I’m trying to iron a 100% cotton men’s dress shirt. I iron one section until it looks wrinkle-free, then I iron another section, and then I look at the first section and it’s wrinkled again! What am I doing wrong and how do I fix it?
You might be ironing the parts in the wrong order, or getting the freshly ironed part under something. But the first thing I would try in your position is to just iron every part of the shirt and hang it up for a while, and then see if the wrinkles go away again. Often wrinkles that come about right after ironing are much softer than the ones that you remove by ironing.
One right order is: Collar, yoke, one arm [cuff first], other arm [cuff first], front left, back, front right.
Are the wrinkles pretty much the same ones you started with, or are they new ones with sharper creases?
If new, sharp creases, you are probably accidentally ironing creases in the wrong place, or folding it over as you go. Concentrate carefully on the placement of the garment, remembering that fabric will remain prone to creasing while it remains hot.
If original wrinkles which have not gone away: You are probably not using enough heat and steam. 100% cotton needs pretty much as hot as the iron will go (>=3 dots), and as much steam as the iron will produce. Consult the manual (!) for how to ensure the iron is producing copious steam. Typically, you need to put enough water in (not too much), have it set to a high enough temperature, set the steam control valve to maximum, wait for it to heat up to hot enough.
My guess is not enough heat and steam.
Beware! An iron this hot will melt many other garments. But a colder iron will not be effective on 100% cotton. Linen needs a lot of heat too. Look on the care label for an iron icon. The number of dots indicates how hot your iron should be − 1 (coolest, garment at risk of melting if iron set higher), 2 or 3 (hot, garment at risk of not de-creasing if iron set lower). Hotter irons are more effective (speed and quality of output) than cooler ones. In my experience garment manufacturers set the care label conservatively and you can get away with a setting one higher most of the time. But always test carefully first.
I love that LW has people publicly advocating for all sorts of fringe positions -
(Someone once commented that in one thread we’ll describe common persuasive techniques as “dark arts”, and in the next thread we’ll bemoan that cutting off heads and freezing them so we can perform necromancy isn’t more popular.)
- and someone is using the community throwaway account to give advice on ironing.
(I recognise that it’s probably more “don’t want to make an account” than “don’t want to be identified”. But still.)
I’m trying to iron a 100% cotton men’s dress shirt. I iron one section until it looks wrinkle-free, then I iron another section, and then I look at the first section and it’s wrinkled again! What am I doing wrong and how do I fix it?
You might be ironing the parts in the wrong order, or getting the freshly ironed part under something. But the first thing I would try in your position is to just iron every part of the shirt and hang it up for a while, and then see if the wrinkles go away again. Often wrinkles that come about right after ironing are much softer than the ones that you remove by ironing.
One right order is: Collar, yoke, one arm [cuff first], other arm [cuff first], front left, back, front right.
Are the wrinkles pretty much the same ones you started with, or are they new ones with sharper creases?
If new, sharp creases, you are probably accidentally ironing creases in the wrong place, or folding it over as you go. Concentrate carefully on the placement of the garment, remembering that fabric will remain prone to creasing while it remains hot.
If original wrinkles which have not gone away: You are probably not using enough heat and steam. 100% cotton needs pretty much as hot as the iron will go (>=3 dots), and as much steam as the iron will produce. Consult the manual (!) for how to ensure the iron is producing copious steam. Typically, you need to put enough water in (not too much), have it set to a high enough temperature, set the steam control valve to maximum, wait for it to heat up to hot enough.
My guess is not enough heat and steam.
Beware! An iron this hot will melt many other garments. But a colder iron will not be effective on 100% cotton. Linen needs a lot of heat too. Look on the care label for an iron icon. The number of dots indicates how hot your iron should be − 1 (coolest, garment at risk of melting if iron set higher), 2 or 3 (hot, garment at risk of not de-creasing if iron set lower). Hotter irons are more effective (speed and quality of output) than cooler ones. In my experience garment manufacturers set the care label conservatively and you can get away with a setting one higher most of the time. But always test carefully first.
I love that LW has people publicly advocating for all sorts of fringe positions -
(Someone once commented that in one thread we’ll describe common persuasive techniques as “dark arts”, and in the next thread we’ll bemoan that cutting off heads and freezing them so we can perform necromancy isn’t more popular.)
- and someone is using the community throwaway account to give advice on ironing.
(I recognise that it’s probably more “don’t want to make an account” than “don’t want to be identified”. But still.)