A Reader’s Note
The Ironing Board Has Been Up in My Bedroom Since March. Three Weeks Ago I Folded It Away, and I Do Not Think It Is Going Back.
On the clothes that need managing, the ones that do not, and the morning I stopped standing in front of a full wardrobe with nothing to wear.
The ironing board lives in the corner of our bedroom between the window and the chest of drawers. It has been up, permanently, for most of the last four years.
Dave made his peace with it. I stopped seeing it years ago, the way you stop seeing anything that is always there.
What I did not see either was what it meant: that almost everything I owned needed something done to it before I could leave the house in it. The blouse that creases if you look at it. The trousers that only work with the one jacket, which is in the wash. Forty things hanging up, and maybe six I could actually put on this morning without a project attached.
My sister Julie turned up to a birthday lunch in a long, easy-looking set — top and trousers, same fabric, same colour — and I asked her what she had done to get ready. She said: put it on.
It is called the Maribel, from Wattle & Reed. I ordered one that week, mostly because there is a thirty-day guarantee and the worst case was a trip to the post office.
The four things that make it different
Their own line is that a piece only goes on the site if you can sit down in it, get through the whole afternoon, and still look the way you did when you left the house. Having worn this since, I would say that is fair.
It is a set, not two separates.
Separates give you options, and options are the problem. Two pieces cut and coloured to go together means getting dressed stops being a decision: top on, trousers on, done, and you look like you chose it. Everything else here is smaller than this one.
An elastic waistband, and nothing to unfasten.
A fastening is a fixed circumference, and you are not a fixed circumference at nine in the morning and nine at night. Elastic sits where it sits and stops being a thing you think about. Nothing to unfasten at the table, and nothing left behind on your skin.
A wide leg that falls from the waist, not from the hip.
Where the width starts decides everything. Start it at the hip and the trousers follow your shape for the first stretch, which is exactly the stretch most of us would rather they did not. Start it at the waist and the fabric drops in one straight line to the floor, touching nothing on the way down.
Seven colours, sizes S to 5XL, and the pieces come apart.
Wattle & Reed put it plainly themselves: sleeves where others use straps, waistbands that give rather than grip, and sizes that run past the usual four. The two pieces are also wearable separately — the trousers with a plain tee, the top over jeans. I bought one outfit and got about five.
What actually changed
The first week I kept catching myself walking towards the board out of habit, with nothing in my hands.
Then one morning I folded it down, put it behind the chair, and waited to need it. Three weeks later it is under the bed. Dave has stopped mentioning it, which I take as a win.
It is not just me
Eight hundred and eighty-seven of these sets have gone out across Australia. Three in four women take the black or the navy. Across the whole shop it is nearer three thousand customers, and the reviews keep landing on the same two things: it arrives quickly, and it is what it said it was.
If you are between two sizes
Roughly seven in ten women who order take an M, L or XL. Both pieces are cut relaxed and the waist is elastic, so if you are between two sizes take your usual one.
| Size | Most ordered | Fit |
|---|---|---|
| S | 7% | Relaxed |
| M | 21% | Relaxed |
| L | 26% | Relaxed |
| XL | 23% | Relaxed |
| 2XL | 12% | Relaxed |
| 3XL – 5XL | 11% | Relaxed |
Why it is $89.95 right now
It is listed at $299.95 and sells for $89.95 in the spring sale. I do not know how long that runs, and this is a page that would like to sell you one — weigh it as you should.
What made the sum work for me is that it is not one garment, it is two, and they separate. Worn the way I wear them — together, and each with other things — that is about five outfits. Set that against the blouse I had dry-cleaned twice last year and it stops being a close call.
Maribel | Batwing Sleeves & Wide-Leg Pants
$299.95 $89.95
Spring sale — 70% off- Two pieces — already matched, and wearable apart
- Elastic waistband, nothing to unfasten
- Wide leg falling straight from the waist
- Flowy batwing sleeves
- Light, breathable texture fabric
- Seven colours · sizes S – 5XL
- Free shipping & 30-day money-back guarantee
Questions I had too
Will wide-leg trousers make me look shorter?
The length governs that, not the width. Worn with any heel at all — even a low sandal — the unbroken line from waist to floor reads as longer, because there is no horizontal break in it.
Is an elastic waist going to look casual?
The waistband sits under the top in normal wear, so what anyone sees is the drape of the trousers rather than how they fasten. The comfort is on the inside, the finish is on the outside.
Can I really wear the pieces separately?
Yes, and most of us end up doing it. The trousers work with a plain tee, the top over jeans.
What are the shipping costs?
There are none. Wattle & Reed offer free shipping on all orders, without exception.
What happens if I change my mind?
Thirty-day money-back guarantee, so you can return your order. You will get a tracking code by email when it is dispatched.
30-day money-back guarantee
Wear it, wash it, live in it for a full thirty days. If it is not right, send it back for a full refund. Shipping is free on every order.
Your two options
P.S. Julie has since ordered the beige. We have not discussed whether this is now a thing we do.
P.P.S. With thirty days to send it back, the only thing at risk is the trip to the post office — considerably less than four years of an ironing board in your bedroom.
About the writer. Trish is 54 and lives in Hobart with her husband Dave. The ironing board is under the bed.
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