I’m not terribly experienced with this, but a couple of wardrobe additions have turned it into a necessity. A couple of weeks ago, I went out and bought an honest-to-Og free-standing ironing board.
Collar first? Arms last? What about the pocket? Iron dark shirts inside in or inside out?
Why is the ironing board shaped as it is?
Good ironing actually takes a good deal of practice so don’t expect great results right away. It may also take a very long time (like 20+ minutes) for each article when you begin. I got quite good at it in ROTC and can still iron quite well in several different styles.
I prefer ironing the arms first although many people don’t think that is the best way. My style is:
Right arm
Left arm
Right Front
Left Front
Back
Upper back
Collar
Light starch helps but go very lightly until you know what you are doing. It will tend to flake on certain fabrics. Use the steam function on your iron. It makes things much easier. The board is shaped that way because it will form fit shirts and pants when you do some parts of the clothing.
If you can, remove the shirt from the dryer while it’s just less than bone-dry.
I prefer to start with one front panel, then the back, then the other front side, using the wide end of the board. Then I do the collar (actually, the back of the collar, I then just fold it down because that’s all it needs), then the sleeves, making sure the cuffs aren’t buttoned – you don’t want a crease in your cuffs.
The narrow part can be handy for pants, so you can iron one side without ironing a crease into the other side.
Don’t bother with starch unless you’ve got a very light cotton shirt that won’t hold its shape on the hanger.
I iron my shirts immediately before use. I use this new kind of spray starch that I get at Target, which comes in a blue can. It never clogs and doesn’t flake. I use a quick spritz on each section of the shirt.
I use the larger, square end of the board. Iron set to cotton plus steam. First I do the collar (up), then the front left, back, front right, arms, and lastly cuffs. I think it takes about 5 minutes for me to do a shirt. I’ve never heard of ironing a shirt inside out.
The reason I ask is that sometimes dark fabrics will turn a bit shiny when ironed.
My method:
Iron collar first (both sides) flat, and then folded over to get a good crease. Use starch if you’d like.
Iron each arm and cuff, with the seam at one edge and a nice crease forming on the other edge.
Iron back, in vertical sections of course. This fits around the square end of the board.
Iron each side of the front, again with each shoulder around the requisite side of the square end of the board.
Lay it on its back as if it were closed and iron the shoulders and yoke area.
Really? I thought that that was what the horn area of the board was for.
That’s pretty much my method too. I never use starch. I iron every day because I find it less onerous to just do the day’s clothing than a big marathon ironing session. Once you do it a few times, it’s easy and it’s so nice to have a freshly pressed shirt/skirt/pair of pants to wear.
[ol]
[li]Crumple shirt in a ball[/li][li]Put it in a bag with other shirts[/li][li]Take the bag to the cleaners[/li][li]Tell them “light starch, on hangers”[/li][li]Come back three days later to pick them up[/li][/ol]
The place down the street from my house does shirts for $1.50 each. It’s well worth $7.50 to me to save the hour it would take to iron a week’s worth. Hell, I’m actually quite good at it - better than both my wife and my mother, even - and I still never do it.
Plus, when I’m going out of town, they’ll box them up for me at no extra charge.
That might be another way of doing it. Do they clean them as well as press them? Will they press them if they’re already clean?
If I got this route (which has enormous appeal to me), I’ll need to find some place close to home that’s open after hours. The thought of taking a load of shirts on the trolley a couple times a week does not appeal.
I iron inside out along the buttoned area. Much easier than trying to work around them.
Downey wrinkle releaser actually works as well.
They launder (NOT “dry clean”) and press em. I don’t do pants that way - most of the time, I wear some variation of wrinkle-free khakis, which do fine if hung up slightly damp.
I’ve found I normally get the best deals at single-location mom n’ pop shops. There are a couple of local chains that charge upwards of $3.00/shirt, which I guess is how they pay for their “free” delivery services.
The downside to the family places is that they all seem to close before 6:00, though most of them are open at least a few hours on Saturday. YMMV.
I mist each portion lightly before I iron it, and I do it in this order:
I learned to iron shirts at the age of six–my dad worked for IBM back in the day so there was no shortage of white buttondowns to iron every week! Mist the whole thing, then:
Collar, both sides. Iron flat, don’t iron a fold into it because it won’t look right. If you must, just iron a fold into the back of the neck, but don’t continue all the way to the collar points.
Start with the front of the shirt by bringing it up on the side you’re standing on, iron that front panel, then just move the shirt across the ironing board away from you, ironing each panel in turn. Iron between each button and run the very edge of the iron all the way up the button placket edge to make sure it’s all nice and flat.
Sleeves. Grab them at the point of the shoulder and the cuff, lay them flat and iron from the underarm side first. Then flip and iron the top of the arm side. Then iron the cuff.
Yoke, if there is one.
Once you get the hang of it you can iron a shirt in about a minute flat.
I checked it out last night. $1.75 per shirt, right in my neighborhood. They’re open until 8 or 9 every night, except maybe on Mondays and Tuesdays. I’m not sure what’s up on those days. Her English was pretty bad, and we had some serious communications problems.
I’m too cheap to have someone else do my shirts. I just iron while I’m watching TV.
Pretty much my exact method.
One product I like is “sizing spray” it’s like a very light starch. Good for getting out wrinkles in difficult material and giving a semi-crisp look without the flaking that you can get on starch if you’re not carefull.
And if you do use starch, remember to lightly spray, then wait for the starch to soak into the fabric for a moment. If you don’t, you’ll get a lot more flakes.
Extra benefit: For some reason, when I have my dress shirts dry-cleaned, I never get pit stains (yellowing)!
And yes, I wear a t-shirt, but something wicked still comes that way.
-Cem
Keep it simple and do it at home. Don’t go to extremes. Also, do not iron clothes while they are on your body.
I agree with the sizing. It is a light enough starch to hold things in place without making you feel like you are wearing cardboard. Make sure there is plenty of water in the iron and that the temp is set right. For all cotton, I always found that the more steam I had, the better.
I also prefer to iron the buttons inside out. I always go:
I started ironing when I joined the Army.
Former Mormon missionary checking in here. I can iron a shirt in half the time my wife does. Now I do it even faster, by using the laundry service down the street.
I always go from the small areas first to the big areas last. This is because God (well, my Mom) taught me this.
I assume that people who do it differently will go to some sort of hell, where they will be forced to iron frilly skirts for an eternity.
Most dark shirts do not get shiny if you iron them. If they do, you’re too old to be wearing them anyway.