Secret Potions

26th April 2008. Starched and Fragrant Sheets


Christopher White, one of our gorgeous customers who owns a B&B at Tala Farm in the Northern Rivers Region of NSW, sent me this tip.

He's attracted his loyal clientele by word of mouth because of something he does that few B&B's do. He starches and irons his sheets and pillowcases.

And he swears the finishing touch of a few drops of the best quality fragrant essential oil, mixed with water and sprayed on the sheets just before he finishes ironing them and puts them in his linen cupboard, sends his visitors into a state of pure ecstasy.

Chris says a few drops of eucalyptus oil is the most popular oil.

In an email to current customers, I suggested they try it at least once, for a special occasion.

Melinda of Qld wrote back.

She had a special occasion. Her 20th wedding anniversary.

Her husband loved it so much, he wants her to do it every week!

So be careful.


Take care,

CAROL

Carol Jones
Director
Interface Pty Ltd
Ilford NSW 2850 Australia
Designers of The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover
Our simple design solutions change your attitude and make every product a joy to use

The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover, Roadworks Apron, Log Lugger, Travel Bug Shoe Bag, Mr Chin’s Laundry Bag and Sweet Shoo are all simple solutions for difficult problems. And every one is a joy to use.

We’ve developed markets for these 6 products without national or international retail distribution. To see what we’ve achieved, click on our website at http://www.interfaceaustralia.com/.

Read the story of how our business began on The Ironing Board Cover Lady. No sales hype. Just a down home story about how we started our business on the dining room table of our rural property, driving on ‘L’ Plates, without an instructor.



A comment about LinkedIn. If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, when you click View Full Profile, you’ll be asked to join. It’s free and the option is yours. There are benefits to joining. Once you’re a member, you can key in the name of any person you do business with. If they’ve taken the trouble to complete a Profile, you’ll be able to assess their background, their capabilities and the calibre of person they are. You might be, as I am, often pleasantly surprised. So go have a look.

How To Help Your Child Learn How To Iron, Part 3

From ‘ L’ plates to ‘P’ plates. This is the home stretch.

In Australia, where I live and work, a learner driver is issued with a square, plastic plate with a large ‘L’ on it. They place this on the back and front of their car where it’s visible to all oncoming and following traffic.

When following a car with ‘L’ plates, you become more alert, ready for the unexpected.

The minimum age for a learner driver is 17. They progress to provisional driver when they’re 18.

After passing their driving test, they’re issued with ‘P’ plates, which tells us this is a provisional driver.

A red ‘P’ plate means the driver has just passed their learner test and has basic driving skills. They’re restricted to maximum speeds of 85 kilometres/hour and must maintain zero alcohol levels.

They take another test in 12 months time to progress to a higher ‘P’ plate level.

A green ‘P’ plate means this is a more experienced provisional driver. They’re restricted to maximum speeds of 100 kph and must keep within a .02 alcohol level.

They take another test in 12 months. If they pass, they’re a fully fledged driver, aged about 20 years old. But still near the bottom of their learning curve.

This sounds like a child learning how to iron, doesn’t it!

On ‘L’ plates, your child is learning how to handle an iron and learning the art of smoothing fabric so it can be ironed without wrinkles. And also how to stand – or sit – it’s their choice – at the ironing board.

Before we go any further, please make sure your ironing board cover is secure on your board. If the elastic has gone, or it has holes in it, please, please, buy a new one and make sure it fits well enough so that it doesn’t move while your child is ironing. You may be experienced at juggling the cover while ironing, but your child isn’t.

The right ironing board combined with the right ironing board cover combined with the right iron will make a positive impression on your child’s attitude to ironing.

Let’s start with a cold iron. It’s safest.

Your child needs to become comfortable with the weight of the iron and how it travels across different types of fabric. The coarser the fabric, the harder it is to push the iron. The smoother the fabric, the more easily the iron will glide across the item.

Starting with a cold iron also stops them from getting burnt fingers while they’re learning to smooth the fabric as they go along.

Handkerchiefs, cloth napkins, pillow cases; anything that’s straight is a good beginner item.

Let’s take a handkerchief. Practice with a cold iron first.

Step 1. Start with the iron sitting on its heel. Right now, the iron is turned off.

Step 2. Lay the handkerchief on the board, wrong side facing up.

Step 3. Teach your child to smooth the fabric, using both hands.

Step 4. Starting at the top of the handkerchief, palms flat, hands in the centre of the handkerchief, have them run their hands across the fabric to the outer edge to smooth it out.

