The Art of Ironing

There is just something satisfying about a nice crisp, clean, strait seam in a pair of pants. What's sad is that it is so easy to do on your own, yet hundreds of dollars are spent every year taking your clothes to the dry cleaner just to get the same thing. It surprises me how many men and women don't know how to iron.

I decided that this post was going to teach those of you out there who don't know how to iron, and maybe refresh or teach something new to those who do.  So grab a pile of fresh clean clothes, turn on some tunes (gotta make ironing fun) and lets get ironing!

First, here are the things you need:

Now grab a pair of pants and fold them in half width wise of the waste (like a hot dog not a hamburger), you want to fold it so that the seams on the bottom of the pants line up.  Now grab one of your clothes pins and pin the closure together so it doesn't move on you.  If this isn't making any sense to you here is a picture.

Now, lay your pants on the ironing board length wise.  Fold the top leg back so you can work on the bottom one first.  You want to find the seam that came when you bought the pants.  Once you have found it, place a clothes pin there so it wont move.  You will want to follow that seam and pin in every few inches to make sure that the seam stays straight and that it stays that way.  Once you have done this on one side, you need to do it on the other side (there is a front and back seam).  This is how your pant leg should look.

Now that we know that we have a nice strait seam, it's time to starch and iron.  Make sure you always read the label on the piece of clothing to make sure you are using the right setting on your iron.  Start at the bottom of the leg and remove the first pins on either side.  Spray a little starch on the part you are working on.  If you have never used starch before, make sure you read the can so you can use it correctly.  Iron the wrinkles out of your pants.  Make sure you go slowly and iron with conviction.  This is what is going to give you a nice crisp seam.  Keep moving up the pant leg 2 clothes pins at a time.

Once you are done with this side of the pant leg, flip it over and do the same to the other side.  This side will be easier though since the seam is already in place.  All you have to do is spray the whole leg with starch and iron.  You now have a beautiful crisp, wrinkle free pant leg.

The crazy thing about pants though... they have two legs!  Time to do the next leg just as you did this one.

I know that this takes quite a bit of time, but you'll feel so proud of yourself when you have mastered ironing pants. You'll also have a pair of pants that look so good you are going to look so fresh and so clean clean :)

Shirts are so much easier than pants believe me!  The only hard part about shirts are the sleeves and the collar.  This is why I'm only going to show you how to iron these parts.  The other parts of the shirt still need to be ironed and starched, so don't forget to do them as well even though I'm not showing you how to do those!

We are going to start with the sleeve and by doing that you will want to button or snap the wrist. Lay the sleeve length wise on the ironing board just was you did with the pants.
There is a seam that runs the length of your shoulder and this is the starting point of where to pin your shirt.  There isn't a seam already in the sleeve like there is in a pant leg, so you're going to have to eyeball it.  Usually I will do the top and bottom of the sleeve at the same time instead of doing one side and then the other.  This seems to help keep the seam straight.  Iron the sleeve just as you did with the pants.

The collars are probably the easiest part of it all.  Most shirts now a days come with collar stays.  These are the little plastic things in shirts that keeps the points on the collars pointy.  You want these!!  If your shirts don't come with shirt stays, you can buy them at most stores.

Put the stays in your collar if you have taken them out.  Spray one side of your collar with starch and iron. I recommend starting with the tag of the shirt facing you.  This will save you a flip.  Flip your shirt over and do the same with the other side. Now that they are nice and strait, you want to fold the collar over, spray and iron.  What you have now is a crisp collar that will make your mother proud!

Hope that this will help you!  I believe that everyone looks their best when their clothes are pressed and now hopefully with my help, you will look your best!