I truly do. And I don't do it well...instead of turning out perfectly pressed shirts, blouses, whatever, mine always have pressed in creases. So, I'm a great believer in either perma-press clothes, or in the 'natural' look...after all, natural fibers shouldn't be perfect, right?
But I love having ironed sheets and pillowcases. So, for the last few years, I iron my pillowcases. It's worth the trouble to have that nice touch of luxury. (Years ago, in another lifetime and another continent I had a housekeeper who came in once a week. She left our home sparkling, and ironed everything she could find. Sheer luxury!) However...today I'm the ironer..so it's pillowcases only.
And, to add to the luxury, I want my pillowcases to smell of rose, or rose and sandalwood. Awhile ago I made a fabulous linen spray. 6 mls of Polysorbate 20, 2 mls of Rose Otto and 1 ml of Sandalwood essential oil, and distilled water - enough to fill a 4 ounce atomizer bottle. It was rich and lovely and the pillowcases smelled lovely for several days.
I used it all. I have no polysorbate at home, so I decided to fill the steam iron with rose hydrosol instead of distilled water. They are both distilled, right?
The first time I ironed all went well. Two weeks later - today... was another story.
Folks if you ever even think about putting a hydrosol in your steam iron, go take a walk around the block, a cold shower, a good book...anything to take your mind off that idea! Great globs of brown YUCK leaped out of the iron onto my pristine pillow cases. I suppose it will wash out. I hope it will wash out.
There are things I would rather shop for than a new iron. But it might be necessary.
It occurs to me that my mother used to spritz things she was going to iron with water, roll them tightly in a tube, wrap them in something??? (a plastic bag should work well) long enough for the moisture to permeate the fabric, and then iron with a hot iron.
Maybe spritzing them with the rose hydrosol will protect my iron next time?
(I've always been afraid to mist the linens with my linen spray and then iron...don't know if Polysorbate takes to extreme heat well.)
At any rate... there are a zillion uses for our lovely Rose Hydrosol. Filling your steam iron is not one of them!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
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4 comments:
I'm really glad you posted that, just the other day I was thinking of doing exactly the same thing when I do the ironing next, thank goodness I dont iron often!!!
I LOVE to iron. It's about the only domestic chore I really find relaxing. anyway, I have a huge spray bottle that is filled with water. In a seperate shot glass, I mix whatever essential oil I'm in love with at the moment with everclear (vodka would work too) and pour that into the spray bottle. I do have to shake it a lot but it makes ironing even lovlier when I spray everything with it. I've never had a problem with staining but I never mix a really dark oil in. (I would love to use patchouli) The scent doesn't stick much on the clothing etc. but the chore sure smells good.
My grandmother used to iron with rose water by putting it in a spray bottle and mist clothing while ironing, that was about 40 years ago, I just started doing it myself.
My mother used to have a glass bottle (painted on the outside, off white, with flowers painted on it) with a cork that had a 'sprinkler' top on the cork. It was her "sprinkling" bottle. sprinkle the dry clothes, roll them up, wait a few hours, and the clothes are uniformly moist and ready to iron. That would work beautifully for a hydrosol.
Of course, that would also mean planning to iron several hours in advance. Since I still rather hate Ironing - it tends to be a "strike while the iron is hot"... dreadful pun!.. but an impulsive act. I would sprinkle the clothes because I felt like ironing NOW... and it might be weeks before I felt like doing it again.
(I wonder if my sister in law ended up with Mom's ironing bottle?)
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