If you have any experience ironing dress shirts at all, you know that it can be a little time consuming.  Dress shirts are not the easiest of garments to iron, so you want your shirts to look as nice on the hanger as they do fresh off of the ironing board.

If you want your dress shirts to stay nice and wrinkle-free in the closet, follow these simple steps.

Hang Up the Shirt Immediately After Ironing

While hanging up the shirt directly after ironing may seem obvious, it is not to some.  Trust me. I can’t tell you the people I know that iron a shirt and then lay it across the bed or hang it on a doorknob.

If you do that, you’re just asking for it to get knocked off of the doorknob.  You’re begging the dog to pull it from the bed to the floor.

Save yourself the heartache and hang the shirt immediately.  It’s difficult enough just to iron it once.  Don’t make yourself actually iron the same shirt twice.

Fasten every other button when hanging dress shirts

Hang your Dress Shirt on Any Coat Hanger that is Not Wire

The next step is to put your freshly ironed dress shirt on the hanger.  Use any hanger you like: wooden or heavy plastic.

Do not, however, use a wire hanger.  I realize that every dry cleaners in the country uses wire hangers, but they cause their own set of troubles.  It’s nice that wire hangers are so thin, since that causes them to take up less room in the closet.  But it’s this same thinness that makes points at the shoulders and causes the shirt to pucker.  If your dress shirt has any weight to it at all, a wire hanger will cause it to pucker around the yoke and shoulder in time.

Adjust the Yoke and Button the Collar

It’s best to hang your shirt while the hanger is actually hanging on the rod.  Don’t attempt to hang your shirt with the coat hanger in your mouth or tucked under your chin.  That method hurts your teeth and it’s hard to get the shirt on there correctly.

With the coat hanger hanging on the rod, drape your dress shirt across the hanger.  Adjust the yoke of the shirt (the back part through the shoulders) to make sure it is aligned correctly.  You don’t want one shoulder way in the front and one way in the back.  The shirt will wrinkle if you do this.

After the yoke is situated correctly, adjust the collar. Turn the collar down as it should be and make sure the collar buttons are fastened.

Now fasten the top collar button.  You’ll probably have to re-adjust the yoke again to make sure it hangs correctly.

Button Every Other Button

Now here is one of the most important steps if you don’t want your shirt to wrinkle in the closet: button every other button down the length of the shirt.

If you fasten just the top collar button, the shirt will not fall off of the hanger which is typically the goal.  However, if you want a wrinkle-free shirt (which should be your goal), you need to button every other button.  It keeps the shirt from shifting in the closet when you slide the hanger around on the rod.  Nobody likes a shifty shirt, so make sure you fasten every other one.

Place Coat Hangers 1-2 Inches Apart in Your Closet

The ideal spacing between coat hangers is 1-2 inches.  I know that this is not feasible for most of us.  While those huge walk-in closets with foot upon foot of hanging space is dreamy, that’s not what most of us have in our homes.

Most people tend to cram as many hangers in the closet as possible.  While this is efficient in keeping your clothes off of the floor, it tends to cause items to wrinkle.  They get pushed against one another, causing creases to form.  Not fun if you’ve just spent the past hour ironing your clothes for the week.

So do you have trouble with hanging your dress shirts?  Not enough closet space?  Too many clothes?  What’s your biggest dilemma with hanging shirts?

Ironing can be laborious if you don’t know how to do it properly.  Use the following guide when ironing your next dress shirt.  You’ll love your results.

Imagine the Shirt in Sections

When I iron a shirt, I do so in this sequence:

Collar—>Right sleeve—>Left Sleeve—>Left Side—>Back—>Right Side

Ironing is methodical.  I can promise you that your ironing skilz will improve if you iron a shirt in the same sequence every time.

Mama’s Ironing Method

So here’s my tried and true method for ironing a dress shirt that looks as if it was professionally pressed at the cleaners.

First, spray the shirt with starch if you are a starch fan. The use of spray starch deserves its own post, as there are a few do’s and don’ts for successful starch use.  More on spray starch very soon.

Iron the Collar

Always iron the collar first.  Always.  If you save it til last, you’ll wrinkle the shirt you’ve just spent time ironing.

If your shirt has buttons on the collar, button those prior to ironing.  If you don’t button them, the crease will be off and look weird.

