How to Steam Press a Man's Shirt

A great way to cut corners financially is to do your own steam pressing at home. You may find the first shirt takes awhile, but you'll gain speed as you gain confidence. Read on to learn how to steam press a man's shirt.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Ironing board
• Iron
• Spray water bottle

1. Plug the iron in and turn it to the cotton, or high setting. You should check the tag on each shirt before you iron it to make sure that this setting is correct. Some labels say "low" heat required; just turn the iron down to low.

2. With the water spray bottle, spray the shirt, making sure that you dampen it completely.

3. Lay the shirt on the ironing board, laying the collar (the inside of the collar should be up) and straighten it out with your hand. Press down the very tips of the collar first with the iron, moving towards the middle. Make sure that you haven't ironed any wrinkles into the collar.

4. Place the shirt so that the shoulders of the shirt are over the square end of the ironing board and pull the bottom of the shirt down to flatten it out. Straighten out any wrinkles with your hand before ironing them. Start at the top and iron as much of the shoulders as you can, then iron the back of the shirt. You may find you need to move the shirt over to one side and then the other to get the area under the sleeve.

5. Lay the shirt so that the right shoulder of the shirt is on the left square end of the ironing board (just like you did for the back; you're just going to do the sides now) and pull the bottom of the shirt down to flatten it. Straighten out any wrinkles with your hand before ironing. Start from the top and iron to the bottom. Repeat for the other side of the shirt. The sleeves are the trickiest part. Lay the shirt down with the front of the shirt facing you, allowing the sleeve the longer end of the ironing board. Iron the cuffs by flattening them down and ironing them. The bottom of the sleeve has a seam that runs from the underarm to the cuff. Straighten out that seam and adjust the shirt's position so that the sleeve lies completely flat. The top fold (where the sleeve meets the shirt on top) should be at the top of the shoulder and allow you to flatten the sleeve completely. Feel with you hand for wrinkles and work them out before you try and iron them. Once the sleeve is flat and without wrinkles, iron it. Repeat for the other sleeve.

Tips & Warnings

• Hang shirts immediately after ironing.
• If you can, take shirts out of the dryer as soon as it stops. Many times you can avoid ironing this way.
• Make sure that your turn off and unplug your iron as soon as you are done. Do not place the hot iron where children or pets can get to it or where it could burn a surface.