DIY Life

I usually forgo the iron in favor of a few extra minutes in the dryer. When I actually do haul out the ironing board and iron, you can bet that we're needing to press our clothes for a wedding or some other event.

Bringing out the iron only a couple of times each year, and typically only an hour before rushing out the door, means that if it ever did break down, I'd need an immediate fix -- one that I could do myself.

Fix-it Club offers this iron repair tutorial. The comprehensive tutorial reviews how the iron works, what could go wrong, diagnosing the problem, and finally the tools and methods for repair. Given that irons are simple appliances, well-made ones won't need regular repair, and when they do, you'll often find that the problem lies in the cord, handle, or steaming vents.

I don't imagine that I use my iron often enough for it to fail, but if it did, Fix-it Club would be my first stop. Better yet, I think I'll take their maintenance advice and prevent a problem before it starts.

[via:Dumb Little Man]

One of my pet peeves is wrinkled clothing. I really despise going into the dryer and finding my shirts and skirts a wrinkled mess. It always happens to me at the worst possible moment too, like when I have somewhere to go. I really don't have time to drag out the iron to make the shirt look perfect, so I have to find a shirt I really didn't have my heart set on wearing.

Considering that my almost 3 year old keeps me running, I don't always get the clothes folded and hung up right away, so they almost always end up needing to be ironed. That isn't always convenient, as my daughter loves to get into things she shouldn't when she sees I am busy. Thanks to TipNuts great tips on how to make homemade wrinkle release, I don't have to get peeved anymore. A little fabric softener and water mixed in a bottle with a fine mist spray nozzle, a little tugging and pulling on the wrinkled item, and letting it dry overnight will definitely put a smile on my face!

Thanks to all the wrinkle release recipes on TipNut, I might just forget to fold clothes all the time. That way, I won't feel so guilty if I ruin one of my husband's favorite shirts just because I drop the iron on it when our daughter decides to flush the cat down the toilet.

My mom used her ironing board every day when I was a kid. As I got older and she got sicker, I took over the majority of the ironing for her. We wore many holes in the cover of that ole board, and finally, it just became a prop against her bedroom wall. To my surprise, it is still there, looking as gross as ever. it is still usable; all that it needs is a new cover.

Vain and Vapid has a great tutorial; showing us through step by step pictures and directions exactly how to recover an ironing board. You'll need fabric, newspaper, string and quilt batting. Make sure to use batting and fabric that can withstand the heat of the iron.

The hardest part of making your own cover is threading the drawstring through the fabric. Using a safety pin and plenty of patience is the key to getting the drawstring through. Tie a large knot on the end of the string so that you don't ever lose it, if you wash the cover.

I love laundry starch. It makes ironing so much easier. However, store-bought starch often can damage old linens or have a synthetic that does not decompose. Good news: it's super easy to make homemade ironing starch with natural ingredients that easily decomposes.

1 pint cool water
1 tablespoon corn starch

Dissolve corn starch into water and put into spray bottle. You can use other starches as well, but corn starch is most convenient. Also, the best kind of corn starch is organic starch since it doesn't have the extra chemicals that come with generic corn starch.

Regardless of what starch you use, make sure to shake before each use to redissolve the starch. If you don't plan on using it often, make small amounts or refrigerate the unused portion; however, make sure to let the mixture return to room temperature before you use it. See? I told you it was easy.