Step 5. Move their hands down to about the centre of the handkerchief and repeat the smoothing out process.

Step 6. Move their hands down to the bottom of the handkerchief and again, repeat the smoothing out process.

Step 7. Slowly glide the iron across the flat handkerchief until it’s pressed, and hopefully, wrinkle free. Don’t be pedantic about this step. We just want them to get the feel of the iron and how it travels across fabric.

The iron should always be positioned so it’s moving away from them as they iron. Also, teach your child to rest the iron on its heel when they’re not using it.

Step 8. Fold one side across to the other, so it’s now in half, smooth it out with their palms and press a fold in place, moving the iron away from them rather than towards them. Rest the iron on its heel.

Step 9. Fold one side across to the other so it’s now in quarters, smooth it out and press a fold in place. Rest the iron on its heel.

Step 10. Fold one side across to the other, folding from left to right, smooth it out and press a fold in place. Rest the iron on its heel.

Step 11. Fold the handkerchief from top to bottom, smooth it out and press a fold in place. Rest the iron on its heel.

Step 12. Plenty of praise for a job well (?) done.

Step 13. Heat the iron up to low heat and let them iron it again, exactly as above.

Step 14. Lots of ooh’s and aah’s over the pressed handkerchief!

You and I do this with lightning speed, not even thinking about the steps, but it helps to break it down into small units so they understand the process. They can then apply this to other things.

There’s a few pithy sayings about learning that are very true.

1. “Take it by the inch and it’s a cinch. Take it by the yard, and it’s hard.”
2. “The smaller the bite, the easier to chew.”
3. “The only time success comes before work is in the dictionary.”
4. “Practice makes perfect”.

That’s enough. I’ll stop!

Learning how to iron is all about the right attitude, the right tools, and mastering a few, not very hard, skills.

‘L’ plates is about getting comfortable with the art of smoothing fabric and safely using the iron.

Mastering the art of smoothing the fabric is crucial to ironing wrinkle free.

Your child needs to understand that when they glide the iron, it should be positioned to move away from them as much as possible, rather than pointing towards them. This stops accidental burning and if the iron falls, it will fall away from them, not on them.

How they learn is a combined effort between you and them. And ironing can be something they enjoy doing and also take pride in their workmanship. Much like carpentry and sewing.

Progressing to ‘P’ plates is a matter of gaining more experience. From handkerchiefs to shirts isn’t instantaneous. The art of moving an item around the board is also a learning experience. As is learning to iron between buttons, ironing collars without creases and pressing creases into pants.

‘P’ Plates also means less supervision. They’re ironing more on their own. So make sure their environment suits them. Do they like to watch TV? Iron in their own room? Listen to language CD’s so they can learn Slovakian for their exotic student exchange program’ at school? Love loud music? Have sing-a-longs? Opera? Heavy classical? Remember, this is partly fun time, too. So encourage them to pick their spot and their means of entertainment.

I know men and women who admit to loving ironing. But it’s a secret club because it’s a subject you don’t readily admit to. The question, “It’s not fashionable, but I love …..ironing”, doesn’t have the same ring as, “I love white water rafting in the most dangerous of conditions”.

There’s nothing more appealing than a well pressed man and woman, young or old. It ranks high in the personal attraction stakes. Cadbury agrees.

From Cadbury’s Blog. “I actually like to have ironed clothes. Not so much because I care about whether they are ironed or not, but because the vast majority of women that I have any interest in prefer a neatly pressed man”.

Have a look at the new Oliso Iron with the auto-lift system. It means no more burning if you accidentally leave the iron face down. Time Magazine named it one of the best inventions of 2006. http://www.oliso.com/iron/index.php

This is the last in the series of How To Help Your Child Learn How to Iron.

I hope it’s helped you and the young members of your family.


Take care,

CAROL

Carol Jones
Director
Interface Pty Ltd
Ilford NSW 2850 Australia
Designers of The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover
Our simple design solutions change your attitude and make every product a joy to use

The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover, Roadworks Apron, Log Lugger, Travel Bug Shoe Bag, Mr Chin’s Laundry Bag and Sweet Shoo are all simple solutions for difficult problems. And every one is a joy to use.

We’ve developed markets for these 6 products without national or international retail distribution. To see what we’ve achieved, click on our website at www.interfaceaustralia.com.

Read the story of how our business began on The Ironing Board Cover Lady. No sales hype. Just a down home story about how we started our business on the dining room table of our rural property, driving on ‘L’ Plates, without an instructor.



