to care needs. I've nothing left over for ironing after that.

10 years ago

Windchime

Veteran

Since letting myself spend more for clothes I truly love, I'm more invested in taking good care of them. I was thinking that one guideline for my wardrobe size could be how much I can maintain, including hand washing, ironing, and mending. Mind you I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by it right now. It's finally warm enough to put winter items into storage, so I suddenly have a large amount of laundry and mending on top of all the routine stuff.

To answer the question, yes, ironing is part of enjoying my wardrobe, when I like my wardrobe.

10 years ago

catgirl

Veteran

I detest ironing. Will not do it. If I'm wearing something really bad, my DH will offer to iron it for me because he can't stand it.

I will use the iron to wax my skis but that is not advised!

Actually, much like running, while I enjoy the results I don't enjoy any part of housekeeping.

10 years ago

Gaylene

Veteran

I remembering reading somewhere that the size of one's wardrobe ought to reflect one's willingness to care for it. That phrase has always stuck with me.

I really can't say that I love to launder, iron, or mend, but I think of the time spend doing these things as part of the cost of ownership. If I don't want to look after it, it is time to get rid of it. I've actually started to apply this philosophy to other things that I own. If I don't care to dust it, polish it, clean it, or look after it, it's time to let it go.

Mr. Gaylene, though, gets an exemption.

10 years ago

NancyT

Active Member

Give me laundry/ironing any day instead of cooking....I don't like to cook....

When I iron I do feel like I'm taking care of my clothes....I like it!

Plus you can watch TV or listen to music while doing it.

10 years ago

Anonymous

@Gaylene, lol!
I enjoy laundry as much or more than I enjoy any of the other jobs I do around the house, and now that I'm trying gardening, I can say I like getting things clean much more than getting myself completely filthy-dirty! I don't have a lot of laundry (kids do their own and hubby folds and puts away his own). I have a laundry room in our one-level house. If I want to hang things out to dry outside, they dry super fast and I can get everything put back away very quickly. I have these nice wooden hangers that make everything look so nice, and having only a 10-item wardrobe keeps it from getting overwhelming. I do have to stay on top of things or I'd run out of clothes after about a week. I guess I'm like a little girl playing with dolls when I'm taking care of my clothes.

10 years ago

Gigi

Veteran

I don't mind hand-washing. I usually don't have time for it (or feel like I don't have time), but deep down, I find it rewarding and kind of relaxing. I like seeing the dirt come out of the clothes as I swish them around, and there is a bit of a pat-yourself-on-the-back thing going on, that I can wash my clothes myself without a machine (although I do use a machine for anything that allows it). I am attracted to lovely textured fabrics, and a lot of them are hand-wash only, so it's good that I don't mind it—I have quite a few hand-washables!

I detest ironing and hate it to pieces. Most of my clothing is knits—I have very few wovens. I am getting stuff ready to sell at consignment right now and so am doing quite a bit of ironing, and it does make the clothes look so pretty! But I just can't handle doing that every week.

Now I am being reminded that I have some stuff to iron for consignment...ack.

10 years ago

anne

Veteran

I don't like ironing. So hard to get it to look good. And I tend to put it off.
I don't mind washing per se and agree with April's point about it doing something useful on it's own. I did get tired of it a few years ago when I did around 16 loads a week and line dried it all.

Now I am working full time and in addition, it is our rainy season. I am using the dryer a lot more, which makes me feel a little guilty.

Housework in general is a drain at the moment, because I am so tired in the evenings after work/ putting children to bed, but it isn't intrinsically unenjoyable.

10 years ago

Dee

Veteran

I don't mind washing and folding, but hate ironing! I mostly... don't? Unless it's a specific need for one of my few woven blouses for a business occasion, but I probably iron only a handful of times a year, and half of those are shirts for DH for weddings or interviews. Yay for the casual lifestyle and a closet full of knits.

Joy, I laughed at your comment about your DH would want to do laundry but put everything in the heated dryer. My DH has taken the opposite track, where he panics and doesn't put ANY of my stuff in the dryer. I'll come home and even my pajama pants are hanging from the drying rack!

10 years ago

fuzzylogic

Veteran

Wow- such a variety of responses! Overwhelmingly the majority of you don't enjoy ironing or experience it as part of the pleasure of curating and maintaining your wardrobe.

Gryffin- it sounds as though you having an organised closet is a satisfying aspect of your wardrobe!

Laurinda- customising makes a store bought item peculiar to you! I like that idea!

Aubergine- perhaps you have gravitated towards fabrics that don't require ironing because you don't enjoy it? That's sensible!

April and JAileen- a washing machine certainly aids modern day multitasking!

Joy, Windchime and NancyT- And there's the love! High five! I was beginning to think I was all alone!

Alwaystrying- I guess this is good to know for future purchases!

Gracie- You are really enjoying all aspects of your wardrobe right now! High five to that!!! Putting outfits together is a creative exercise, isn't it! I like drawers to be neatly laid out as well! Obsessives of the wardrobe world unite! Giggle giggle!

Mo- my goodness! Well done for getting the wash done at all- that is a lot of work, and precarious at that!

Laura- that is being very efficient with your time! I can see why you wouldn't leap to do the ironing. Ate you able to set it up elsewhere so that it's not so formidable?

Rachylou- bwahaha! You run out of steam! Get it? Ironing? Steam?

AG- good thing you have an iron, you know, for the snow season........ Bwahaha! Our snow season has just started- it's a dismal outlook I'm afraid. It's warm and there's no snow anywhere at the moment. Just as well I also enjoy the après ski......

Gaylene- wow. That's really sage advice. I spend a great deal of time on maintenance- clothes, house, car, relationships........ me! Because I own these things and love them I experience a pleasure in taking care of them.

Clearlyclaire- sounds as though it's tolerable if it is in manageable quantities- totally understand!

Gigi- I like handwshing, too! There is something simple about it. And I like the smell of Softly......... Red cheeks

Anne- you sound exhausted, you poor thing! I doubt you have time for ironing. One of friends even gave up folding while her children were very young. Yes, it is an option! Hang in there.

Dee- sounds as though you know where you are at in terms of ironing...... Good for you! Enjoy the other aspects of your wardrobe!

10 years ago

Debra

Veteran

What's an iron ?

10 years ago

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