; so, if I want a perfectly pressed shirt within half an hour, there’s nowhere else to go).So, to answer my curiosity, a few days later she presented me with a most peculiar gift: a special oval-shaped handmade cushion - the one you can see in the picture below.
I had seen a similar object many times before in her workshop and had never paid much attention to it. I understand it is densely packed with various layers of cotton fabric, tightly compressed until the desired shape is obtained. It is a heavy object - much heavier than you would expect looking at it! At least here, in Bucharest, few artisans still know how to handcraft these special cushions which are designed to last for decades (when it gets dirty, you just encase it in a new piece of clean cloth and sew the edges).
In shirtmaking, this cushion is used mainly to iron the difficult round-shaped seam connecting the sleeve to the body of the shirt. Half at a time, the armhole is placed around the curved edge of the cushion and then ironed. The cushion’s slightly convex shape prevents the iron’s plate from touching other parts of the shirt, resulting in a perfectly wrinkleless AND round-shaped armhole seam.
Also, when ironing the back of the collar where there always seems to be excess fabric after each wash, all you have to do is place it along the slightly convex surface of the cushion, stretch it a bit and all the “excess” fabric disappears by magic; iron it, then take the cushion away and press it flat directly on the table. The same goes for the inside of the cuffs.
AND she never uses an ironing board to iron the shirts. Instead, she uses a normal, rectangular table and her cushion to lift up any area of the shirt that needs special treatment.
I use it all the time now and I must say that results are incomparably better then before. Perhaps some of the professional tools of the artisans must somehow make their way into our lives if we are to fully enjoy the benefits of their creations…?
The device looks like a big help, thanks for sharing. BTW, does this mean all LL members can send you their shirts for ironing? 