Preparing the laundry
Correct preparation of the laundry is es-
sential for successful ironing.
Before ironing, the laundry should be:
– damped down
– pulled into shape and smoothed out
– sorted
Damping down
The laundry needs to be sufficiently
damp, so that when it is passed just
once through the rotary ironer at the
correct temperature, it will come out
smooth and dry. Dampen the laundry
as you would for hand ironing, prefera-
bly 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" programme.
Use warm water if preparation time is
short and also to redampen.
More advice on correct dampness
Material
Dampness for ironing
Silk
wrap in a damp cloth to avoid
water marks
Synthetics e.g.
Dralon, Nylon,
Polyester etc.
slightly damp to dry
Wool
(e.g. trousers)
press under a damp 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
linen 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. This
way you can start by ironing at a lower
temperature and then gradually in-
crease the temperature according to
the fabric being ironed.
First iron synthetic fibres such as nylon,
polyester and artificial silk which only
require a low temperature. Then iron
silk, wool, cotton and linen at increasing
temperatures.
Iron starched items last of all to avoid
any starch deposits from affecting the
finish of other items.
Before ironing
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