See photos for details. As used condition
Anyone who's pressed clothes with an iron on a flat surface knows it's easy to make a crease. So how can you iron waves of ruffles and keep the flounces without flattening them? One solution was a goffering iron, also called an Italian or tally iron. This was like a metal test tube set horizontally on a stand. The tube was heated by inserting a metal poker-like rod, fresh from stove or hearth. Then frilled cuffs and collars could be curled round the cylinder, and other trimmings, like ribbons, were moved across it. Some Victorians took pride in a display of expertly-ironed ruffles, and the well-dressed baby often had a bonnet trimmed with "Italian-ironed double frills", as mentioned by Charlotte Brontë in 1849.