Smooth the collar down first with your hands and determine where the crease needs to be.  Then with a piping hot iron, press the collar down.  Make sure to give it some steam so the crease will be nice and crisp.

Iron the Sleeves Next

Iron the sleeves next.  I always iron right sleeve and then left sleeve – you do whatever suits your fancy.

See the way this seam is lying flat?  You want to find that seam on your shirt and then lay the fabric flat against it.  Don’t iron half of the seam on the front side and then half of the seam on the back side.  It will cause the crease running down the arm to look uneven.

After finding the seam, smooth the material flat with your hands.  Determine where the crease will be and then press over it with your iron.

You’ll notice that things get tricky along the wrist area.  Determine exactly where you want the creases in the wrist to be (the fabric is naturally gathered to create a crease).  While holding one end of the cuff taut, use your iron in the other hand to press down the creases.

Now flip the sleeve over and iron the other side exactly as you did the front.

Iron the Right Side of the Body

Your next section to iron is the right side of the body.  Start at the top by the shoulder.  Drape the shoulder portion of the fabric over the edge of the board and iron just that section.  Then move the shirt around and iron the top button area.  This portion is the most awkward to maneuver in ironing a shirt.  The fabric doesn’t lie precisely flat and if you’re not careful, you’ll create even more wrinkles.  You’ll probably have to stretch and smooth the material flat several times while ironing this area.

Now drape your shirt over the board so you can iron the body portion and between the button holes.  Make sure you don’t run your piping hot iron over the buttons.  If they are delicate buttons you might melt them.  And you surely don’t want to scratch the plate of your iron.

Iron the Back of the Shirt

Now slide the shirt over and iron the back of the shirt.  You’ll probably have to do it in three sections. Iron one portion of the back, right up to the pleat.  Now slide the shirt over your board so you can focus on the pleat.  Smooth it down with your hands so the crease is as you’d like it.  Now iron over the pleat and give it some steam so it will be crisp.  Lastly, slide the shirt over the board and iron the last portion of the back of the shirt.

Iron the Left Side of the Body

Now, iron the left side of the body.  Use the same guidelines as when you ironed the right side of the body.  Start with the shoulder, move to the top buttons and then finish up the rest of the body side.

When you are ironing the button holes on this side, make sure you smooth the seaming down with your hands first.  While holding the bottom of the shirt taut, iron slowly up the button holes towards the top of the shirt.  Use a lot of steam so the material is nice and flat.

Hang Your Newly Pressed Dress Shirt on a Hanger

Lastly, hang your fabulously pressed shirt on a good quality hanger. Button the top button and every other button so the shirt will stay in good alignment while stored in your closet.

 
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Do you have specific questions on ironing dress shirts?  Leave your questions below.

A few months ago, I posted 2 quick tips for ironing the perfect pair of pants.   It was a wildly popular post, as far as ironing posts go.

So here are those ironing tips in action.  Make sure you implement them the next time you iron pants.  You’ll love your results.

(If you are reading via email or in a reader, you’ll have to click through to watch the embedded video.)

A reader on Mama’s FaceBook page recently asked this question:

Do you think it’s worth the investment to get a professional style steam press to do our ironing? What do you use?

This is an excellent question: Is a professional-grade iron with the money?  And my answer?

It depends.

If you are considering a professional steam iron for your home use, answer these questions to help you make the right decision.

Do you need your clothes to have a professional finish?

Professional finish:  a crisp, clean look to a pressed garment; seams are pressed well and pleats are crisp.

Many of you have jobs or attend events that require well-pressed clothes.  I’m not talking about a pair of khakis you would wear on the weekend.  Clothes that require a professional finish are men’s dress shirts or a woman’s blouse.

If you consistently wear clothes that require this type of finished look, then you’d benefit from a steam iron.  It’s practically impossible to obtain a professional finish with an iron from Wal-Mart or Target.  They simply do not have the capacity to provide this type of job.

A professional iron can distribute a large amount of steam, which is why they usually have a separate boiler.  Pleats are crisp and seams are well-pressed because of the large amount of steam a professional-grade iron can produce.

Do you iron clothes at least every other week?

It you consistently iron clothes every week or every other week, a professional steam iron would be hugely beneficial.

A steam iron makes pressing clothes tremendously easier.  The actual iron head isn’t nearly as heavy as a lower cost iron.  Because of that, the iron literally glides across the fabric.  As a result, you can iron more efficiently and get through your ironing stack faster.

