At least once a week when I got home from school, my mom would greet us from the ironing board where she was starching and pressing our clothes. We wore a lot of cotton, and that meant steam heat with a spritz of Niagara spray starch.

She claimed she loved to iron, that it helped on those stressful days to put her mind at ease and reflect on the day’s problems. Today, she still loves to iron and I guess she passed that admiration for wrinkle-free clothes on to me.

I too, enjoy a good ironing session. There’s nothing more satisfying than a starched cotton dress shirt or a pair of jeans with a crease down the center. The holiday table at the Hart house is never without a starched linen tablecloth and pressed and starched cloth napkins.

I know, it’s crazy; my kids don’t get my obsession with starched linens either. But when I set the Christmas china on a smooth tablecloth there is a certain satisfaction that comes over me.

And no, I certainly don’t expect anyone else to iron their tablecloths, it’s just one of my little things that I choose to not let go, no matter how rushed or stressed I am on a holiday.

Nowadays, my standing-at-the-ironing-board-to-press-every-shirt-before-it-gets-hung-in-the-closet has dwindled and if I need something pressed, I plug the iron in and put a towel down on the top of the washing machine and give it the once-over. Last weekend, my shortcut got even shorter – and I’m paying for it.

Getting ready for church, I put on a cotton sweater and it had a few wrinkles in the front. I can’t stand wrinkles in my clothes. So, I ran to the laundry room, plugged in the iron and because I was running late, I came up with the ingenious idea to just keep the sweater on and run the iron over the front of my sweater, real quick-like.

The iron was on the hottest setting and it was doing a great job toward the hem of the sweater, but as I moved up my front side and just above the waistline of my jeans, I let out a howl. Yep, you guessed it – the hot iron went through my sweater and burned my stomach!

Have you ever heard of such foolishness? I’ve hit a new low in shortcuts-gone-bad.

So my wardrobe tip of the week is, if you decide to press your clothes the lazy way, pull your sweater away from your skin first. Or, maybe make the intelligent choice and take your clothes off before you iron them.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Melissa Hart may write to her in care of this publication.