How do I iron my shirts?
June 25, 2010 6:44 AM Subscribe
Question re ironing shirts.
This is probably fairly stupid, but I'm going to ask anyway.
Whenever I buy shirts from Zara, they look great (and I really like Zara) ... until I wash them. After the wash they come out wrinkled (of course), but no matter how much I iron them, they still stay wrinkled.
Have tried everything, various settings on my el cheapo iron bought from Walmart 2 years ago, moisture, steam, etc. and ironing each shirt for over 15 minutes.
So my options are:
- Buy a better quality iron - but it seems to iron all my other shirts (CK etc) just fine.
- Just send my shirts off for dry cleaning instead of laundering and ironing them myself.
- Fixing something I'm doing really wrong.
What do I do?!?
This is probably fairly stupid, but I'm going to ask anyway.
Whenever I buy shirts from Zara, they look great (and I really like Zara) ... until I wash them. After the wash they come out wrinkled (of course), but no matter how much I iron them, they still stay wrinkled.
Have tried everything, various settings on my el cheapo iron bought from Walmart 2 years ago, moisture, steam, etc. and ironing each shirt for over 15 minutes.
So my options are:
- Buy a better quality iron - but it seems to iron all my other shirts (CK etc) just fine.
- Just send my shirts off for dry cleaning instead of laundering and ironing them myself.
- Fixing something I'm doing really wrong.
What do I do?!?
I find that if I take a shirt out of the washer and iron it immediately with a dry iron, it tends to stay much crisper without having to bother with spray starch. Now and then, I will starch and iron them, but it tends to last a few washings if I keep with the iron while still slightly wet plan. Note, I really do mean just out of the washer, not the dryer. The dry iron cooks the remaining moisture out. Also, fabric softener is actively working against crisp shirts...
posted by advicepig at 6:52 AM on June 25, 2010
posted by advicepig at 6:52 AM on June 25, 2010
What is the fabric composition of those Zara shirts? I have found shirts that are some kind of cotton blend to be harder to iron than 100% cotton shirts.
When ironing shirts, I make sure they are slightly damp, either by ironing a shirt just out of the washer, or spraying the shirt with water before applying the iron. Depending on the fabric composition, I will also use a damp pressing cloth, so I can use higher heat without worrying as much about damaging the fabric.
If all else fails, I'll use a clothes steamer - if you look around you'll notice many clothing stores have one of these tucked away in a corner. It's a bit spendier and bulkier solution than an iron, though.
posted by needled at 7:01 AM on June 25, 2010
When ironing shirts, I make sure they are slightly damp, either by ironing a shirt just out of the washer, or spraying the shirt with water before applying the iron. Depending on the fabric composition, I will also use a damp pressing cloth, so I can use higher heat without worrying as much about damaging the fabric.
If all else fails, I'll use a clothes steamer - if you look around you'll notice many clothing stores have one of these tucked away in a corner. It's a bit spendier and bulkier solution than an iron, though.
posted by needled at 7:01 AM on June 25, 2010
Seconding the water spray. I use an old Windex bottle filled with water and spray every shirt as I iron. It really makes a difference. I have a nice new iron with steam and still use the spray water bottle.
posted by raisingsand at 7:04 AM on June 25, 2010
posted by raisingsand at 7:04 AM on June 25, 2010
Browsing the Zara men's shirts catalog, many of them are 100% cotton and from the looks of it many of those are linen. Linen wrinkles easily, like I'm pretty sure those shirts on those frozen models wrinkled a little more just from me looking at them, that's how easy linen wrinkles. (I noticed that even the modeled clothes were wrinkly.) Anyway, if they're linen shirts you're wearing I don't recommend starching them. The whole point of linen is that it's soft and flowy and comfortable, not sharp and crisp and starchy. What I do with my linen shirt thing is spray it down real good with some wrinkle releaser, shake it out, hang it up on the shower curtain bar while I shower, and then do my best to ignore all the wrinkles that appear when I put it on. Ironing is a waste of time and too frustrating for linen.
posted by carsonb at 7:14 AM on June 25, 2010
posted by carsonb at 7:14 AM on June 25, 2010
- Just send my shirts off for dry cleaning instead of laundering and ironing them myself.
