A well-ironed shirt is a sign of a successful and prosperous man. Both women and men should have this skill. Anyone who gets acquainted with the simple rules of ironing men's shirts can achieve results.
Preparing to Iron a Shirt
Each shirt requires attention and an individual approach. Therefore, it is important to prepare for the procedure.
Find out the composition of the fabric
First of all, you need to know the composition of the fabric: different fibers in the structure require different temperature conditions, and for some, washing is contraindicated.
Reference! Precise information about each product is contained on the label, which is sewn into one of the side seams.
Particular attention is paid to shirts that contain synthetic fibers. Too much heat can damage their structure and ruin the shirt.
Prepare an iron, ironing board and other accessories
You need to prepare in advance everything that may be useful during the ironing process.
Iron
We check the cleanliness of the iron sole and completely remove dust from it.When using an iron that does not have a non-stick coating, it is important to ensure that there is no carbon deposits or other marks on the surface from previous use.
Board
The most convenient way to iron a shirt is on an ironing board. It is advisable to have a special board that consists of two surfaces. The main one is used for ironing the shelves and back, the small one is needed for the sleeves.
The fabric with which the boards are covered must be clean, without traces of previous ironing, otherwise stains may appear on the shirt under the influence of high temperatures.
Water
You should also have water on hand. When using an iron that has a steam function, you will need to add water to the tank. If the procedure is performed with a regular iron, you need to moisten the shirt using a spray bottle.
Towel
A plain towel in light colors (preferably white, you can use light beige, cream, etc.) can also be useful during the ironing process. The towel must be made of natural fibers (cotton, linen). A towel may be needed to soften the surface of the board. You can also iron a shirt through it, in which case you can be absolutely sure that there will be no streaks left on it from water that gets on the shirt.
Advice! A towel can replace a small board when smoothing sleeves. It needs to be rolled up or folded several times so that the towel fits inside the sleeve.
Gauze
In order not to worry about the safety of the product during ironing, it is best to use gauze. It can reliably protect the fabric from a hot iron.
Selecting the appropriate temperature regime
It is very important to set the iron to the desired temperature. There are two ways to do this.
According to the symbol on the label
When studying the label, we pay attention to the symbolic image of the iron. In this image there are several dots inside the iron. Their number is not accidental: this is how different heating temperatures are indicated:
- temperature not higher than 110°;
- can be heated above 110°, but not more than 150°;
- The product will withstand higher temperatures; the iron can be heated up to 200°.
By fabric composition
- 110° – products made from fabrics with artificial fibers (polyester), silks or from crinkled fabrics.
- 120° – viscose shirts.
- 150° – cotton shirts.
- 170–180° – fabric consisting of cotton and linen.
- 210–230° – linen shirts.
Important! Silk and crinkled shirts are ironed without steam, and items made from artificial threads and viscose are ironed with minimal exposure to steam. Cotton can be ironed without steam, but steam treatment will improve the ironing quality. To smooth linen, you need to moisten the product generously.
Preparing the shirt for ironing
Before you start ironing your shirt, you need to check that all the buttons are undone, and also pull out the seals if there are any in the corners of the collar. If your shirt is too dry, it's best to dampen it first. To do this, you can wrap it in a damp cloth or gauze and leave it for 20–30 minutes. After this you can start ironing.
How to iron a long sleeve shirt correctly
When ironing a men's shirt, it is important to follow a certain order of working with different parts of the clothing. The general principle of operation: the elements of the shirt are ironed, moving from small parts to larger ones.
How to iron a collar
Start working with the collar. It is ironed on both sides: first - the wrong side, then - the front side. In this case, the iron does not slide arbitrarily, but follows the direction from the corners to the center.Smoothing the collar from the face, ensure that there are no wrinkles left on it.
How to iron sleeves
Short sleeves ironing is easier. The sleeve is carefully laid out on the board so that the seam is at the top. They iron it first of all, while trying to work with the iron only in the center so that an arrow does not form on the edges. Then turn the sleeve to smooth out the parts right and left of the seam alternately, ending with the central part.
Long sleeves ironed in compliance with the indicated basic principle - start with a smaller part. Therefore, first we start cuffs. The unbuttoned cuff is laid out on the board with the wrong side up and carefully ironed in the direction from the corners to the central part.
There are two opinions regarding ironing the cuff from the front side. Some people believe that the main thing is to smooth the part from the back so that the front part becomes smooth and does not become shiny from the iron.
Another opinion is that stroking from the face is mandatory.
Each shirt owner can choose the option of smoothing the cuff. The main thing is to take into account the uniqueness of the fabric and use gauze when ironing from the front side.
The double cuffs are unrolled, ironed, then carefully folded and ironed along the fold.
Then they iron the sleeve itself, following the same order: first the seam, then the side parts around the seam and the center. The folds near the cuff on some long sleeves are smoothed out by working only with the pointed nose of the iron.
How to iron a sleeve without an arrow
The main problem that arises when ironing sleeves is the appearance of arrows when ironing individual parts of the sleeve.
2 ways to avoid arrows:
- When ironing each part of the sleeve, do not touch the edges with the iron;
- using a small ironing board to gradually iron the entire sleeve.
How to iron the main part of a shirt
The main fabric of the shirt begins to be ironed with top part. For this shoulders and yoke transferred to the rounded edge of the board so that the collar remains on the board and the rest of the shirt hangs down from it.
Advice! When smoothing the yoke and each shoulder, the iron is held so that its side and collar are parallel to each other.
Then move on to shelves. Each of them is placed in front of you, leaving the collar on the rounded part. Start with a shelf that has buttons. Carefully iron this strip, using the tip of the iron to work the fabric around each button. The fabric of the shelf is ironed from its upper part, from the seam that attaches the collar. Gradually move the iron to the bottom edge of the shirt. To move to the back, you need to iron 2 side seams.
backrest also iron from the top (from the seam connecting it to the yoke), ending with the bottom edge of the shirt.
Useful tips to help you iron your shirt well
- To make it easier to iron the shirt, it should be dried on hangers; in this position, the shirt will be less wrinkled and will not require significant effort when ironing.
- Shirts should not be dried completely: shirts should be ironed damp.
- Dark shirts, as well as items made from shiny fabric, should be ironed from the wrong side.
- Having finished ironing all parts of the shirt, you need to carefully inspect it. Sometimes small wrinkles appear on already ironed parts that need to be ironed again.
- In order for an ironed shirt to remain wrinkle-free longer during use, it should not be put on warm, immediately after ironing.The shirt is hung on hangers, the top button must be fastened and left like that for 30 minutes. After this, the shirt can be put on.
How to iron a shirt without an iron
Often when traveling there is a need to put a shirt in order when it is not possible to use an iron.
In this case, many men find unusual methods of ironing shirts helpful.
Moisturizing without spinning
This method is used when washing shirts. When machine washing, set a program in which there is no spin mode. If the shirt is washed by hand, it will also not survive.
After rinsing, the product is carefully hung on hangers over the bathtub and the fabric is carefully straightened. The water will drain and the shirt will gradually dry without wrinkles.
A clean shirt can simply be soaked in water for 20–30 minutes, and then also hung on hangers over the bathtub.
Drying on the body
Another common method is to not dry the shirt completely on hangers, but to put it on damp. The shirt is fastened with all the buttons, straightened and waited for drying.
Steam smoothing
You can expose the fabric to moist, warm air. To do this, hang a crumpled shirt on hangers over a bathtub filled with hot water. The doors to the bathroom are closed, and under the influence of steam, the folds on the shirt straighten out.
Following the ironing order allows you to get your shirt in order in a short time.
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