Free-for-all Friday: Iron Away!

Growing up, my mom ironed all of my dad's shirts. I don't remember her ever taking any of them to the dry-cleaners. She still irons them today! When I was in high school, I remember her taking me to the laundry room and teaching me how to iron a man's shirt. When I got married, I couldn't wait to iron my husband's shirts! I just assumed every wife did that, but after a few years, I gave in and started taking them to the cleaners. Recently, I decided that with the way the economy is, I could help do my part by ironing my husband's shirts again and saving money. Every once in a while when the kids take their naps, I will have an "Ironing Day" and I'll spend my 2-3 hours ironing in front of the television.

So, in case you want to save a few bucks, but don't think you know how to iron very well, here is a step by step tutorial for you. (Don't laugh at my ironing board cover...it has a few burned spots!!).

1. Unbutton the shirt all the way (cuffs, too). Take out any collar stays under the collar. Lay the front side of collar facing down, spray with your favorite starch, and iron:

2. Most men's shirts have a seam on the back, right under the shoulders. Take this seam and lay it flat on ironing board, spray with starch and iron. You can also get the upper chest part of the shirt while doing this:

3. Take the cuff of one of the arms and lay it flat on the ironing board, spray with starch and iron, getting the lower arm area, as well:

4. Take the sleeve of that arm cuff and find the seam on the bottom of sleeve. Holding the shirt by the seam, lay flat on the ironing board, spray with starch and iron. Repeat steps 3 and 4 with opposite arm:

5. Starting with the left side of the shirt, lay flat on the ironing board, spray with starch and begin ironing from top of shirt to bottom, working your way around entire shirt. I like to use the steam setting on my iron to get around the buttons really well:

6. Most shirts have one pleat on the back, but some have two pleats on either sides of the back. I like to steam these pleats to make sure they are nice and crisp:

7. When you are finished, replace collar stays and hang shirt immediately, buttoning the first few buttons on top. The end result? A nicely ironed shirt and money in the bank!:



Love,
Donna