Saturday, February 21, 2015

You've been Ironing your shirt wrong.

From the archive of all things ironing:

Wake up.
Get out of bed.
Grab your shirt.
No, no, no. Now is not the time to start thinking about ironing it.


Seems like there may be another way.

You will require:

One shirt on a hanger, a shower with a shower curtain for improved efficiency and the absolutely essential pair of dark sunglasses.



Sunday, February 15, 2015

Physics of Ironing

I could not have put it better :

During my research for an article on this blog, I have come across this description of the physics of Ironing:

Monika Chaudhary

Clothes are made of polymers, natural or synthetic. The amorphousness/crystallinity of these polymers is characterized by something known as the Glass Transition Temperature (Tg). This property defines how a polymer behaves at a given temperature - soft above Tg and, hard, crystal-like below Tg.


For example, cotton (a carbohydrate polymer of glucose) has a Tg = 225° C, so cotton fabrics keep their shape because the cotton molecules cannot move at room temperature. Water acts as a plasticizer or lubricant between the chains allowing them to move more freely and lowers the glass transition temperature to 20° C. Cotton shirts and blouses thus crease most where they absorb most moisture and are under most pressure - inside the elbows, under the arm pits, where they are tucked into trousers, etc.

Most irons operate between 200-240° C for cotton settings. At this temperature, the polymeric chains of the fabric loosen up and are temporarily "remolded" till you crease them again.

see also :

chemistry of ironing

Monday, February 9, 2015

When your best friend does the ironing

From the archives of all things Ironing.

This story comes to us from the pages of the Daily Mail.

 photo credit rossparry.co.uk

Other than ironing, Rupert the whippet has been snapped by owner Janet Burton in a variety of hilarious scenarios appearing as a doctor, tennis player and a choir boy. He is also pictured playing piano, reading the paper and mowing the lawn.

Our Human Resources division has taken a keen interest. "An ironer happy to iron for schmackos?", now there is a way of improving the bottom line.

Watch out for those creases Rupert!