Well, how well should I know my iron????  What kind of silly question is this?

Per usual, I speak from experience when I say that it is soooooo important that you familiarize yourself with your iron or whichever iron you’re about to use (at a hotel’s, a relative’s, etc) on your beautiful dress.

Learn from me.

Do as I say, not as I did!  Save yourself the trouble, my dear!

I was on my honeymoon at a resort in the Caribbean, getting ready to go out to a beautiful, ritzy restaurant.  I decided that my gorgeous dress with layers of tulle and was a bit too wrinkled from the trip in the suitcase to be seen in that evening.  So I turned on the iron, waited 10 minutes and plopped it on the top layer of my dress, the 1st layer of tulle.

I’m going to let you guess what happened next…

Yup.  You got it.  I watched in horror as my dress was eaten up by the iron.  And by the time my delayed reaction of yanking the iron off my dress was realized, the room smelled like burned toast and there was a gaping hole in the back of my little black cocktail dress.

Almost 2 decades later and it still hurts to think about it, never mind talk about it.

What I should have done was get to know the iron.  Read the settings which usually have a number corresponding to the type of fabric you are about to iron.  And therefore, you turn the dial on the iron to the number that indicates the fabric you are about to iron, so that you don’t burn delicate clothing!

And I believe that with extremely delicate items of clothing, perhaps after setting the iron to the correct temperature you want to “test” on the tiniest portion of the fabric, in the most inconspicuous place, in case it does burn through.

So perhaps starting with the dress inside out and working on that layer first, at the lowest possible setting on the iron may have saved it that fateful night…

We’ll never know, but at least I may save you from the same kick to the stomach!