As I previously stated, a professional iron has a separate boiler to hold the water it uses for steam.  That eliminates having to fill up the iron every 3 or 4 shirts.  I can iron an enormous stack of clothes and never re-fill the water reservoir.

Do you use your iron for crafts or sewing?

Most for-home-use irons have an automatic shut-off.  While this is great for not burning down the house, it can be a pain if you need the iron to stay on for several hours while you complete a sewing project.

It’s hard to find an iron that does not have the auto shut-off feature in Target.  However, a professional-grade iron rarely has this feature which makes it perfect for crafters and the sewing crowd.

Re-cap

In my case, I couldn’t get by without a nice, professional-grade steam iron.  I iron a lot of clothes (both for my family and for other clients).  And I want our clothes to have a professional finish to them.  If I’m going to go to the trouble to iron something, I want it to look dynamite when I’m finished!

Because I iron at least once every other week and because of the look I need our clothes to have, it only makes sense for us to own a professional steam iron.

However, you have to assess your own needs.  If you only occasionally need to iron a button-down shirt or the infrequent pair of dress pants, you can easily get by with a lower cost iron.

So I’m curious.  What kind of iron do you own?  Does it meet your needs or do you think you need to upgrade?

These 2 ironing tips take less than 1 minute and will totally change the look of your pants.

You’ve seen those people.  The ones that have beautifully pressed pants.  But then as they walk away, you notice the whole rear of their pants are wrinkly.

You don’t want to be the wrinkly-rear person.  Here’s how to not to be:

Tip #1 – Iron the Fly

Your first step in ironing pants should be to iron the piece of fabric behind the zipper.  You won’t believe how it changes the look of the pants from the front.

Simply run your (very hot) iron over the fabric until it is smoothed.

Tip #2 – Iron the Back Pockets

This should be your second step in ironing any pair of pants. 

Stick your hand in the back pocket of the pants to smooth out the pocket and ensure it’s not folded inside itself.

Find the back pocket on the inside of the pants and smooth it flat on your ironing board.

Now iron it with a hot iron with the same precision you’d iron the front of the pants.

These 2 quick steps will totally change the way your ironed pants look when worn.  They’ll go from looking just okay to looking fabulous.

Ironing seems to be a thing of the past. In fact, our CPA saw my receipt for my fabulous iron last year and said, “Do people even do that anymore?”  Well, I do.  But I realize I might be in the minority.

Not too long ago mothers ironed every piece of clothing in the house: dresses, shirts, pants, even sheets and pillowcases.  I must admit I’m thankful that ironing a house full of laundry is not on my to-do list.

With the advent of chemical additives to make fabrics ‘wrinkle-free’, there is a decreased need for pressing clothes.  Not to mention the synthetic fabrics which also make ironing obsolete.  In addition, people just do not have the time or the know-how to iron it seems.  It’s not considered a necessary skill in today’s world.

So if you don’t want to iron your clothes, how do you avoid it? A few simple ideas to save your from slaving over a hot iron:

• Fold clothes directly out of the dryer.
  We’ve all left a clean load of clothes lying on the couch or in the hamper for a day or two.  And when you come back, they are ridiculously wrinkled.  While that might not matter if pajamas are wrinkled, it is important that your jeans are not.  If you know you can’t get to them as soon as the dryer turns off, make sure the ‘tumble’ button is set so they can cycle through a few times until you can take them out.
• Use the steam-feature on the dryer.
  Some dryers incorporate steam to knock the wrinkles out of a load of clothes.  If you have left a load in for a day or so and the clothes are wrinkled, this feature miraculously makes them look freshly washed and dried.  I use this feature often and I readily admit it is one of my favorite features on my washer and dryer.  It is a must-have for this busy mama of four.
• Use a wrinkle-releaser product.
  There are a few wrinkle-releaser products on the market. The product works by lightly misting the clothes, which relaxes the fibers.  Tug and smooth a little with your hands and you’re left with a fairly wrinkle-free garment.
• Hang your clothes and skip the folding.
  Unless you are a fairly neat person and a have a system in place, clothes get shuffled around in a drawer or a shelf.  And when your drawers get messy, clothes lose their folded shape.  This results in wrinkles.  If you have the closet space, skip the folding altogether in order to avoid the wrinkles.
• Don’t overload your washing machine.
  Overloading your washing machine is a sure way to get wrinkly clothes, even if you fold them straight out of the dryer.  When you load the machine over its capacity, there is not enough room for the clothes to move around.  When you soak clothes that are jam-packed against one another and then send them through a spin cycle, your result will be wrinkly clothes every time.

