Monday, April 21, 2008

Ironing little girls' dresses...

I know that many of y'all have little girls and with little girls come those adorably sweet dresses that often have short, puffy sleeves.

Elizabeth has such a dress and she wore it for Easter. Such a beautiful dress. And then... I washed it.

When I took it out of the dryer, I cringed. WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT ADORABLY SWEET DRESS????? It was all shriveled. Sad. I knew I had to iron it and soon. So what did I do? I did what any other mother would do- I promptly hung it up on a hanger near my ironing board where, I must be honest with you, it sat until last Thursday when I finally decided to iron it.

How did I get up the courage to brave such a task? Aaaahhhh..... My sister's friend is a manager in a Strasburg boutique. When Leslie told me that this lady has to iron every single piece of clothing that goes out on the sales racks, I KNEW I had to find out her secret to getting those short, puffy sleeves perfectly ironed. And the secret is..... a washcloth!!! She simply wads up a washcloth, stuffs it into the sleeve and irons! Well, I certainly can do that....



Yep, that's one of my navy blue washcloths stuffed inside the sleeve on Elizabeth's Easter dress. Simply stuffing the washcloth in there made many of the wrinkles come right out!! Then I just held the iron and ironed the sleeve. It was SO easy!

Here's the finished product...



All crisp and ready to go. It was SO easy this way!!






17 comments:

Wendi said...

I have pulled many outfits out of the dryer and had that oh no feeling. Thanks for sharing!

Dorothy Aichele Conway said...

Oh, she's adorable in it. When I think of all the ironing I've done in my life, I've never heard of stuffing the sleeve. What a great idea.

Mrs. Pear said...

Thank you for the wonderful tip - I think you made the day of all mommies with little girls! (although with Miss Pear being so sick with the flu and then horrible sinus cold, I am just washing lots of jammies, no ironing there!)

And Elizabeth is so sweet!

Susan P. said...

Oh, how I wished I had known this when Miss Bonnie was a little one ~ it would have saved a lot of Mommy "frustration!" But, even better than the wonderful tip is the little sweetie modeling the dress:o)

Katy said...

oh my gosh...what a GREAT idea!!! I never would have thought of that! Thank you soo much for sharing it and your daughter is sooo cute! :)

Melissa Ward said...

What a fabulous idea! Thanks for sharing.

Rebecca said...

That last picture of your daughter is priceless!! This is a tip I wish I had known when my girls were small.

Connie J said...

What a great idea ~ I guess that means I will have to iron all those dresses now :-) Elizabeth is beautiful!!!

Primrose Hill said...

thank you for posting this! I am right now staring at a giant pile of dresses to be ironed for my girls and instead I am reading blogs. But, I do love little pressed dresses....Oh! the sacrifices we make for our girls! Back a looooong time ago when I was working I actually took a couple of my older daughters' bishop dresses to the cleaners. Safe to say, I have my priorities straight now! :-)

mommy24treasures said...

love the tip thank you!

Kelli said...

Now that is such a neat idea, Mrs. U! I love those puffed sleeves-they remind me of Anne of Green Gables! :) Elizabeth is such a cutie!
~Kelli
P.s. We hope to go camping at least a couple times a year, it was so much fun!

Jodi said...

Perfect - Great tip! Love that darling model!! :o)

jeanette said...

what a fantastic tip! thanks for sharing! :)

Paula said...

What a wonderful tip!! And what a sweet picture!

Blessings,
Paula

Niall MacC said...

Nice dress, nice remedy and nice child!

Alyson and Ford said...

Great idea!! I will be ironing little girlie clothes soon!! Your daughter is beautiful!

Alyson LID 01/27/06

Trish said...

What a great idea! Thank you for the fabulous tip. Your little angel looks adorable in that dress!

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