How to Iron
Wrinkled clothes make you look disheveled and unprofessional. Get 5 tips on how to iron from the Domestic CEO.
As you can probably imagine, I loved Home Economics classes when I was in school. Learning /house-home/entertaining/how-to-set-a-table, sew a button, and /house-home/housekeeping/easy-family-dinner-recipe-crock-pot-chicken-with-black-beans was heaven for me. But of all the lessons I learned in Home Ec class, my absolute favorite was ironing. I remember learning the basics in school, then going home and pulling out all my dad’s handkerchiefs to iron them flat. There was just something therapeutic about making all the wrinkles disappear and I fell in love with the “chore.”
I recently got an email from a https://domesticceo.quickanddirtytips.com/ and https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/domestic-ceos-quick-dirty/id509206928 named Amy. She asks:
“Can you please provide some tips for ironing? My ironing seems to take far longer than it should, and my clothes end up getting wrinkled shortly after.”
Well, if you are like Amy, and are confused about ironing, today’s episode is for you. I’ll be giving some basics on how to iron, and in the coming weeks I’ll be posting updates on how to iron specific types of clothing, like dress shirts and dress pants, as well as more advanced ironing techniques for tough to iron styles like pleats, layers, and pockets.
Today, we are going to start with 5 basic tips for successful ironing:
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Tip #1: Check Your Fabric
Before attempting to iron anything, you want to make sure that it is safe to iron. Some fabrics will literally melt or burn if you touch a hot iron to them, so do your due diligence and check the tags. If you see a little symbol that looks like an iron with an X through it, or if it says “Do not iron” on the tag, don’t even try putting a hot iron to the fabric. These tend to be clothes made of silk, angora, chenille, and other super smooth or super furry materials.
To get wrinkles out of clothes that can’t be ironed, try steaming them. You can also use a water bottle to simply spritz the item with a mist of water, then stretch and rub the wrinkles out. This won’t give the item a crisp look, so if you need the items to look pressed and pristine, take them to a dry cleaner.
Tip #2: Avoid Non-Fabrics
The next thing you should know when learning how to iron is that you need to avoid anything that is not a fabric. This includes buttons (which can break because of the heat and force of the iron), screen printing (which will melt and smear all over the rest of the clothing), sequins (which can melt or deform), and metal (which will burn the dickens out of your hand if you accidently touch it after the iron has passed over it).
You can maneuver the iron around the buttons and metal snaps using the pointy end of the iron, but those other materials may be harder to avoid. If you have a shirt that is completely covered in screen printing or sequins, it’s hard to avoid it all. In this case, you can turn the shirt inside out, or you can cover it with a thin piece of fabric (a thin dish cloth works well) and iron on top of that to avoid melting the rubbery print. If the printing or sequins are only on the front, you can leave the shirt right side out, but lay the patterned side down on the ironing board and iron it from the back only. That way, there are 2 layers of fabric between the hot iron and the delicate plastic.
Tip #3: Getting Started
As you begin with your pile of clothes to be ironed, start with the ones that require a lower temperature. If you do them first, you can ensure that the iron is set to the right temperature from the beginning. If you do them last, you won’t really know how long you need to wait for the iron to cool off enough to be at the right temperature. As you go along, you can continue to increase the iron’s temperature until you get to your sturdy cotton clothes.
Some materials are recommended to be ironed inside out. Corduroy, for example, may get a shine to it if you iron on the furry side. I personally don’t iron many items inside out (I feel like it takes too much time to flip them inside out, then back right side out again), but I also live in the Arizona desert and don’t wear a lot of corduroy or velour. If you want to test whether or not a material can handle direct heat, test an inconspicuous area first before going over the entire thing with your iron and potentially ruining the clothes.
Tip #4: Ironing Technique
Over the last few years, I’ve had the opportunity to iron several times a week for my https://moxie-girl.com/ clients (since I love to iron, I really enjoy those days!). With hundreds of ironing sessions worth of experience, I’ve figured out some techniques that help improve efficiency and quality.
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Step #1: Smooth everything out with your hands before applying the iron. This will allow you to quickly move the iron over the item without having to continuously move the item around.
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Step #2: Move the iron in straight lines. It may be tempting to wiggle the iron around in a fancy motion, but you are exponentially increasing your risk of ironing a wrinkle into the clothes when you do that. Just put the iron on one end of the item, and pull it toward the other end. Then, move a couple of inches to the side and do it again. Any potential wrinkles will get pushed to the end of the fabric, and eventually off the item.
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Step #3: As often as you can, only iron one side of an item. For example, let’s say you are ironing a pair of pants. If you lay one leg out flat, smooth it with your hands, and then move the iron from the crotch to the foot of the pants, there’s a good chance that you just removed wrinkles from both the front and the back of the pants. Don’t iron the back of the pants if they don’t have wrinkles. If you find yourself having to flip the pants over, and over, and over again, you probably aren’t smoothing them out enough before you iron. Take an extra few seconds before the iron touches the fabric, and you’ll save yourself minutes on each item.
Tip #5: Start Simple and Practice, Practice, Practice
If you are just learning how to iron, start with very simple items first. Typically plain cotton t-shirts and jeans are a great place to start. Even if these are items that you normally wouldn’t consider ironing, you can practice on them because they are such simple structures. Stay away from things like cargo pants, and pleated skirts for now. Those types of clothes are not for the faint of heart and take much more patience to tackle. Practice on the simpler items first, and work your way up from there.
So those are the 5 beginner’s tips on how to iron. You may be wondering about Amy’s second question about her clothes getting wrinkled soon after she irons them. This likely has little to do with the actual ironing of the clothes, and more about what fabric they are, how they are being worn, or how they are being stored. Some fabrics are very easily wrinkled, so when you sit with your back against the seat on your 30-minute commute, they will end up wrinkled no matter how much time you spend ironing them.
Or, if your closet is packed and your clothes are crammed, they aren’t able to hang straight and will therefore get wrinkled. In my episode, /house-home/organization/6-rules-for-an-organized-home, I talk about this in more detail, so make sure to check that out. If your closet is stuffed to the brim and your clothes look like they’ve been chewed, I recommend checking out my episode on /house-home/organization/how-to-organize-your-closet for tips and tricks on making the most of your storage space.
When you have the space to hang your freshly ironed clothes right away, it will help keep them looking great until you put them on. Then, by taking small steps like smoothing your skirt before you sit down or pulling your shirt smooth before you lean back, you will help prevent the wrinkles that you create during your day.
Remember to keep an eye out on my https://www.facebook.com/domesticceowall and twitter feed where I’ll be posting pictures and blogs with specific techniques on how to iron any item in your closet. You can find me on twitter https://www.twitter.com/thedomesticceo.
Until next time, I’m the https://domesticceo.quickanddirtytips.com/, helping you love your home.