Ironing After you have washed your articles, you would notice that these articles have wrinkles and undesired creases on them. Ironing helps to get rid of these and creates creases where desired. Good ironing requires three things high temperature, moisture, and pressure. An iron can provide high temperature.
It can be a charcoal iron or an electric iron. The charcoal iron though cheap has certain disadvantages. The coal that is used to produce heat may stain the article being ironed and most important is that the temperature cannot be controlled in this type of iron. Different fibre groups have different thermal properties.
Due to this they need to be ironed at their specific temperatures. This can be achieved by using an electric iron, where the temperature can be controlled. Thus, if electricity is not a problem, then an automatic electric iron is the best option. The second requirement for ironing is moisture.
Moisture would be automatically provided if you start ironing your clothes when they are damp after washing. If your articles are completely dry, then you can sprinkle some water on them and roll them in towel, so that moisture penetrates evenly throughout the article. Water can also be sprayed with a normal spraying bottle. The third requirement for good ironing is pressure.
This is provided manually by the movement of the iron over the article to be ironed. Iron is generally moved on the clothes along the length. The articles, which may stretch or loose their shape by the movement of iron, for example, laces should be pressed and not ironed. Pressing involves keeping the hot iron at one place on the cloth, then lifting it and then keeping it at another place on the cloth.
Pressing can also be used for setting of any folds like creases, hems, pockets, plackets and pleats. The table that one uses for ironing should be rightly padded, and yet firm. The top should have an even surface and should be of such size and height that it is comfortable for the worker. These days padded ironing boards are available in market.
If these are not available, then on any leveled surface - layers of some thick fabric can be spread and used as a surface for ironing. After ironing the articles are either given specific folds or are placed on hangers depending upon the storage space available. It is important that they are available in the finished state when required for use.