The temps turned mercifully cooler today so I did laundry and then I actually got the hated iron out and did some ironing. Oh, how I loathe ironing. But it’s something that one must do unless one has buckets of money to spend at the dry cleaner.
I always keep a spritz bottle of water with a few drops of lavender or rose oil mixed in to use while ironing. The moisture helps press out my clothes more neatly and the fragrance dissipates in the closet and smells nice.
An ironed garment is a more respectable-looking garment! Imagine me saying that in Tim Gunn’s voice. I know we live in an informal culture with lots of wash-and-wear fabrics but clergy should not be outfitted entirely in those! If your entire professional wardrobe consists of garments you don’t ever have to have pressed or ironed, you can rest assured that you’re not prepared for public ministry moments including funerals, rites of passage, public witness and ecumenical networking.
And by the way, I own a few of those miraculous “you never need to iron this shirt” shirts and guess what?
They need to be ironed.
Although I own some clothes which need ironing (and which, miraculously, actually make it OUT of the ironing basket now and then), I respectfully disagree with your premise. These days there are so many GOOD fabrics that don’t need to be ironed that it would be possible to own an entire wardrobe of them and look just fine.
Edie Bauer makes excellent no-iron shirts for men in solids and stripes/plaids/patterns. The trick is to take them out of the dryer and hang them up immediately. And I have a Land’s End no-iron pinpoint oxford cloth shirt that looks brand new whenever I take it out of the dryer; I’ve owned it for years and bought it at a consignment shop, so it’s far from new.
Of course some of this depends on taste/style. I tend to wear rather tailored, will-always-be-in-style clothes (think Talbots), which lend themselves to this kind of fabric. YMMV.
I hate ironing also. One of the women in the congregation I serve alongside used to iron for some other members both of whom died in recent years. After her husband also died I asked if she was interested in taking on ironing again. She said yes (even before she knew it was for me) and now I leave my blouses and an envelope with money in her pew and she puts the blouses in my office the next Sunday morning. Makes us both smile cause she loves to iron and I loved ironed blouses!
Not only did Adam and Eve notice that they were naked, but, out of the corner of her eye, Eve noticed that the ironing was piking up, and that Adam was totally oblivious to it. In God’s infinite wisdom and mercy, no-iron shirts were created a few thousand years later.
Somewhat related: I buy unscented laundry detergent and add a few drops of lavender oil to that. You’re right; the lovely and soothing scent lingers in a marvelous way. I’ve just moved to a much smaller place and haven’t figured out how ironing will happen. It might be in my basement which I’m sure won’t encourage me…
I hates ironing, I does…..but there is no denying that a well-pressed shirt (or trousers, jeans, a skirt….whatever) does look and feel so much nicer than looking as though one had dressed from the bottom of the ironing heap.
And an ironed cotton handkerchief is lovely for dabbing at an over-heated brow, or pressing into a weeping mourners hand after a funeral…much more caring than a crumpled paper tissue.
YMMV, of course….