Oh, I know you have waited with bated breath for this one. Well, to never arrive may have been better, ‘cause now you would not have much of an excuse anymore. But it’s alright, I understand better than you think. Ironing is really not high on the list of what-to-do’s- for me either. Unfortunately we can not go through life without performing this task some of the time. And we really don’t all have the privilege of having a doting wife or husband, nor mom or roommate, nor even a maid who will jump in and relieve us from what we deem, a horrid task. And really, face it, we mostly don’t have the funds to continually buy wash ’n wear clothing which requires none of the aforementioned.
So, what to do? Is it really as complicated as we have made it in our minds? The good news is it is not. Not at all. Ironing could be as mundane and undemanding as you choose it to be. The path of least resistance is really the way to go, as I will tell you a couple of ways to even diminish this task to a small no-brainer, which will leave the field wide open for a social life!
There are only a few important rules to follow when in comes to washing and ironing a shirt. Calm yourself, it is not a biggy. I start already with the washing part, would you believe. Do NOT wash your shirt with too many other stuff as it does not leave a lot of room for movement and the washing is not wrinkled badly when you take it out. Here is also the part where I actually just assume that you know that you should wash your shirt at least with other garments of similar colour. This ensures that your white shirt does not come out rather pink, having shared the washing water with that one red undergarment that crept into the load. So, you now have washing that is not crinkled and is crispy white and clean.
Now you have a choice depending on what you have to your disposal. If you washed it and could dry it in a tumble dryer, you should be smiling now, as this truly is the best way to go. You would in the end merely straighten out a few seams and edges here en there when you iron.
If you however, have to hang the shirt out to dry, and have washed it in a loose load, you might want to consider taking it out before the spin cycle. Think about it, the weight of the water dripping from your garment thanks to dear old gravity, will do half of the soft-ease stretching you need. Again, only flattening out of edges will follow once you iron. See where I’m going with this?
We all can’t be lucky, and today of all days, you want to know what to do with that darn shirt that ended up wrinkled amongst the other washing and now looks as though it is out to get you tonight. Nope, fret not, that ole piece of material is much smaller than you are, and face it, to be pities as you will never ever have that many wrinkles in your life.
Now, get a cigarette or a cup of coffee, and then you continue reading…
Take the object of your distress and dampen it just a little with a spray bottle of water, or just water dropped from your fingers. Remember, we do not want it wet, though this step you could or would leave of if you had a steam iron, but is really up to just how badly gathered and wrinkled that poor shirt is. Face it, if it looked as though someone had wrung it out like a beach towel on a washday, and the poor sod dried in that same twisted state, you could dab it to your heart’s content… the more the merrier!
I assume your iron is on, and has had time to heat up. There’s no turning back now… you can do this. You are the master. And that twisted son of a loincloth is now going flat, if it is the last thing you do!
Most ironing boards have a slender point on the one side and this is there for a reason. If you are a right handed person, this would be on your left, so that the stand for the iron would obviously be on your right hand side for easy reach. Place the left front panel of the shirt over the pointy side of the ironing board, pulling the whole of the shoulder tightly into the sharp edge. Tug towards the right, the straight line which is under the sleeve, were you to put the shirt on. The right front panel should now be laying flat on the surface. Make sure it is nice and flat, as the front of the shirt is the most important. That is people look at first. Iron slowly, but remember, do not stop anywhere for too long, as you will burn a dark spot on the material which will not ever wash out.
Once that panel looks pretty respectable, you might want to check the corner on the shoulder. Sometimes this small area dos not fit snugly over the ironing board edge, and that could give your game away. Even is you now have to turn the cloth in order to get this small area tightly in the corner, turn it as much as you can until you safely put the iron on it ensuring a flat area.
Now, the same applies for ironing the back of the shirt. You will do this in two or even three fases. First from the left shoulder corner, you will place the shirt on the board as flat as possible with the shoulder tightly over the board’s pointy edge. After this, you will do the middle of the back and then, the right hand side of the back panel. This will lead you to again make sure both shoulder corners are nicely ironed as well.
At this stage you can feel quite relaxed, you’ve got this ironing thing licked!
Your next move would be flattening out the seam line under the right sleeve by placing it flush down on the ironing board. You need to follow the same rules as with the other front panel, to do the right panel now. Remember also the corner…. but you know this by now. You already look like a pro!
Ironing the sleeves is really not the difficult. On the outside of the shirt, tug together with your fingers, the sleeve joint right on that seam line….as you were to tickle his armpit. Once you’ve gotten hold of that seam, you can place the shirt down on it’s side and wipe with your hand toward the top end of the sleeve. This will flatten down the sleeve in exact mirror image to the other side. Don’t worry about the rest of the shirt. As long as the cat now just don’t sleep on it, you’re clear sailing. Mom, eat your heart out.
Make sure that sleeve lies flat on the surface, folding or bending it only on the absolute outside seam and the highest point on the shoulder.
Carefully with your iron, sweep over this area, taking note not to move the material at all. Yes, even try and get that very top corner on the shoulder. That leaves a very clear and crisp ironing job and will show you have an eye for detail. Remember to do the same for the other sleeve, so you can move on. You may smile heavily now, we are almost done.
You may want to iron a straight line in the yoke on the high back of your shirt, but in most cases this is really not necessary, unless you’re ironing uniforms, e.g. Police or armed forces. And yes, the shirt does have something called a yoke. This is the extra panel that stretches over the back of the shoulders. It looks especially smart if part of a uniform or even in certain cowboy apparel. This you will iron by holding onto the bottom line of that piece, folding it over and flattening it with the iron. Quaint little edge gives you that sharp edge.
All that remains for you to do, is to iron the outside of the collar. Why I say outside, is because of the following reason. No matter how clean you are and much time your spend on cleaning your shirt, especially around the neck area, you will eventually end up with a mark here. Thus, it is best to always iron on the outside. This ensure you have a sharp looking collar without burning the stain marks into the material.
I have news for you. You have just successfully ironed a shirt. I wished I could say that would be your last, but it isn’t. However, hang in there. You are the Iron Queen or King of your world!
In South Africa today security plays a vital part in any business or private home. This book and the volumes to follow, will guide you step by step through the essential precautionary measures to be taken in protecting your family and valuables. From employing security guards, evacuation of your site and security measures to burglar bars and alarms in your private home.
a Book compiled by me from experience gained after 10 years in the security industry as Industrial relations officer with Nosa qualifications, 1st Aid, fire protection and also S.O.B. grade A.
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