So are you an ironer, or one who avoids it at all costs?  Tell us your tricks for keeping the iron in the closet.

I’ve written over 250 posts so far here at Mama’s Laundry Talk, and with that comes a lot of follow-up questions.  Today I am going to tackle a few.  Hopefully, some of your questions will be answered as well!

• I just looked at your Stain Removal post on The Soak.  Do you soak multiple items at one time?
  Yes, I definitely soak multiple items at one time.  That could be because I always have quite a few items in the queue ready to go in the bucket.  It saves me time and money (only one scoop of Oxi Clean versus several).
• When doing The Soak, do you soak colors and whites together in the same bucket?
  I do soak colors and whites together if I am certain the colors will not bleed.  If it is an item that has been washed several times and has ‘proven’ that it won’t bleed, then I don’t think twice about soaking them together.  If there is any question at all about whether the color will run, it soaks by itself.
• I’ve read your post on washing stuffed animals. Do you recommend washing stuffed animals that have beans or little styrofoam balls in the washer?
  I would personally surface-wash those only.  I’ll have a post in the next week or so on how to surface wash a stuffed animal and not ruin it.  There are only very general directions in the comment section of that post.  Feel free to subscribe to my feed or follow me on Face Book so you don’t miss it.
• Your post on how to get the ironing done helped me finally get our clothes ironed for work on time! I’ve heard you say you love your iron several times.  What brand do you have?
  I have a DeLonghi iron.  And to say I love it is an understatement.  It cost a lot for an iron in my opinion (keep in mind I was buying it for a home business at the time of purchase).  I’ve owned several irons in my life, from the $30 one at Wal-Mart to a more expensive Rowenta.  In my pretty extensive ironing experience, you get what you pay for with an iron.  A cheap iron cannot possibly give you superior results.  If you don’t need superior results, the cheaper model from Target is fine.  If you need to iron more delicate items, if you iron a large quantity of clothes, or if you need to iron clothes with absolutely no wrinkles (think dress shirts), then you’ll want to invest in a more versatile iron.  Would I have purchased the DeLonghi if wasn’t purchasing it for a home business?  Probably not in all honestly.  But I absolutely adore it and I have not once been dissatisfied with its results.
• Do you take guest posts?
  I do if they are laundry related!  In fact, I’ve published several over the past few weeks, with the most recent being a Reader Review of Purex 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets.  If you have a laundry product you just can’t live without, write about and send it to me!  If you’d like further details, email me: mama@mamaslaundrytalk.com.

Do you have a specific laundry question? Leave them in the comments or shoot me an email!  I’ll be happy to answer them.

I’ll admit: in the past (and occasionally the present) I have had a tremendous amount of trouble getting our clothes ironed.  I have no trouble getting them washed, dried and put away.  But ironed?  That’s a different story.

I detest wrinkled clothes, although I will also readily admit that my standards have greatly decreased since having children.  The moment you put a baby on the hip of your freshly pressed shirt it becomes as wrinkled as ever.  But the wrinkles are oh so worth it in this case!

So how do I get my ironing completed these days?  This is what works for me while all of my little people are, well, little.

• I decide if an item really needs to be ironed.  If it just could use a little touch-up, I put it in our steam dryer for 15 minutes.  It is really effective in making clothes have that ‘freshly washed’ appearance that we all love.  If I didn’t have a steam dryer, I would look into one of the wrinkle-releaser spray products.
• I have an ironing shelf in my laundry room.
  
  When folding clothes, I pull out the items that I know will need ironing: my husband’s work pants, little girl Sunday dresses, etc.  When putting clothes away, I automatically put those clothes on my ironing shelf.  When it comes time to iron, all of the clothes that need ironing are in one spot.  I don’t have to run from room to room hunting down items that need to be pressed.  Honestly, at this point in my mothering I need things to be obvious!
• I incorporate ironing as part of my laundry routine.  If it wasn’t part of my routine, I can assure you it would never get done.  I only iron once per week.  Most of the time, I iron when my kiddos are taking naps or after they are in bed in the evenings.  If I only iron once per week – as opposed to once per month! – the ironing pile takes less than an hour or so.  I don’t iron when my children are awake because I can totally see the baby pulling the iron on her head or some such other awful event necessitating an ED visit.  I want to avoid that at all costs!

