I have found some wonderful websites describing household items from the past. I was curious about the first electric irons. I remember my grandmother ironing with a black handled Sunbeam iron with a black and white fiber cord. In order to get out the wrinkles, she took the dry clean clothes off the line and brought them inside. She laid them one by one on the clean kitchen table and sprinkled them with water, rolling them up as she went along and then placed the items in a clean bread bag (yes, once the bread was used, the bag was washed, hung up to dry and reused) and placed the bag in the refrigerator. She took out one item at a time and ironed it until every item was neatly pressed and creased!

One more thing to count as a blessing – the steam iron! Take a look at the first electric irons by clicking on the following link.

Early electric irons, self-heating flat irons, sad irons.

In The Vision of a Mother’s Heart, Isabel and her “Mama” had to use heavy flat irons.  She would have welcomed the new electric iron!