Did you catch Sara Kate on the Thanksgiving episode of KCRW's Good Food? She was chatting with Evan Kleiman about ways to set a beautiful and stress-free holiday table, and she shared a trick for "ironing" table linens that may have changed my life forever. Get this: no iron required.
Sara Kate says that all you need to do is lay the table cloth and other table linens on the table the night before. Spritz them with water and smooth the wrinkles out with your hands. By the next day, the linens have dried and the wrinkles have disappeared.
Doesn't that sound like the best magic trick ever? Iron, begone!
Listen to Sara Kate's full interview for more great holiday entertaining tips:
• Hear the Interview! Setting the Thanksgiving Table with Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan on KCRW'S Good Food
Related: Dinner Parties: 5 Great Tips for Newbies (Plus Lots More)
(Image: Flickr member Leonid Mamchenkov licensed under Creative Commons)
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Is there a transcript?
works even better if you add some vinegar to your water (to smell is gone by the next day)
I did this just the other day.
I also do this with clothes, although hanging them up rather than laying them on the table.
If you live in an arid area, you already know you don't have to wait until tomorrow, you might only have to wait an hour!
I do this with wrinkled laundry all the time. Just spritz with a water mister and smooth out the wrinkles with your hands. In 15 min you can usually put the item on and be wrinkle free!
I know its not the best stuff in the world, but I swear by that Downy Wrinkle Releaser. It takes wrinkles out of eeeverything and it smells good and dries super fast.
Yeah..... this does not work if you have a cat.
your cat is wrinkled?
If you want a tablecloth that looks ironed you have to iron it. This will make your tablecloth look less wrinkled but it doesn't like like it was ironed really.
It works even less well on cats.
The real trick is to convince your children that the best thing ever is to be trusted with ironing. My mom did that and I spent a good chunk of my childhood asking to iron the napkins and tablecloths.
I still love to iron, though that's more about it being a great release for those of us with OCD tendencies.
I recommend using gloves when ironing cats.