Before ironing
Preparing the laundry
Correct preparation of the laundry is essential for easy ironing.
Before ironing, the laundry should be:
–dampened
–pulled into shape and smoothed out
–sorted.
Correct dampness
The laundry needs to be sufficiently damp, so that on the first pass through the rotary iron at the correct temperature, it will come out smooth and dry. Dampen the laundry as you would for hand ironing, preferably several hours beforehand so that the articles achieve a uniform degree of dampness throughout.
If a tumble dryer is being used, select a "Machine iron" program.
If preparation time is short use warm water to
Material | Dampness for ironing |
|
|
Silk | wrap in a damp cloth |
| to avoid water marks |
|
|
Synthetics | slightly damp to dry |
e.g. Nylon, |
|
Polyester, |
|
etc. |
|
|
|
Wool | press under a damp |
e.g. pants | cloth |
|
|
Cotton | slightly damp |
|
|
Linen | quite damp |
|
|
Pulling into shape and smoothing out
Pull the dampened laundry into shape as usual.
Smooth out ribbons, straps, seams and hems.
Large items such as table cloths, bed linens, etc. should be folded lengthways into a number of pleats so that they can be ironed as easily as possible.
Sorting
Sort the laundry according to how much heat is required for ironing.
Start ironing at a lower temperature and gradually increase the temperature according to the fabric being ironed.
Minimum Iron (Perlon, Nylon, etc.)
Woolens, Silk | |
Cottons, Linen |
Iron starched items last to avoid any starch deposits on other items.
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