Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette and
part 2 of our ironing series. Today, I'll show you how to iron a shirt or
a dress shirt for men and women and I'll share all the tricks with you that I use to get
the perfect result. If you have not checked out part of one of
our ironing series yet, please check it out here where we discuss all the things you need
to iron properly. The dress shirt is the easiest thing to iron
in a classic man's wardrobe and it's the easiest one to begin with when you're just getting
into ironing. It may surprise you but it all starts in the
laundry room, a proper prep work is essential to get it right. The
higher the spin cycle on your machine, the more wrinkles you will get. So keep that in mind when you launder your
shirts in the first place. When you take them out of the machine, they're
still wet and ideally, this is a good time to smooth out the wrinkles. Now, in theory, you're ready to iron. For the most efficient way, always iron a
number of shirts at the same time because a lot of effort goes
into prep work and you can save time on a per shirt basis, the more shirts you iron. Now should or should you not use a dryer? The big advantage of the dryer is that it
helps to release wrinkles and makes ironing easier, on the other hand, the huge disadvantage
is that 99.99% of shirts have a glued interlining; either in the collar, or the cuffs, or in
the placket, a dryer is very hard on those interlinings and chances for it to blister
and come undone are much higher the more often you dry it. Because of that, personally, I never put shirts
my dryer and I'll urge you to never put your high end shirts in a dryer either because
it will ruin your investment. So should you iron your shirts when they're
still wet? The answer is yes and no. Yes because if they're damp and not soaking
wet, it's easier to iron them at the same time, it will take more time because the cold
water has to be heated up and evaporated by your iron. Personally, I'll try to find a good middle
ground so it's not too wet but also not dry. If you happen to have a dry shirt, I suggest
you spray it with a spray bottle of water then put it in a plastic bag for about 10
to 15 minutes, let it sit there that way, it can moisten up and ironing will be much
easier on you. Shirts that are hard to iron are prone to
wrinkling and waves which are unsightly and I'll show you how to get rid of them. First of all, lay out all your equipment. At the minimum, you need the ironing board. If you are right-handed, the ironing board
tip should face to the left. Now, check the label of your shirt and turn
the iron to the proper temperature. Usually, they have settings based on a material
such as linen, cotton, polyester, or nylon blends. Cotton requires a relatively high temperature
but if you have a polyblend shirt, make sure you lower the setting, otherwise, it will
ruin your shirt. Two, make sure everything is clean. Look at the shirts to see if there any recent
stains because if you iron them now , the heat will set in the stain and it will be
much harder to remove it then if you take action right away. Also make sure the ironing board cover is
clean and there are no stains on the bottom of the ironing sole. What I've seen sometimes is there's plastic
from plastic buttons or some dirt and if you iron with a hot iron on the shirt, you will
set a stain in it for good. Three, add water. You definitely want a steam iron and that
requires water. I suggest you go with distilled water because
it is not hard water but soft water being it has few minerals such as calcium and magnesium
and that can cause your iron to clog up and you'll get a grayish whitish substance onto
your shirts that will also cause stains. If you live in an area where the water is
soft and you can tell by looking for example in your showerhead and if there's no residue,
you can also use it right in your iron. Also make sure there's water in your spray
bottle because the mist it produces is much finer and much better suited to ironing than
the spray head that's usually built into an iron. Once your iron has reached the proper temperature,
it's time to go. Keep in mind, it's much easier to iron, you
get much better results if you use a professional-grade vacuum table and to learn more about that,
please check out part 1 of this series. Five, start with pressing the cuffs and the
sleeves. No matter if it's a barrel cuff or a French
cuff, I start ironing on the inside of the cuff. Once that's done, I look at the outside and
if there's still some wrinkles, I iron again. Always make sure to iron from the outside
of the cuff in, otherwise, you'll get little wrinkles by the stitching especially on shirts
with a sewn interlining. It can be quite frustrating but practice pays
off. Once I'm done with the cuff, it's time to
iron the sleeve. If you just have a regular ironing board,
I suggest to lay down the sleeve flat because at this stage, you are ironing two layers
at the same time. If you don't do it right, you get wrinkles
and it will take you much long. It truly pays to have a system here. I always start in a corner of the armpit and
I iron at middle parts and not the top edge because that will leave a crease. I also always start in the backside and once
I'm done, I flip it over to the front side and repeat the motion. Try to iron in the middle part and when you're
done, you can add a crease on top. If you like a strong crease, you can now add
the clapper which is a piece of wood that really helps to get a strong crease in it. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the crease
and because of that, I use a sleeve board. The big advantage of the sleeve board is that
the results are much nicer, you'll have fewer wrinkles, and you have no crease all the way
around. I start by pulling the sleeve of the sleeve
board so the seam is on top. Now, I work my way around until I get to the
seam again and I've ironed everything. Most dress shirts have one or more pleats
sewn onto the cuff to create volume for your sleeve and the sleeve board really helps you
to get nice creases in the exact length that you want. The key to success in ironing is not to use
