November 22, 2018 by Sean Parry
Some people love it, some people hate it – but ironing really is one of those things that makes a difference to your appearance. Here at Neat, all our cleaners can assist you with laundry and ironing. There are numerous ways to iron but we like the video from shirt makers TM Lewin who’ve put together their guide to ironing a shirt in 3 minutes.
WHAT YOU NEED
- Good quality steam iron (nice and heavy)
- Wide ironing board (ideally with a mesh base to stop it getting damp)
- Water bottle spray
WHAT TO DO
- Ensure that there is water inside the iron
- Set the iron temperature to that shown on the shirt label (if you’re not sure, set it to the lowest setting)
- Check your shirts for stains. If you iron over a stain, if can often make it worse
- Mist spray the shirt to moisten it up
- Lay one sleeve and cuff on the ironing board, and undo all the buttons
- Iron the inside of the cuff, flip the shirt then iron on the outside
- Take the sleeve, flatten it out, and the iron over (only need to do one side), right over the end of the fabric to get a clean sleeve crease
- Move on to the yoke (the fabric on the back of the shirt, under the collar and between the shoulders). Pull on the sleeves to pull out the seams, and iron over
- Move on to the collar, opening it up completely and ironing all over.
- You don’t want to press a hard crease in the front of the collar (we want them to roll), so just press in the centre back of the collar and give it a quick steam
- Now do the collar up, so it is easier to work around the rest of the shirt
- Move on to the front of the shirt and the placket (fabric where the buttons are)
- Move onto the back of the shirt, the other sleeve / cuff and then finally the last front of the shirt
- Iron in between the buttons (not over them) as these can leave a mark
- Put your shirt up on a hanger and leave for 10 minutes to dry completely before wearing
Ideally, you should keep your newly ironed shirts on a hanger in your wardrobe. However if there is limited space, and you need to fold your shirts, take a look at our other post on How To Fold A Dress Shirt In 30 Seconds to make sure you do it correctly.
Of course, we would be happy to help with your ironing and cleaning needs! Further information can be found on our website, or feel free to call us if you have any questions.