Ask Dethroner: How Do I Iron a Shirt?
Published by Joel October 26th, 2006 in Ask Dethroner, Clothes. Share ThisClay writes:
My question is: how does one properly iron a dress shirt? I don’t feel like sending them to the drycleaners when I have all the equipment and a functioning pair of hands. I can work on a car, surely I can make my shirts pristine and wrinkle free.Ironing isn’t hard in theory. I can manage in a slow oafish-tortoise manner. But surely the collective wisdom of Dethroner.com can come up with solid guidelines that a guy can use to fit ironing into his life.
Easiest thing in the world, Clay. I find ironing to be a peaceful time to reflect on all the awkward conversations I will be having in the shirt I am pressing; it’s really not that big of a hassle once you get it figured out. Once you’ve gotten the basic technique down you’ll start getting faster, unafraid to knock a shirt flat in 60 seconds or less.
• You’re going to need water - Whether that comes from a steam iron, a shirt that’s slightly damp, or a spray bottle filled with water, your iron works best when it has something to turn to steam. Besides making the whole thing easier, the water will help you from scorching your shirts. (That said, I’ve never scorched a shirt in my life; Don’t ever stop moving the iron and you’ll be fine.)
• And an ironing board - Ironing on a bed or arm of your couch just doesn’t work. Spend the five bucks and get a proper board.
• Iron until there aren’t any wrinkles - Seriously. That’s the long and the short of it. If you need specifics, hit the jump, but there’s not a major trick to it.
That said, here’s how I do it:
- Place the shirt on the board with the back up and the collar around the pointy part.
- Starting at the shoulders, work down until the back is wrinkle-free.
- Flip shirt and do one front half, then the other, avoiding any buttons.
- Grab the sleeves where they meet the shoulder, fold a crease down the top and bottom to the cuff. Iron both sides. (You can ignore the part on the sleeve near the cuff where it gets tricky.)
- Open cuffs and lay flat on the board; Iron with light spray starch if you have it.
- Open collar and iron it up with light starch, using the pointy part of the board to get the correct angle of attack.
- Hang up with collar still upright until you’re ready to wear.
Now if you’re in a hurry, just get the front two sections and the back, skipping the collars, cuffs, and sleeves entirely. In a super-fast hurry? Just do the front.
Don’t have an iron or a board? If you’ve got time, put your shirt in the bathroom with you as you shower, then hang it in the closet right after you get out. The steam will get out some of the wrinkles, but not all of them. Get an iron, you big slob!
I bought a garment steamer not that long ago, and it kind of sucked. I can’t figure out how to get good results with it. A coworker of mine has one, and says it just erases wrinkles like magic. Either my steamer sucks or my technique sucks.
I do it the exact same way.
About the cuffs part, I think the side which you iron is important.
This works especially well for french cuffs…
I open the cuff flat, but with the ends (cuffs) side up. If you spray and iron a little quickly the cuff will curl a little making it fit pretty nicely to your wrist.
Turn it inside out. You won’t break buttons this way, and if your iron is dirty you won’t mess up the shirt. For the fast version don’t turn the sleeves inside out just do the sides/back from the inside.
I’ve always thought that one should:
-Start with the collar and yoke
-Hit both sides of the sleeves and the outside of the cuffs
-Finish by starting on one side of the front and then working around the back, finishing on the opposite side.
A good iron helps a lot, too. Irons are a good example of “get what you pay for.” Spend the extra money (if you can) and get a nice $100 model. Rowenta brand has always been good to me. I’ve tried the cheaper ones when I was in a pinch and all they did was spit water all over my shirts instead of nicely steaming them.
This is great, I have tons of trouble with shirts.
Someone ought to make am Instructables on this.
It is also important to only iron half of the collar at a time (i.e., start from the point on each side and press to the middle). If you don’t you will sometimes wind up with excess material on the other side of the collar (after pressing from point to the other) and it will look terrible.
I second Tiiim that a godd iron is important and it will actually save you money and shirts (from the spitting of rrusty water) in the long run.