broad motions all over the place but short controlled movements that have enough
pressure. As you may know, ironing is also known as
pressing and that's because you have to press down. You can see me going back and forth with my
iron because I have two pointed ends. If you have just one pointed end, you have
to always go in a direction with a point, otherwise, you'll end up with wrinkles in
the shirt. Once you're done with one sleeve, move on
to the next cuff and sleeve. It doesn't matter which one you start with. Six, press the collar and the yoke. First of all, you flip up your color and you
remove any collar stays if that's possible, if they're sewn in, just leave them in there. Now I iron from one side to the middle, stop,
and I go to the other side and iron again to the middle. Avoid ironing from the inside out or in one
motion because it will create wrinkles. Because the collar has so many layers, you
may have to go over it once more simply to get the right result. Once you're done with the underside of the
collar, flip it open so you're now ironing the outside of the collar. Again, outside to the middle from one side
and outside to the middle from the other side. If you have a collar with a sewn interlining,
it can be a little more tricky. Try to pull the fabric so it stays flat especially
along the stitched seams. Again, use short strokes and not bold long
motions. Now some people like to fold the collar back
down and iron on top of it so it gets its natural shape. If you want a soft roll collar, especially
on top or if you have removable collar stays, I suggest you skip that step. Once your collar is done, it's time for the
yoke. Most ironing boards have a perfect shape to
iron one side of the yoke at a time. Make sure the yoke lays flat and then with
short motions, iron it nice and flat. Move on to the middle, iron the middle of
the yoke and then go on and move on to the other side of the yoke. The technique is the same. While you do that though, make sure you don't
iron deep wrinkles into the back of your shirt. If you do it's not the end of the world because
we iron that at a later stage. The order in which I iron is well thought
through so don't skip it up, otherwise, you end up with a more wrinkly shirt. Once around with a collar and a yoke, it's
time to finish the body. First face the buttons on the board and iron
it from the back. That way I can go all the way one nice clean
motion make sure there's no wrinkles. Now flip the shirt so the buttons face up. If you have a solid shirt, you can quickly
go into the areas in between the buttons. If you have a striped shirt I suggest to simply
tap down your iron lift it up move to the next section tap down again and so forth. I do this because otherwise your lines will
become wavy and it'll show on the front of the shirt. Most ironing boards are shaped slimmer at
the end and so you can lay the shirt down and pull it flat. Once I've done that, I start in the direction
of the pattern. If it's a stripe, in a striped pattern, from
the bottom to the top. Since the front of your shirt is the most
visible part, you'll make sure it looks extra clean and neat. Make sure the area around the armhole is neat
as well as the area on top next to the collar. If you happen to iron a crease, flatten it
out, spray some water on top of it, either with the iron or with your spray bottle and
go over it again. In case your shirt has a pocket, that can
be tricky to iron. make sure you pull it flat iron it separately
in short strokes. If there's excess fabric, you can avoid creases
by ironing along them, never across them. The pointed tip of your iron comes in very
handy here, just like in every area where there's a little corner. Because most irons don't have steam holes
right in the tip of the iron, it pays to separately steam them or use some water and spray it
on. At the end of the day, you want a nice smooth
result especially along the seams. Once the button front of the shirt is done,
I move on to the back. It's the same procedure again. I start on one side and pull it flat so I
can then start to iron. If the shirt has pleats in the back
align the pleat and iron over it so it looks neat exactly that what you want. If you have a hand made shirt especially an
Italian one, chances are, it has grinze along the seam of the yoke in the back. To get them to look right, use the iron in
short strokes pointing towards the yoke seam and you want that wavy effect that's part
of the craftsmanship and the handwork and it's not a defect or something that you can
eliminate by ironing. When you're done with one side of the back
slightly rotate it over the board and keep ironing the middle and then the other side. At this time I also check the yoke on top
and see if there are any wrinkles I can go over it again and voila now you're done! Simply pull the shirt off the board, put it
in the hanger, and button the top button or sometimes the top two buttons if you have
a big collar. Now you can just hang in your
closet and your shirt is ready to go next time you need it. As I mentioned before, because of all the
time it needs to set up it really pays to iron all your shirts at once. If you enjoyed this guide give us a thumbs
up hit a little bell so videos like this come right to your inbox and stay tuned for part
three we talk about ironing dress pants you want to see how I earn a dress shirt from
start to finish step-by-step from different angles with all the intricate details without
being rushed please watch this video here in today's video wearing a more relaxed outfit
which is ideal for ironing consists of a pressed dress shirt which is striped in blue and white
cotton I'm using barrel cuffs and the French cuffs because that way that won't interfere
with the ironing wearing a pair of navy blue denim with a brown crocodile belt and a silver
buckle which works well with my silver and carnelian green the shoes are antique brown
penny loafers and they work well with a belt my socks consist of red and blue their shadow
stripes socks from Fort Belvedere which can find in our shop here they tie
together the shoes the jeans as well as the ring I'm wearing
