01 - Don't let clothes over-dry
Clothes are very difficult to iron when they are fully dry or over dried in the dryer. Over-dried clothes can be very difficult to reshape. Try to remove clothes when they are still slightly damp. If you line dry your clothes, bring them inside to iron when they are not quite dry.
02 - Don’t over fill the dryer
It would seem like stuffing as many clothes as can fit into a dryer would save us time, but more than likely it will only lengthen the time you spend caring for your clothing. An average dryer should be only 1/2 full in order to allow freedom for all clothing to move. If too many articles of clothing are in the dryer, it will create monster wrinkles, and make your ironing much more difficult.
03 - Forgetting to shake and smoothe
When clothing is removed from the dryer, it frequently sits in a basket waiting to be ironed. Take a few minutes and shake out your clothing. Reshape garments, and smooth out seams and pleats. Even if clothing still needs to be ironed, it will be a much smoother process.
04 - Not using the sprayer
Many irons today come with a built in sprayer to dampen clothes during ironing. If yours doesn't have one, purchase a new inexpensive empty spray bottle to use. Dampen the clothing when you are ready to begin ironing. Wrinkles will fall out of the clothing as you iron. If you don't use the sprayer to soften up the clothing, ironing is much more difficult and for some garments, impossible.
05 - Using good fabric conditioners
Make sure you dont over load the washing machine. Also using a good quality fabric softner will keep the fabrics soft and easier to iron making them stay crease free for longer.
06 - Improper use of starches and sizers
Starches and sizers are a great tool when ironing, but they must be used properly. Spray these products as you iron, but allow them to actually penetrate into the garment before ironing over them. Allowing just a few seconds for the clothing to soak up the starch or sizer, will keep your iron's soleplate from becoming built-up with product residue.
07 - Ironing heavyweight fabrics first
If you have a large pile of ironing to do, try to iron your lightest silk, synthetic, and delicate fabrics first. These need to be ironed on low temperatures. Once the iron heats up, and you've ironed your lightweights, you can move on to the wools, cottens, linens, etc.
08 - Ironing combat trousers
Firstly start by ironing the various pockets by flattening them on the board. If there is a knee pad feature, roll up a large towel and place it in the leg so that you can iron the front and back of the leg without creating creases on the opposite sides.
09 - Keeping clothes crease free
Once you have ironed your clothes, leave them to hang without being in contact with anything else for at least an hour. This will allow the cloth to cool down and set, making it less suseptible to creasing.
10 - Ironing shirts
Start by ironing the back of the collar then the front.
Iron the shoulder panel by placing it over the end of the board.
Flatten out the cuff and iron flat, then move on to the sleeve working the iron up from the seam pushing away to create a crease along the top of the sleeve.
Place the left front panel over the board and iron. Keep rotating the shirt over the board by starting with the front left panel, then the back panel and finishing with the front right panel.
Hang the shirt and fasten the top two buttons and the bottom button, this will help to keep the front of the shirt looking crease free.
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