That option. Ironing is a pain in the ass.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 7:22 AM on June 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
That option. Ironing is a pain in the ass.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 7:22 AM on June 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
Yeah, send them off. The extra expense is worth it. Espescially considering how poor I am at ironing. I also have a steamer so I can wear a shirt a couple of times between taking it in. Freshens it up some.
posted by corpse at 7:29 AM on June 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by corpse at 7:29 AM on June 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
If they are linen, you will just frustrate the hell out of yourself trying to iron them. Set the dryer to low heat & take them out & hang them immediately.
If they are not linen (and few dress shirts are linen, b/c it is supposed to look casually chic) and they are 100% cotton or cotton blend, then my advice is to take them to your cleaner & have them laundered--do not ask them to dry clean a dress shirt. Not that they would, they know better. Anyway, unless you derive some esoteric pleasure from ironing your own shirts, I believe that the most economical solution is to have them laundered. It should cost about $2/shirt, and if you earn enough on your job to wear dress shirts, your time & energy should be better spent on other pursuits.
Your choice on hung or folded: folded usually costs just a tad more, but they pack more neatly. Heavy starch will give you the most crisp look, but the starch and stiffness in the collar can irritate. I always chose light starch, except when I would travel to more humid locations, then medium.
Imo, you can't do it better or cheaper than the professionals.
posted by beelzbubba at 7:36 AM on June 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
If they are not linen (and few dress shirts are linen, b/c it is supposed to look casually chic) and they are 100% cotton or cotton blend, then my advice is to take them to your cleaner & have them laundered--do not ask them to dry clean a dress shirt. Not that they would, they know better. Anyway, unless you derive some esoteric pleasure from ironing your own shirts, I believe that the most economical solution is to have them laundered. It should cost about $2/shirt, and if you earn enough on your job to wear dress shirts, your time & energy should be better spent on other pursuits.
Your choice on hung or folded: folded usually costs just a tad more, but they pack more neatly. Heavy starch will give you the most crisp look, but the starch and stiffness in the collar can irritate. I always chose light starch, except when I would travel to more humid locations, then medium.
Imo, you can't do it better or cheaper than the professionals.
posted by beelzbubba at 7:36 AM on June 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
It depends what the shirts are made of. If they are 100% cotton or 100% linen, or some blend of those two, you should be able to get a sharp, perfectly crisp iron on them.
Here's what you should do:
- Wash however you like. Lukewarm water is better.
- Dry for five-ten minutes in a permanent press setting dryer. This will knock 75% of the wrinkles out of natural-fiber shirts.
- While they are still warm, either hang them up to dry completely, patting and tugging them into shape (85% wrinkle free) or iron them right away (100% wrinkle free) with the hottest setting on your iron. Ironing while still damp lets the shirt make its own steam from the water trapped inside the fibers, letting the steam completely suffuse and relax the fabric.
- If you've let the shirts get completely dry, spray with water as you iron, again with the hottest possible iron.
Wrinkles in cotton and linen are really about those cellulose fibers having very little elasticity and "memory" - wearing, heat, water, and agitation all break down the existing polymer bonds within the fibers, letting the fibers shift around. New bonds form between the now-disarrayed fibers, and voila - wrinkle. Ironing is the same process, controlled - you're using heat and water to break down the wrinkled bonds and re-setting them the way you want as the fabric cools (cellulose fibers are held together with hydrogen bonds, which is why water wrinkles them so easily and why steam is so important to getting wrinkles out). You can buy cotton and linen shirts treated to be wrinkle-free, where the hydrogen bonds have been chemically replaced with non-hydrogen bonds, but you can definitely have wrinkle-free shirts with untreated fibers if you do it right.
posted by peachfuzz at 7:39 AM on June 25, 2010 [7 favorites]
Here's what you should do:
- Wash however you like. Lukewarm water is better.
- Dry for five-ten minutes in a permanent press setting dryer. This will knock 75% of the wrinkles out of natural-fiber shirts.
- While they are still warm, either hang them up to dry completely, patting and tugging them into shape (85% wrinkle free) or iron them right away (100% wrinkle free) with the hottest setting on your iron. Ironing while still damp lets the shirt make its own steam from the water trapped inside the fibers, letting the steam completely suffuse and relax the fabric.