A comment about LinkedIn. If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, when you click View Full Profile, you’ll be asked to join. It’s free and the option is yours. There are benefits to joining. Once you’re a member, you can key in the name of any person you do business with. If they’ve taken the trouble to complete a Profile, you’ll be able to assess their background, their capabilities and the calibre of person they are. You might be, as I am, often pleasantly surprised. So go have a look.

How To Help Your Child Learn How To Iron, Part 2

Ironing’s a skill and tools make a difference. Don’t you think?

What’s your preferred approach to learning? Do you really want to learn to do something you’ll hate for the rest of your life?

Do you want to teach your child to do something they’ll hate for the rest of their life?

I don’t think so.

Yet many people learn to iron with the same enthusiasm as going to the dentist.

Why?

The initial approach is wrong when they’re learning. If you have to do something, isn’t it better to approach it from a positive frame of mind rather than a negative frame of mind?

If you want to help your child learn something, which frame of mind is going to get the best result?

I’ll answer that question for you with another question. When you were at school, which teachers motivated you the most? The ones who were pedantic and boring? Or the ones who turned learning into an interesting experience and inspired you?

Next question. How many of you found learning at school interesting and inspiring? I hear you already. Not many!

Therefore, I’m addressing this learning experience as positive thinking at its highest form.

Ironing is a skill, not a chore. And tools make a difference.

Learning something as a skill has a much more positive outcome. For instance.

My friend Charlene waxes lyrical about her ironing lady, Yvette. Charlene gives a vivid description of Yvette’s flawless, finished look, without a wrinkle in the collars or sleeves of Charlene’s husband’s shirts. Yvette’s French and learned how to iron from her mother, who worked in a French laundry.

My partner, Victor Pleshev, learned to iron from his mother, and he’s much better at ironing than I am. Like Yvette’s mother, Victor’s mother did a stint in a laundry when they first immigrated to Australia. She didn’t speak English and took the first job she was offered. Moreover, she taught Victor how to iron using all the skills she learned. Today, at 80, she’s still a perfectionist with her ironing.

The best way to start teaching your child is with the attitude that you’re teaching them a lifetime skill. A skill up there with sewing, carpentry and playing the piano.

To get the best results, your child needs the right tools. Cast your mind back to Part 1. Why do they need their own tools? So they can hang out with you and iron with you while you’re ironing. Plus, ownership of the tools often leads to ownership of the skill.

You only need 3. This is a low tech, simple skill that doesn’t require high tech gadgets. A board and iron suitable to their height and weight to start with. Plus a pressing cloth to put over their first real practice garments to avoid burning them.

Mini boards placed on a stable table at the correct height for your child to be comfortable might be just right. There are quite a few available. These boards are also fabulous for packing and taking with you when you travel. Links to websites which feature these boards are listed below. Once you see them, you’ll be able to decide if they’re right for your child.

To purchase a smaller folding board with traditional legs, look in most hardware and/or discount stores like Wal-Mart, K Mart and Big W. The smallest board will be about 110cm long (about 27”).

Price matters here. Cheap board = flimsy construction. What, you ask, can possibly go wrong?

1. Examine how the mesh plate attaches to the frame. Is it stapled or welded? The cheaper the board, the more likely the mesh plate is stapled to the frame. And guaranteed to be thin mesh. Believe me, it doesn’t take much pressure for the staples to come out and the mesh top to come adrift. And/or the thin mesh plate caves in and the top looks like a banana.

2. Look at the mechanism for folding the board up and down. Is it smooth and easy to adjust, or does it catch, is it a bit rough, does it miss a ratchet or two? An unreliable mechanism allows the legs to collapse while your child is ironing.

1 and 2 above can mean your child will burn themselves if the mesh plate comes adrift and/or the folding mechanism loses its hold and the board falls down. Either one of those events will certainly cause your child to lose their grip on the iron. Do I need to go any further?

Is your iron too big and/or too heavy? Try a mini iron or a travel iron. They have a second life when you pack them in your suitcase when you travel. And both styles come with a steam facility. Travel irons are available in appliance stores and on the web. Mini irons are found on craft sites on the web. Links to a few websites are included below to give you some idea of what I’m talking about.

A pressing cloth can be purchased in any haberdashery section. But all you really need is a lightweight piece of fabric, like homespun, without hems. If that’s not available, a handkerchief is fine. We’re not ironing the Queen’s best dress here. Just practicing for the moment.

And practice, with a positive approach, makes all the difference as to whether your child hates doing this or winds up being a perfectionist, over time.

