My earliest memories, as they relate to ironing boards & all things which need to be ironed, also include learning about handkerchiefs - what they are, & what their purpose is. When Mom would complete that load of laundry, those pieces of fabric which needed to be pressed, or ironed for Dad, would go into a designated bag nearby the iron & ironing board, awaiting their ironing. Sometimes the ironing board wouldn't be set up yet; sometimes it wouldn't be set up for awhile until Dad asked about it while gently mentioning that his stack had run low.
Dad was a handkerchief man, not a nasal tissue user. When Dad had a head cold, we knew it when the laundry came through. His stack of handkerchiefs depleted all the sooner, & their status in the laundry was much more "used" than during his healthier times.
Soon it became my task to monitor & manage the ironing of Dad's kerchiefs after their load of laundry had completed. Fold the fabric from corner-to-corner, & edge-to-edge. At each fold, run the iron along the fabric's crease. Continue to fold & iron at the fold until the kerchief's shape had become a tiny square. Dad would fit this square in one of his back pockets as he prepared to leave for work, church, or just heading out & about.
A frustration I'd have, even way back in the beginning, when I hardly understood how to iron, would be when I'd run the iron along the folded edge, before I'd get the fabric all lined up, & I'd basically have an ironed crease that, no matter how many times I ironed it back out flat, a line, an eraser line of sorts, would remain. I'd want the kerchief ironing to be "just right" for Dad.
These ironing moments happened long before ironing boards were produced in as many varieties as they are today. Presently ironing boards are manufactured in the smallest of sizes for the college bound & those who simply have a great lack of space. Ironing mats are another option for this same group. Just a bit larger than the smallest of ironing boards, this one also includes a "chrome-wire iron rest". A similar convenience, an over-the-door ironing board, is also available. On the other end of the spectrum, manufacturers bring you "ironing centers" where your every ironing need will be "at your ready" in just a moment's notice.
They call it the "amazing add on", yet this one, with its iron rack is most similar to the ironing board I used as a small child laying out & creasing as I folded up Dad's handkerchiefs. Ours had no "iron rack"; we simply rested the iron nearest we could to the end of the wider portion of the ironing board (not the rounded off, triangular end), without it being too close to the edge to fall off.
No matter, I've a feeling this task as well as a few other similar ones, have a lot to do with my meticulous nature & my overall desire to have things "just so", accurate, correct, & as pleasing as possible for whomever they're to be for (whether a manager, a parent, & a gift recipient).
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