I am not a fan of ironing. Which is ironic, no?
Despite how much fabric I have—folded in stacks, crumpled into boxes, stuffed into bags, creased by the warm and heavy body of a cat—I (almost) never iron. Besides, a hot iron would be a hazard to my curious kitty.
Here’s what I do instead. I simply take a spray bottle of water, either lay the wrinkled fabric flat or pin it upright to a pinning board, spray the offending creases or wrinkles, watch them as they relax and smooth out. It’s like magic!
Then I put my attention elsewhere (like making another cuppa, having a meal or snack, getting a good night’s rest) while the fabric dries in place.
The time-stamp of photos above: original wrinkles, left—7:51am, spritzed wrinkles, right—7:53am. In the photo, below left, wrinkles gone—7:54am. Magic. Saved me both time and electricity!
Top Tip:
If you avoid ironing as much as I do, a simple spritz with a spray bottle of water will remove most creases and wrinkles.
“A little bit of water makes the wrinkles go down”—slide show, below—press arrow to play:
A new selection of blue scraps are ready to be worked into a spiral UFO (Un-Finished Object).
Follow-up note: After Djinni finished her cat-nap on those few yards of fabric (pictured at the beginning of post), I finished the pressing process with nature’s spray bottle, rain.
After weeks of no rain, there was an overnight chance and I took it. I hung up the two large pieces on our clothes line yesterday afternoon, and woke up to beautifully smooth yardage this morning (photos below). Very good use of time. Today has been a bit cloudy so they’re still a bit damp. A toss in the dryer and I could fold them up sooner, but I’m not in a rush and tomorrow’s sunshine will allow nature to finish helping me. 😉
In case you’re wondering about the odd shadows on the wrinkled fabric: the photo below, shows the driftwood embellishments I’ve zip-tied to the metal pipe structure of the clothes line. I may not like to iron, but I do enjoy hanging laundry outside. Now I enjoy it even more—thanks again to nature and the worn and twisted driftwood finds I’ve collected during years of dog-walks down to the shore.
I use this method all the time! I also have a spray bottle handy as I am cutting pieces. If one of my scraps is wrinkled just a quick spritz will straighten it out. Easy peasy.
I love your creativity in your yard as much as I. Your studio!
And it works like magic!
Since I hate ironing as well, I use Susan’s tip all the time now especially while collaging!
Great for travel too, even without a spray bottle.
Susan, only you would embellish your clothesline! Love it and am a big fan of the spray bottle trick. Many thanks
After learning about the spray bottle of water trick, I use it all the time! Enjoyed watching the time lapse of the blue fabric wrinkles-be-gone. Did you also realize the time lapse helped us see how to cut scraps of fabric for collage? Cool!