How do you make it interesting when you and your child hang out together, doing the ironing? Think back to when you were a child. What did you want to talk about when you had a parent all to yourself? And fast forward to today. What’s your child interested in talking about?

When I was 8 and learning to iron, this was about the only time I had my mother to myself. And I made the most of it. My mother and I gossiped. About my older sister. Her brothers and sisters. How things have changed since she was 8 years old.

I also remember my mother never turned this into a ‘parental authority’ occasion. The gossip was always interesting. How she learned to ‘shimmy’; about the drunken neighbour at the end of the street; her life as a couture dressmaker in New York City; my Uncle Joe’s eccentric wife, Marie.

And we played word games. I realise now this is how she taught me to spell!

Before I knew it, I’d ironed all the handkerchiefs, the pillowcases and the tea towels. And I rarely wanted to stop while I was being entertained by her and her stories.

Do you get the idea?!

If your child isn’t an only child, this is a rare occasion for you both to get to know each other on different terms. As Antonia Kidman (Nicole Kidman’s sister) recently pointed out in her Mum’s The Word column for New Idea on January 6, breaking the family apart for short periods changes the dynamics.

If you haven’t tried this before, try it now. You’ll find it very rewarding.

Part 3 is about techniques in ironing, starting with the small things and moving up to the bigger things. From handkerchiefs to shirts. From a cold iron to a hot iron. And how to keep that motivation going when they can finally ‘ride this bike’ on their own.

Links to mini boards and small irons are below. Keep scrolling down.

Take care,

CAROL

Carol Jones
Director
Interface Pty Ltd
Ilford NSW 2850 Australia
Designers of The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover
Our simple design solutions change your attitude and make every product a joy to use

The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover, Roadworks Apron, Log Lugger, Travel Bug Shoe Bag, Mr Chin’s Laundry Bag and Sweet Shoo are all simple solutions for difficult problems. And every one is a joy to use.

We’ve developed markets for these 6 products without national or international retail distribution. To see what we’ve achieved, click on our website at www.interfaceaustralia.com.

Read the story of how our business began on The Ironing Board Cover Lady. No sales hype. Just a down home story about how we started our business on the dining room table of our rural property, driving on ‘L’ Plates, without an instructor.



A comment about LinkedIn. If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, when you click View Full Profile, you’ll be asked to join. It’s free and the option is yours. There are benefits to joining. Once you’re a member, you can key in the name of any person you do business with. If they’ve taken the trouble to complete a Profile, you’ll be able to assess their background, their capabilities and the calibre of person they are. You might be, as I am, often pleasantly surprised. So go have a look.

These are links to websites which feature mini ironing boards.

The Ultra Mini Ironing Board: http://www.organizes-it.com/poironbrd.php

Stowaway Mini Folding Board: http://betterlifestyleproducts.com.au/tabletop-ironing-boards.html

Clover Mini/Travel/Craft Iron: http://www.punchwithjudy.com.au/shop/home.php?cat=310

How To Help Your Child Learn How To Iron, Part 1

Every child needs life skills. So motivate your child by thinking like a child.

In your child’s excitement to become independent by leaving home to discover what the big wide world has to offer, they also discover there’s no one to cook, clean, do the laundry and iron their clothes. There’s also the garbage, car maintenance, making their money stretch until next payday, finding a place to live and selecting the best flatmates.

Some things your child has to learn on the hop, other things can be learned at home at a young age with mum and dad’s help.

This is about helping your child learn how to iron.

Unless they aspire to be street kids or fall on their well-heeled feet and land an important job with a huge salary as soon as they leave home and can afford a personal ironer, they need to know how to iron so their clothes look good.

The most important criteria in this exercise are both your attitude to ironing and your ability to teach them how to iron.

YOUR ATTITUDE.

If you hate ironing and always grumble about it, don’t bother. It won’t work. You can’t teach a skill to someone if you hate doing it yourself.

YOUR ABILITY TO TEACH.

If you’re impatient and grouchy, again don’t bother. You can’t teach if you can’t inspire.

I’m assuming that you have both an interest in and a desire to help your child.

So let’s go.

What you’ll need.

1. It’s always helpful to have the ability to remember what it was like when you were a child.

2. Patience. Lots of it.

Remember back to when you were a kid and learning how to ride your bike. How many times did you fall off before you finally mastered the skill and took off by yourself?

3. A sense of humour.

It goes a long way towards diffusing a tense moment. Again, remember back to when you were a child. Learning a skill like tying your shoelaces seemed to escape your grasp. My mother laughed when I tied both my shoes together and I couldn’t move. Her laughter reassured me this was a mistake that really didn’t matter.

