I found mine at Target. They had several different brands of starch

Always kept my sprinkled clothes in the frig...it was before freezers that were large enough to hold anything beside ice cubes. And always kept the dry starch to put very stiff starch in my nursing cap then plaster it to the front of the refrig. to dry. Very, very stiff and shiny on one side. Don't know where that cap is now! Certainly brings back memories of childhood and early married life.

Beside pants stretchers, my Mom had sock stretchers for my Dad's hand knit socks!

Yep, got the pant stretchers too!!!!
I have used these up to today... my husband wears
wranglers and the creases are great ... he loves his wranglers to be real stiff...Mom used them for all of my bros and dads pants... this was one of the things I had on my private wish list to get from mom and dads estate ... I got them!!!
wringer washers!! wow... my folks had a Laundrymat in Phoenix in the 40's and the machines were the wringer tops... i remember the one we had in our Laudry closet too!!! g-ma got her had in it all the time!!! It's fun sharing memories :) I remember pants stretchers, and clothes hung all over her house. I used to be afraid of the farmers overalls that she would bring in from the line freeze-dried! I'm sure there are a lot of us who remember what a chore it was to keep house fifty years ago :)[/quote]

I turn my iron on and off using the switch on the surge protector it is plugged into. If the red light is on, so is the iron!

I do remember the aluminum top you spoke of but they probably don't make them anymore. I also remember my mother boiling a potato , straining the water off and using it to starch my father's shirts. His shirts looked amazing. This thread has me going down memory lane again.

This goes back to the days before the steam iron. my grandmother 'sprinkled' her clothes with an old brown clorox bottle that she had punched small holes in the lid. She placed her clothes in the fridge overnight and ironed the next day. Home-made steam!

I do remember those washing machines, I had one. They were great with the deep set tubs. One for washed clothes and then the rinsed clothes on the other one. For you young ones the set tub had two sinks side by side but all in one unit. oh my !

Pants stretchers reminded me of something else from those old days. Anyone remember curtain stretchers? When you finished putting the curtains on them your fingers were really sore. But boy did those lace curtains look good and stayed that way for quite a long time.

It's fun sharing memories :) I remember pants stretchers, and clothes hung all over her house. I used to be afraid of the farmers overalls that she would bring in from the line freeze-dried! I'm sure there are a lot of us who remember what a chore it was to keep house fifty years ago :)[/quote]
Another memory: The smell of line dried clothes , still damp, laid over the iron radiator. If I close my eyes I can still smell them.

My mother asked my dad's cousins for the quilting frame their mother used.

When I unwrapped the worn duck cloth from around the sticks, I found boards with nails in every half inch. My mother-in-law finally identified them as curtain stretchers. So I don't know if Aunt Clara used that for a quilt frame, or if the frame ended up somewhere else.

While they might be considered antique, I decided to repurpose them. I knocked the nails out and will use them for a quilt frame with the sawhorses my dad built for that purpose.

I think cloth ties will stretch the quilt to the side bars and leave me free from damage by those nails....