Well my friends, as promised, after our chat about my permanent skirt crease – i tested out this whole ironing with vinegar thing. And i have to say, i am pleasantly surprised!
I decided to test it out two different ways so i could see which i prefered.
First I tried Claire Shaeffers method of the paper bag wet with a 50/50 mixture of water and vinegar. I decided to do this only on the right side so i could compare the two methods easily. I laid the paper bag over the area to be pressed, held my breath and pressed with the iron.
And guess what? the permanent crease was gone! 50 gazillion points go to my hero Claire Shaeffer! I gave it the sniff test, and the skirt didn’t smell of vinegar at all, not even a hint. I liked it so much i did the back too.
I am really impressed with how well this worked! I’m still intrigued by why a paper bag was suggested – but i’m thinking perhaps it’s intention is to act like a presser cloth, so you’re steaming with vinegar rather than wetting the actual fabric. I think next time i’ll try this with my presser cloth and see what happens!
Next i tried spraying the 50/50 vinegar mix straight onto the skirt. I sprayed only on the left side this time, once again so i could compare the two.
This worked well, but definitely not as well as the paper bag method. The crease looks better – but definitely hasn’t disappeared on that side completely. After the sniff test, i could still smell vinegar. It wasn’t tragic, but it did smell like vinegar. To be honest though, almost everyone who commented on last weeks post about successful vinegar ironing said they used something closer to 1/4 vinegar and 3/4 water – so i have a feeling my vinegar smell would have been much less significant if I’d used a more diluted mix.
Final thoughts? I’m pretty sold on ironing with vinegar now – but i’ll definitely lean more towards using it in conjunction with either a presser cloth or a paper bag. I’m also planning on trying the diluted mix. I feel like using the paper bag resulted in a much crisper pleat than the direct spraying, which i liked. I’m not sure this would replace my beloved steam press (yet to be unpacked from boxes… sad face)- but i’d say it’s a pretty darn good substitute!
Thanks everyone who chimed in with suggestions for this last week! I think it’s a great technique, and i’m really thrilled with how it’s fixed my skirt. If you have any more suggestions on how to use vinegar for ironing – let me know! This is definitely an area that needs more exploring :)
