To ask how the fuck you iron your king size duvet covers?

[blink18two]

And fitted sheets?

I recently lost my grandmother and I have decided that I need to bloody well up my standards a bit - she had very high standards, and she's right!

I'm quite good at ironing generally, even work shirts but I just can't work out how to iron a massive duvet cover without it taking hours/being bloody difficult

No

Whether I line dry or tumble dry them our bedding never looks creased, and if they did they could stay creased for all I’d care. Life’s too short for doing unnecessary chores.

Life’s too short for silly nonsense like ironed bedsheets.

Read a book instead.

@GinnyBee

Ain't nobody got time for that! In the summer when I hang them outside they dry straight, but in the winter I just deal with my soft and wrinkly sheets out the tumble dryer!

My MIL irons hers with starch, I cannot comprehend how she considers it time well spent! I mean, I like a crisp sheet as much as the next person, but not enough to torture myself by ironing them myself.

Sorry to hear about your grandmother xxx I think her generation in general were more particular about housework, but that's possibly due to fewer women working outside the home. If I was a housewife I would probably do more ironing and apple pies too.

I'm a stay at home mum, so I don't have the time pressures of WOH.

I'll give it a once over and call it good. At least I'll have made the effort!

Fold into quarters, iron each quarter. I admittedly only do it when we have guests coming.

Why in the name of fuck would I do that?

@girlmom21

Yes OP. Cotton bedsheets are your friend!

Mine are cotton! I did toy with getting some 50:50 cotton/linen ones but they'd be a nightmare!

@Chikapu

I don't. You could buy a steamer and use it after you've put the duvet in the cover.

I like this idea

I just don’t bother. Life is too short to spend it ironing. I iron nothing.

Standards are important
Yes, they are, but not these sort of silly self imposed ones, @blink18two
The standards that matter are about behaviour and how you treat people. In terms of house keeping, everything being hygienic and as comfortable as you can manage. A few creases in a duvet cover? Not a standard that matters at all. Sleep in it once and it’s creased anyway…and fitted sheets are stretched on the mattress so definitely don’t need ironing even for your spurious ‘standards’.
I hate when people try to suggest pointless housework is a moral issue.

Iron them ON the bed.

I used to use the actual bed for ironing when I made curtains.
Remove top bedding.
100% cotton throw on bed.
Iron duvet on that.
You might need an extension cord to reach

Or in my case, don't bother!

In short, I don’t. They’re creased when they go on but somehow it just smooths out. Quite quickly too.

I don't. Ever. All duvet covers and sheets and towels come off the line or out of the dryer, get folded neat and smooth and put in the linen cupboard.

Every day is a school day on MN. The idea of people routinely ironing their bedding is a new one for me. It makes me feel quite twitchy, for some reason.

Do you also iron your socks? Pants?

@AICM

Why the fuck do you iron duvet covers?

What she said 👆🏻

Don't iron. Keep them clean and sweet smelling. It's enough. I too dry over banister or line dry and they aren't very creased. Except one set that always looked creased that I promptly gave away!

I don’t but my mum does and she folds them into four then just turns the folds if you know what I mean, sorry about your grandmother x

@cardibach

Standards are important Yes, they are, but not these sort of silly self imposed ones, *@blink18two* The standards that matter are about behaviour and how you treat people. In terms of house keeping, everything being hygienic and as comfortable as you can manage. A few creases in a duvet cover? Not a standard that matters at all. Sleep in it once and it’s creased anyway…and fitted sheets are stretched on the mattress so definitely don’t need ironing even for your spurious ‘standards’. I hate when people try to suggest pointless housework is a moral issue.

So aggressive!

I fold in half and iron like that. I know you don’t have to iron them but they feel soooo much nicer ironed!

How’s that aggressive @blink18two?
No more aggressive than saying we should all have standards. Which you followed up with ‘at least I’ll have made the effort’ which is a massively passive aggressive dig at the (vast majority) saying they don’t iron.

I actually had a conversation about making the bed not long ago with a friend of mine. She makes hers every day and was horrified to find that I don't bother! I don't see the point. She said "what if someone comes to visit and the bed's a mess?!" Well, I don't recall ever taking visitors into the bedroom... how would they know?

I don’t. Ever. Or anything else. Life is too short to waste ironing. Especially sheets that no-one except you gets to see.

@RachelHasThoseInBurgundy

Fold them in half and iron one side then flip and do the other.

With fitted sheets you fold in half matching the corner seems and hook the corner over the end of the board, iron that section, flip over and hook the other corner, iron that section, then hook a corner so you have the top edge section on the board, iron, then pull the sheet towards you and iron a section at a time.

I iron for a living and this is how I get perfect results.

This I do the ironing for a holiday cottage the same way. If you hang stuff on the line it's easier as linens are always slightly damp this time of year

I succumbed to some lovely Soak and Sleep French linen. Although the crumpled look is promoted as a good look I do prefer them ironed. However, the duvet cover is a nightmare to iron, at is has a large flap, frills and long ties, and is a very generous size. It takes an age - so much so that I've started binge watching Handmaids Tale while doing it (not that that eases the agony really!)

As a professional ironer, what kind of iron would you recommend? No iron I've ever had seems to get out stubborn creases in things like cotton shirts or bedding.

I use a Bosch steam generator (picture attached) it’s very good at ironing, however I don’t like the water tank, it’s awkward to fill and they don’t send you a jug to fill it, I think they should have added a little flap to open for filling rather than having to remove it every time and try and angle your jug/tap into the gap. Other than that I have no issues with it.

For creases I try and iron damp where possible, failing that use a crease release spray. You can make up your own with hair conditioner. (Tutorials online)