- If you've let the shirts get completely dry, spray with water as you iron, again with the hottest possible iron.
Wrinkles in cotton and linen are really about those cellulose fibers having very little elasticity and "memory" - wearing, heat, water, and agitation all break down the existing polymer bonds within the fibers, letting the fibers shift around. New bonds form between the now-disarrayed fibers, and voila - wrinkle. Ironing is the same process, controlled - you're using heat and water to break down the wrinkled bonds and re-setting them the way you want as the fabric cools (cellulose fibers are held together with hydrogen bonds, which is why water wrinkles them so easily and why steam is so important to getting wrinkles out). You can buy cotton and linen shirts treated to be wrinkle-free, where the hydrogen bonds have been chemically replaced with non-hydrogen bonds, but you can definitely have wrinkle-free shirts with untreated fibers if you do it right.
posted by peachfuzz at 7:39 AM on June 25, 2010 [7 favorites]
Consider that it could be something in the quality of the fabric that you will never be able to overcome. I have a set of napkins like this. I don't know what they are made of, but they started off neat and flat, and one wash cycle wrinkled them irreparably. Nothing-and I do mean nothing-will flatten them out again.
Have tried: ironing dry, ironing with spray water, steam starch, liquid starch, and evening ironing straight out of the washer. I can get the folds and creases out, but the fabric will not press out nice and crisp. I just use them wrinkly now.
posted by SLC Mom at 7:50 AM on June 25, 2010
Have tried: ironing dry, ironing with spray water, steam starch, liquid starch, and evening ironing straight out of the washer. I can get the folds and creases out, but the fabric will not press out nice and crisp. I just use them wrinkly now.
posted by SLC Mom at 7:50 AM on June 25, 2010
I vote with peachfuzz above. Dress shirts, I believe, are why there is a "Less Dry" setting on my dryer. Take them out while damp and iron them that way for best results.
I'm not organized enough to wash all of my dress shirts together just before I have time to iron, so I can also use the "just get them wet and spin them" setting on my washer when I am finally ready to iron.
Recommend getting the encyclopedic Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson. Imagine Harold McGee and Alton Brown (minus the silly humor, sadly), but for all the domestic arts and not just cooking. It has a comprehensive discussion of fabrics and ironing.
Let me put in a plug for taking time to iron. There's something quite peaceful and contemplative about taking time to iron a dress shirt. There's a bit of ritual, work for the mind and for the hands, focused attention, yet time to think or just be. And there are visible results to see, the rough ways made plain, an icon of renewal and redemption. It is is one of my favorite ways of "everyday contemplation." Harder to get that from a trip to the cleaners, though it is a lot less convenient.
posted by cross_impact at 8:05 AM on June 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
I'm not organized enough to wash all of my dress shirts together just before I have time to iron, so I can also use the "just get them wet and spin them" setting on my washer when I am finally ready to iron.
Recommend getting the encyclopedic Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson. Imagine Harold McGee and Alton Brown (minus the silly humor, sadly), but for all the domestic arts and not just cooking. It has a comprehensive discussion of fabrics and ironing.
Let me put in a plug for taking time to iron. There's something quite peaceful and contemplative about taking time to iron a dress shirt. There's a bit of ritual, work for the mind and for the hands, focused attention, yet time to think or just be. And there are visible results to see, the rough ways made plain, an icon of renewal and redemption. It is is one of my favorite ways of "everyday contemplation." Harder to get that from a trip to the cleaners, though it is a lot less convenient.
posted by cross_impact at 8:05 AM on June 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
As already mentioned, ironing when slightly damp is the best, maybe halfway through the dry cycle. You can also try a spray bottle with a fine mist spray, if your iron doesn't have one.
Also helpful, don't crowd your dryer. Do a small load of just a few dress shirts on low heat.
If your iron is getting hot, and is flat, that's honestly all you need. My grandmother, while marveling at all the advances of technology she'd seen in her lifetime used ironing as an example. When she was very young she and her sisters would help their mother, and they would have a large bowl of water sitting on the board. They'd dip their fingers in the water and sprinkle it onto the cloth. When she was 7 or 8, a great new invention started making the rounds. It was a cork with holes in it. You'd fill up a soda bottle with water and shake drops out onto the clothing. She laughed at how they all thought, that, a cork with holes, was so smart. Later came spray bottles, then irons with spray bottles and steam built in. My grandmother remarked that it must have been years since she needed to iron anything. Why? The best invention in ironing was wrinkle free clothing.
posted by fontophilic at 8:24 AM on June 25, 2010
Also helpful, don't crowd your dryer. Do a small load of just a few dress shirts on low heat.