4. The skill to correct their mistakes in a positive way.

This is a tough one because parents are so used to constantly correcting their child so they do better; and aren’t always aware their manner is gruff, abrupt and unfriendly.

For example.

A local shopkeeper had their two pre-teen children in their shop for the afternoon. All I heard while I was there was, “…No, you can’t touch that. No, don’t do that. That’s not the way I want you to stack those items.” Is this the way you want to be talked to? I don’t think so. So keep that sort of talk out of the learning experience.

A better way to approach it is to let your child know that what they’ve done isn’t right. Yes, they need to know if they’ve done something incorrectly. But tell them that with practice, you know they’ll be better at it than you. That’s correcting, reassuring and inspiring them with just a few words.

5. Don’t expect too much too soon.

Even though ironing isn’t rocket science, your child won’t fail at life if they don’t master the ironing skills of a professional valet or butler or master tailor. You’re teaching them a skill that will help them conquer the domestic requirements of their life. That’s all they need.

What’s the right age to teach your child how to iron? Between the ages of 8 and 10. I learned to iron when I was 8.

There’s a good reason to start that early. The most important one being your child is still in love with you. This is the ‘pre-hormone raging’ era where you’re still up there with God in their eyes. They haven’t yet devised a plan to obstruct your parental authority, become sullen, withdrawn and want to be anywhere, so long as it’s not with you!

This is the age where your child still likes to do things with you. Hanging out with mum and dad is still a part of their life.

Read anyone’s memoir and their fondest childhood memories are from that age, being taught something by a loving parent. Whether it was learning to fish or learning to sew, their sheer joy was in hanging out with mum or dad and doing grown up things with them.

Ironing is a ‘grown up thing’.

The best introduction is to get your child to help with the laundry. Not on their own, but together, with you. Make this a chance to gossip and have a little bit of fun together. This benefits both of you. Folding laundry can be turned into a social occasion for you and your child.

The next step is to introduce them to ironing. Again, with you. Remember, this is hanging out with mum and dad stuff. Starting with handkerchiefs is always safe. And this way the whole family finally gets ironed handkerchiefs! Cloth napkins are also safe, as are tea towels, pillowcases, anything straight that can be ironed quickly. Speed in finishing is the criteria here. Nothing too hard to scare them off.

And get them their own mini board and mini iron. So they can iron right beside you.

I hear you laughing and harrumphing. With scorn, no less.

Why not?

You’ve spent a gazillion dollars up to now on their toys. You’ve also spent how much (?) money on a variety of useless objects for them. Why not spend some money on tools for a skill they take into adulthood; that helps you with some of your chores; and allows you to spend some quality time with your child doing something together?

This is a new approach, isn’t it?

But think about it.

Get back to when you were a child. At age 8 or 10, objects are still too big. A mini board, a mini iron, are just the right size for a child. Sort of like Goldilocks finding the right bed to sleep in. And it belongs to them. Ownership of the tools can lead to ownership of the skill.

Helping your child learn how to iron is more than just whipping out the ironing board, handing them the iron, standing them on a stool and telling them to ‘go to it’. It’s about motivating them and inspiring them to begin with.

And that’s all about you.

This is how many men and women learn to do things. At the knees of their loving parents.

So go to it. It’s in your child’s best interests to succeed.

Stay tuned for the next instalment of How To Help Your Child Learn How To Iron. I’ll tell you how to find a mini board and mini iron.

Take care,

CAROL

Carol Jones
Director
Interface Pty Ltd
Ilford NSW 2850 Australia
Designers of The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover
Our simple design solutions change your attitude and make every product a joy to use

The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover, Roadworks Apron, Log Lugger, Travel Bug Shoe Bag, Mr Chin’s Laundry Bag and Sweet Shoo are all simple solutions for difficult problems. And every one is a joy to use.

We’ve developed markets for these 6 products without national or international retail distribution. To see what we’ve achieved, click on our website at www.interfaceaustralia.com.

Read the story of how our business began on The Ironing Board Cover Lady. No sales hype. Just a down home story about how we started our business on the dining room table of our rural property, driving on ‘L’ Plates, without an instructor.



A comment about LinkedIn. If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, when you click View Full Profile, you’ll be asked to join. It’s free and the option is yours. There are benefits to joining. Once you’re a member, you can key in the name of any person you do business with. If they’ve taken the trouble to complete a Profile, you’ll be able to assess their background, their capabilities and the calibre of person they are. You might be, as I am, often pleasantly surprised. So go have a look.