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.

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.

It gives the shirt some body and keeps it looking crisp without making it starch stiff.

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.

Someone ought to make am Instructables on this.

-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 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.