Two words - Magic Sizing
It gives the shirt some body and keeps it looking crisp without making it starch stiff.
I have to disagree with the premise. If you shop around, you should be able to get your shirts done for less than two bucks a piece. They will do it better than you ever can because they have shirt presses. Plus, they have to pay you if they scorch your shirt; a reputable one will have a no-questions-asked re-do guarantee. If they mangle a collar, they’ll re-do it.
If you have a job that requires you to wear a collared shirt (with or without tie), you can afford $10 a week — that’s three lattes, for the love of pete. If you don’t have such a job, and you only need the look once in a while, your life will be enormously simpler if you have a crisp shirt at the ready at all times. 30 minutes before your big date is not the right time to be firing up your Mom’s hand-me-down Westinghouse iron.
If you wear dry-clean-only clothes with any regularity, a steamer is an absolute necessity for slacks and other things that pick up creases but don’t need the abuse or expense of dry cleaning. That’s a money saver. Buy one of those and throw out your iron.
For what it is worth, the instructions on shirt ironing are largely correct. But even if you’re a ninja with a $200 German iron, you’ll still look like a guy who does his own shirts.
While I hold your advice to me on layering up for the Toronto winter with the highest esteem, this post is wrong. In fact, Tiim and the point directly above me are the only ones to get it right. If you want to know the art of ironing, then read on. Otherwise, go to the cleaners.
Not all fabrics want water, but the dapper young man does not own microfibre and the only silk that they have is to be found in their ties, pyjamas or in the lining of their clothing. Water should be used on cotton and can be used on cotton/poly blends. Don’t waste your time with water on a shirt with more than 35% poly - the creases fall out easily especially with a little steam, but why the hell are you wearing it?
If the shirt is cotton, then a damp shirt is easy to iron. Make sure that you have plenty of steam. If you don’t then a squirt of water from an atomiser or from the iron itself can save the day.
If you are ironing anything delicate like wool, use a cotton or linen cloth between the garment and the iron. You can have the iron a little hotter and still use some steam, but be careful. If you don’t use the cloth, then you will mark the fabric.
Order is also important and the correct order for a shirt is:
Collar, yoke, cuffs, sleeves, right hand front (the side with the buttons on it), back, left side front. Examine for creases and touch up as required.
Ironing boards are also important. Don’t buy one with only a thin foam or a loose cover. Also avoid ones with a mesh frame - heavy mesh might be ok, but you want as solid as possible, no flex is allowed. You can get cheap ones with a solid(ish) plate with holes drilled in the frame - they work ok. If you are handy, make one from wood. If you have a few suits that you wear regularly, make a table-top board for your jackets.
If you are going to do any amount of ironing on a regular basis, get a bigger, heavier one. One that shoots steam out of the front and the bottom is ideal as it allows you to use it as a steamer.
Having said all of that, get your shirts laundered. From a practical point of view, you’ll never get the shirts looking as nice unless you starch them up and there is a certain something about having your whole wardrobe ready to go at a seconds notice.
Finally, not all ninjas with $200 irons look like they iron their shirts, but most do! But once you have the hang of it, you can get similar results with all but the cheapest irons. It will take a little longer with the cheaper ones, but that might be ok.
Nearly forgot: In a pinch, and definately not for a dinner with the CEO, but you can cheat ironing. If you have two large, flat and smooth boards and a vehicle handy, then simply place the garments very neatly on one board, place the other on top. Park car on boards. Leave overnight. Works (best) in warm climates and not too well with collared shirts. Excellent for jeans and t’s.
Also, see if your girlfriend / wife has a hair straigthener and see if its heat is adjustable. I my girl’s to sharpen my collars and occasionally sharpen creases in the trouser. Use a cloth and spray the garment with a small amount of water!
I’ve had no luck with the under the mattress trick, but it might be worth a try.
Try presing your garment with brown paper. it worked for me
beats paying for dry cleanimg bill.