Comments by "Mardy Roux" (@mardyroux8136) on "Ok but how did the Edwardians WASH these dresses?" video.
-
I just found this and enjoyed it tremendously. Many of the washing techniques are still used and even the more old fashioned ones were still pretty common when I was a child in the 1960s. I was worried when you didn't mix the chemicals into the water before putting the garment in. And I wished I could have been there to reassure you that when you are ironing a starched item, it's no problem if it has dried out. I used to have to iron all the starched clothes for the whole family when I was less than 10 years old, and I was taught to have a big bowl of water and an old handkerchief at hand, to help. As you go along you get the handkerchief wet in the bowl of water, wring it out and then place it over the part you're ironing. Then iron through the damp handkerchief. You can do this with unstarched clothes as well, but they will wrinkle up very easily so it's a waste of time really. The handkerchief also protected the clothes from getting bit of old burnt starch on them off the iron, as there would be little bits of buildup occasionally. Keeping the iron clean was important! Also, with ironing those tricky dresses with all the frills, or even just a shirt or blouse, I was always taught to iron all the small fiddly bits first and work my up to the larger panels on the garment. If I had to iron something today that's how I would do it, but I haven't picked up an iron for almost two decades at this point and have no desire to do so!
11
-
1