5 Tips For Ironing

I like ironing. Yes, I realize this sounds strange as most people tend to hate it.  Which is understandable considering that for a lot of people, it's right up there with cleaning the bathroom and vacuuming - a chore.  Yet, I find it borderline therapeutic and I've been known to turn on some music, make a drink and go to town with my Rowenta.  

Watching a pair of pants or a shirt go from a wrinkled, tangle of fabric into a smooth, polished piece of clothing gives me a not insignificant amount of pleasure.  Probably because I wish life was that simple; that we could iron out the wrinkles in a matter of minutes.

Anyhow, I'm sure you're not here to read me waxing poetic about ironing but more about how.  Over the past few years, I've sort of developed some "best practices" of my own and while I can't promise that they will make ironing go faster, I can promise that you will see much better results.

• Invest in a quality iron and a good full-size ironing board.  Think about it, if you're like me and you make every effort to avoid the dry-cleaners, odds (hopefully) are that you iron your clothes after washing and drying.  I pretty much machine wash and hang dry all my shirts partially because I'd like them to last as long as possible and dry-cleaning shortens their life span and partially because I enjoy ironing them.  Considering how much some of the items in my wardrobe cost, it makes sense that spending a little bit more on a high quality iron helps protect them.  After going through multiple "inexpensive" options that did everything from leak and stain my clothes to burning them from getting too hot, I finally settled on a Rowenta and it hasn't let me down.  Also, a full size ironing board simply gives you room to work.

• Dampen your clothes before you get started.  Most irons nowadays have some sort of built in spray function.  I've found that this actually doesn't work as well because you end up soaking what you're ironing versus getting it just damp.  I recommend getting a spray bottle that has a "mist" option.  You can easily pick up one of these at Target for a couple of dollars at most.  The dampness will help soften the fabric you are working with and make ironing so much easier.

• Iron around buttons, fastenings, hooks etc.  A mistake I used to make a lot when I first started ironing was to iron right over buttons, hooks and snaps and what I found was that some buttons would melt or I would end up with an indentation in the fabric from pressing these fastenings into the cloth with the iron.  Long story short, ironing around them will help make them last much longer.

• Beware the urge to over-iron.  Yes, there is such a thing as over-ironing your clothes.  Have you ever seen someone who pants or shirt has this sort of shiny look to it, but its not because its sateen or some poor quality fabric?  What you may be looking at is the result of over-ironing which can cause the fabric to become shiny or look like its about to crack.  When I do dry something, I often pull it out while its still a bit damp because I don't want it to become overly dry which can affect the integrity of the fabric.  I apply this same principle when ironing.  Keep it damp, knock the wrinkles out and stop.

• Iron the tough bits first.  For example, when ironing shirts, focus on the placket, collar and cuffs first.  These are the parts that tend to be reinforced and can hold up against wrinkles better than the rest of the shirt, so tackling these parts first minimizes your chances of having to come back and go over them again.  I take a similar approach when ironing chinos or linen pants.  I find that I have difficulty with the seat and crotch areas, so I focus on them first to try to get the wrinkles out and edge up the lines.