Thursday, January 28, 2021

Irons and Wrinkle resistant cloth.

 Memorable Automobiles from The Past:

                        1982 Renault
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For Today...

I am smiling, out of the blue I thought about ‘starch & irons’ today. Yep Irons like ironing clothes. The USMC required creases sharp enough to ‘cut.’ My new wife was not unfamiliar with starch and ironing. That was normal in the 1950s, but not to the extent the USMC enjoyed. She fell in stride and was able to satisfy Sgt. Bell’s inspections. Life was good.

Discharged from the USMC, I FINALLY landed a job with the Charlotte Observer, a local Newspaper. I wasn’t happy and joined the USAF. My girl did not balk (knowing by now she had married a crazy guy) but she said emphatically, “I’m in, where are we going, but wait, if you join I AM NOT DOING UNIFORMS! I am not doing the starching and ironing, you can send them out,”

It did not come to that, the USAF was not as strict as the USMC on uniform inspections. As a matter of fact I cannot remember a uniform inspection in the Air Force.

The steam iron was a miracle, no more hand sprinkling the clothes.

Today I was thinking of the IRON. I bet sales of irons are down.  With the new fabrics it is seldom that I see Sherry getting out the old ‘steam iron.’


The first irons I remember were the old solid iron irons. Mama had two or three to do the ironing. They were heated on the cast iron cook stove. As they cooled she put the cooling one back on the stove and picked up a hot one. That continued until all the clothes were ironed.

Sometimes mama ironed the bed sheets, but not all the time. Maybe when she was expecting company she did.

I think the iron has gone the way of the old battery radios.

 

NiteShipslog

PS: This is just for us who like to SEE snow and Trains, but appreciate it in pictures.  The only ones I questioned is Alabama..


7 comments:

yaya said...

Ironing was one of the first chores my Mom taught me. Started with handkerchiefs and pillow cases. My mom loved to iron. We even had a professional thing that did pants and shirts. I used to iron Jack's shirts but now he uses the dryer as his iron!

Lisa said...

I remember mom teaching me to iron. She gave me a stack of daddys hankies. I enjoyed it. Now days....not so much. I will iron Nicks church clothes if they are too wrinkled but I do most of my ironing in the dryer. Haha.

Nite.
Lisa

Chatty Crone said...

You are right - I have an iron - but I rarely iron! At least I know what one is and can do it if I have to. Lol

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

I learned how to iron using my grandmother's old iron iron. We had to heat it on the stove before using. It was heavy too and really took some muscle. Thankfully we have a lot of no iron material now in our clothing. I do not iron often at all oll these days. I hand it on a hanger straight from the clothes dryer. We really do now have it easier than our ancestors did. I see people in the armed forces wearing less and less uniforms that require creases.

Dar said...

lol, I have a couple of those iron irons but never used one. I don't mind ironing if I have to. I rather like the no-iron fabrics. I did teach all the kids how to use an iron if they ever needed to know what to do with one. lol Dustin still irons his shirts for business meetings but now, most of those meetings are at his cabin to combine work with ice fishing, trail riding snowmobiles, fishing, swimming, sandbar parties......they call him the Fun Boss. You always come up with the best topics.
loven'hugs from up north where the sun is back and we're loving it....with the foot of snow on the ground. ' Press on ' and have a great day.

Mevely317 said...

I think you're right about the demise of irons. If memory serves, I THINK we've one somewhere ... the ironing board resides under my bed. When I was young, I loved to 'sprinkle' the clothes in mother's basket, then iron the pillowcases and hankies on her mangler.

That was a cool video! I love both trains and snow. But ya, I was scratching my head at the reference to Alabama. When I Googled the railway station, here's what came up.
https://www.dailyfreeman.com/news/amtrak-train-in-rhinecliff-blasts-people-on-platform-with-snow-with-video/article_5218198c-3a58-51a6-a41a-2a07e7a8fb6d.html

New York! Some film producer was having too much fun.

Woody said...

I can remember in High School I Ironed my Jeans, shirts, t shirts, Mother taught all 6 boys and 2 girls how to Iron. I have 1 of those irons in the garage I use to weigh things down or use as a paper weight ! I have seen Trains up here years ago clear the Tracks with an Old " V Plow" ! Hope it warms up down there, Good snuggling weather ! Sending down warm wishs and Love, Gary an Anna Mae