When my husband and I buy new clothes we try to buy ‘wrinkle-free’ cottons and clothes that do not require ironing.  It really does save time!  And these days, I am way too busy to spend a ton of time ironing every week…even though it’s a chore I really don’t mind.

How do you get your laundry ironed each week?  What is your routine?

Unfortunately, my house is not so conducive to tablecloths in this season of my life.  At least not at our kitchen table where we eat multiple times a day.  Little people under 5 and tablecloths don’t seem to be a good match in my house.

However, we are fortunate to also have a small dining room in our home and I love for it to don a tablecloth during the holidays.  For some reason, it just seems more festive.

And a tablecloth also makes a room seem more put together.  A nice finished look.

But aren’t tablecloths fairly high-maintenance?

Well, they certainly can be.

But if you know what steps to take, maintenance can be predictable and easy.

Washing Rules:

Always wash your tablecloths on the delicate cycle.  And preferably wash them in a front loader.  They can easily wrap themselves around the agitator in a top-loading machine.  This just puts more strain on the cloth than necessary. And it’s also a pain to try and unwind after the cycle is completed.

If you need to pre-treat with a stain remover, make sure it is not going to bleach the fabric by testing it on the inside seam.  Some tablecloths are not made with color-safe dyes and will  bleed/fade/bleach easily.

If there are no greasy spots on the tablecloth, wash on Delicate/Cold.

If there are greasy food stains, treat with blue Dawn dish detergent and wash on Delicate/Warm.

Drying Rules:

Dry your tablecloth on the Delicate setting until it is mostly dry.  When you touch it, you want it to be just barely damp – like when you can’t decide if a fabric is cold or wet.

Now is the best time to iron it.

Ironing Rules:

Iron your tablecloth on the highest setting the fabric can tolerate.

Be very careful with this part – you don’t want scorch marks on your fabric!

If it is a heavy 100% cotton, you can probably iron it on a relatively high heat.  If it is a delicate fabric or has hand painting (or something equally delicate), iron on a very low setting.

As with the stain treatment, test the iron on an inside seam.

It is best to iron a delicate tablecloth on the reverse side of the fabric.  That way, you don’t run the risk of creating that shiny appearance on the correct side if you have to use a hotter heat.

If you’ve chosen to fold your tablecloth directly from the dryer, it is going to have the classic square folding lines.

Only ironing will get rid of these.  Despite what other resources claim, a hot steamy shower or hanging on a curtain rod just won’t do the trick.

Take the time to steam them out with your iron.  It will look so much more presentable, not to mention professional.

Storing an Ironed Tablecloth:

Martha Stewart recommends wrapping a tablecloth around an old inner tube from a roll of carpet.

But I don’t know too many people that have easy access to that.  Or a place to store something that big inside the house.  Although I do really like the idea.

I have found that the best way to store an ironed tablecloth is to lightly fold the cloth in thirds or quarters and ever so gently drape it across a strut hanger. (A strut hanger is the classic pant hanger you’d receive from the dry cleaners.)

If you’ve taken the time to care for your tablecloth, it can be a lovely focal point to an otherwise simple room.

Who knew there were so many great toys related to laundry?!

Some are available for Prime Shipping on Amazon.  So if you order today, they will arrive on December 22.  Not bad!

Here are some last minute ideas:

This is a great bath toy!  Kiddos get to scrub off the “dirt” when in the tub.  The little clothes stick to the bathtub when they get wet.  It’s a 12-piece set and is very reasonable priced at $9.30 and available for Prime Shipping.

This laundry room would fit right in to any dollhouse!  The ironing board flips up and down and washer and dryer doors really open.  Priced at $26.95 and available for Prime Shipping.

Playmobile also offers a pretend Laundry Room.  It features a figure (a little Mama Laundry!), ironing board, iron, washer, and drying rack.  A great addition to your Playmobil set!  Priced at $14.53 and available on Prime Shipping.

What little girl wouldn’t love this washing/ironing center?  Look at that realistic ironing board!  The set requires batteries for realistic washing machine and iron sound effects.  Priced at $59.99.  It must be ordered with ‘Expedited Shipping’ to arrive in time for Christmas.

Several more kid-friendly ideas coming.  Check back soon!