If your iron is getting hot, and is flat, that's honestly all you need. My grandmother, while marveling at all the advances of technology she'd seen in her lifetime used ironing as an example. When she was very young she and her sisters would help their mother, and they would have a large bowl of water sitting on the board. They'd dip their fingers in the water and sprinkle it onto the cloth. When she was 7 or 8, a great new invention started making the rounds. It was a cork with holes in it. You'd fill up a soda bottle with water and shake drops out onto the clothing. She laughed at how they all thought, that, a cork with holes, was so smart. Later came spray bottles, then irons with spray bottles and steam built in. My grandmother remarked that it must have been years since she needed to iron anything. Why? The best invention in ironing was wrinkle free clothing.
posted by fontophilic at 8:24 AM on June 25, 2010
Is it possible you're shrinking the shirts when you wash them? That may make it impossible to get them to ever quite look right again.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:16 AM on June 25, 2010
posted by jacquilynne at 9:16 AM on June 25, 2010
Let me just say, first, I hate to iron. Haaate it. Learned to do it like a pro when I was ironing uniforms, have not done it since. One thing I do to avoid or minimize the need to iron dress shirts is to air dry them. Don't crowd the washer - maybe try some fabric softener if that's your thing; I don't use it. Take them out of the washer right away - you may want to let them tumble dry on low a minute or two while you take the rest of the clothes out, and then hang them on a hanger, button the buttons, and then give them several really good hard shakes, and then let them air dry. It's also less wear and tear on the shirts that way.
When it's time to iron, use a spray bottle, steam in the iron, and use a pretty good steady pressure. I found having a nonstick surface on the iron a huge help.
posted by lemniskate at 9:44 AM on June 25, 2010
When it's time to iron, use a spray bottle, steam in the iron, and use a pretty good steady pressure. I found having a nonstick surface on the iron a huge help.
posted by lemniskate at 9:44 AM on June 25, 2010
If you're putting them in the dryer, shake them thoroughly after taking them out of the washing machine. That will get some of the creases out.
posted by vickyverky at 12:14 PM on June 25, 2010
posted by vickyverky at 12:14 PM on June 25, 2010
I have the best results when I dry things 'manually', hanging on a clothes hanger. It lets the creases drop out, whereas the dryer will set those creases.
posted by ellieBOA at 1:06 PM on June 25, 2010
posted by ellieBOA at 1:06 PM on June 25, 2010
nthing ironing them when they are wet.
I actually take them right out of the washer and iron them right away.
they're still a bit damp when I'm through, so wearing them isn't really an option, but most of the creases disappear
posted by bitteroldman at 8:51 PM on June 25, 2010
I actually take them right out of the washer and iron them right away.
they're still a bit damp when I'm through, so wearing them isn't really an option, but most of the creases disappear
posted by bitteroldman at 8:51 PM on June 25, 2010
Don't even put them in the drier. We mostly don't have driers here in Europe, and I hate them anyway. Let your washing machine start the final spin cycle, just a few seconds to throw off the worst, then interrupt and take your shirts out and let the rest of the load complete the spin. Hang the shirts on plastic hangers (so they don't get rust stains on the yoke), fasten only the top (collar) button, and shake them thoroughly to de-wrinkle. Hang out to dry (in the US I imagine you'll have to do this in the shower). They'll be almost ready to wear after that, and will need only a bare minimum of ironing to come out perfect.
I did this successfully all my professional life, originally because I hate ironing and wanted a lazy man's solution. Now that I'm retired, one of the great benefits is never having to iron any more: I can wear T-shirts (grins).
posted by aqsakal at 3:19 AM on June 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
I did this successfully all my professional life, originally because I hate ironing and wanted a lazy man's solution. Now that I'm retired, one of the great benefits is never having to iron any more: I can wear T-shirts (grins).
posted by aqsakal at 3:19 AM on June 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 6:50 AM on June 25, 2010