A question from the comments section:
Question: are we ironing cotton shirts anymore or are wrinkles acceptable? (I vote for acceptable wrinkles. The tyranny of ironing wrinkled summer cotton makes me long for winter clothes way too early)
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Ironing is discipline.
ReplyDeleteI iron everything I wear. I love the crispness of a freshly ironed shirt or pants.
ReplyDeleteI use a Steamer on mine. Seems to work
ReplyDeleteAgreed! My old Sero blended shirts are a wonderful Summer weight and shape up with just a touch of steam.
DeleteI think it depends.
ReplyDeleteIn general, if you tuck it or if it will be visible, iron it. A wrinkled tucked shirt, just looks messy. But if you wear a waistcoat and nobody sees your shirt, then whatever besides the visible parts (and even those can be debatable).
But if you go for a casual untucked wrinkled linen-esque look, rolled back sleeves,... , a properly iron shirt looks out of place.
I can't imagine going out in wrinkled clothes. But ironing depends on the fabric. My piqué polo shirts come out of the dryer in good shape. Same for some of my cotton shorts. So, I don't iron them. But as for oxford shirts and chinos, the iron is a necessity. Madras gets special treatment: cold wash, drip dry, and serious ironing. I don't own any seersucker, so I can't comment on that fabric. If the ironing is burdensome, you can take them to the cleaners along with the woolens.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't dream of going out in unironed clothes. It just screams of laziness
ReplyDeleteI agree, no wrinkles. Iron and starch cotton shirts.
ReplyDeleteThe dry cleaners batter shirts. They will last much longer if you wash on the delicate cycle, air dry, and iron with a little starch on the collar and sprayed water elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more
DeleteTry drying them with wool dryer balls. I was amazed at how things came out shortly after I started using them!
ReplyDeleteFrom my military days, I like my clothes pressed.
ReplyDeleteThat depends on how awful you want to look. Context is important. Throwing on a buttondown with shorts to go and buy beer isn't the same as dressing for office or restaurant.
ReplyDeleteVery true.
DeleteNo starch, the shirts will last longer
ReplyDeleteI iron most everything, but every now and then some IDGAF notion strikes me, and I pull on unironed khakis and shirt.
ReplyDeleteI run cotton shirts in the dryer for 10-12 minutes to take most of the wrinkles out, then hang them damp to dry. I iron them, no starch. I still work for a living and wouldn’t go to the office in an un-ironed shirt. Use a good Rowenta iron with plenty of holes in the sole plate, it’s not difficult.
ReplyDeleteRowenta! The only iron for me!!
Delete100% not ironing
ReplyDeleteWell one must say that my shirts are always ironed although one does appreciate that there are non iron incantations available ; however memories of my sergeant major in army service and his choice words on any infringements of one’s uniform regarding lack of ironing has always ensured that one is always turned out to the most exacting standards nevertheless.
ReplyDeleteShirts go to the cleaners, ironed at home aren't the same. I don't bother sending out chinos anymore. They wrinkle and lose the crease after wearing for 5 minutes.
ReplyDeleteIron!
ReplyDeleteMany years ago, I had the bright idea of ironing my own shirts, and bought a futuristic looking Rowenta Iron all the while being proud that I would be saving a little money - thereby proving what a thrifty-person I really was (despite all evidence to the the contrary). After all, wouldn’t my shirts then look exactly like those from the cleaner’s?
ReplyDeleteNo.
I began ironing, and about three shirts in I heard an inner skeptical voice: “These shirts you're doing don’t look very good (too many creases), and why are you doing inferior work when you could pay someone else to do a better job?”
Needless to say, the like-new Rowenta went to Goodwill a few days later - thus abruptly ending my career in self-laundering.
As noted above, I iron. I use a Rowenta with steam and no starch to iron line dried shirts. I grew up in a world where good OCBDs (and others) were meant to be ironed that way. Sending anything but a very dressy white shirt to a professional laundry produced what seemed to us to be an unnatural look. I own two shirts that are not button down, a pleated dress shirt and a spread collar pinpoint. I wore the pinpoint to church (with a Liberty Lawn bowtie). It was ironed by me, and to enhance the fact and appearance of natural comfort, I left the collar stays out.
DeleteWith some dry cleaners, even if you ask for no starch, the shirts come back with a little starch, probably because there is some residual starch on the equipment. That may be what produces the unnatural look you mentioned.
DeleteMy wife irons my shirts, which she enjoys doing for some reason and she does a very fine job indeed (I don't let her near my khakis however as the one time she tried I had several creases down the front instead of one!). I'm going to stop her from seeing this post though or I will have to buy her a new Rowenta iron!
DeleteVintage shirts & shorts , hand wash with Persil & soak overnight in sink. Hang on clothes line to dry. Make cornstarch solution with boiling water. Let cool. Immerse clothes in Tupperware tub . Wring out. Hang on clothes line to dry. Spray mist with water & place in plastic bag in refrigerator for 2-3 hrs. Iron same, mist as required.
ReplyDeleteI like heavy starch when sent to cleaners..it's a Southern thing,. Knife edge crease on trousers that can stand up in the corner. Shirt's too.
Folded when traveling. Cool , crisp, & means business. Don't fret about wrinkles. Yep, I don't like my 2-78" tennis collars flopping in the wind, hence collar stays. The only person who can pull off this move is Actor James Stewart with a pin or tab collar.
When traveling, shirts are folded.
^ Let me guess: Alfred Jingle or Leander Wapshot?
DeleteSweet. Tough, though, to stand up wool pants in the corner. Wool pants are a must October ‘til April. The ladies love them. Look for those made in USA, Canada, Italy or England.
ReplyDeleteI had a friend in Arizona who confessed that she would take her cotton clothes out of the dryer while damp...put them on and then stand in the sun while she smoothed out wrinkles as they dried. It didn't take long in that incredible heat. And she always looked beautifully ironed.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised by the support for ironing! I think anyone alive basically, your time, your life, is too valuable for ironing, except on special occasions (wedding/funeral, opera/ballet, but maybe not symphony/chamber). Don't overload the drier, hang your clothes immediately, and if you need to, use the little 10-minute steam setting. Even if you have to de-wrinkle, a hand-held steamer will probably do it. Good to have an iron for important occasions, and to know how to do it, but geez ironing is a horrific waste of time and you'll end up looking over-dressed and too neat. It doesn't put people at ease when you look excessively sharp.
ReplyDeleteCan I get an "amen" from the congregation?
DeleteI dress for myself, not others and I am more comfortable in freshly ironed clothes
DeleteMaybe I’m just not self-aware (enough). My OCBDs are always ironed. I’ve never noticed anyone made ill at ease when I arrive wearing a well pressed shirt. The ladies often give me a compliment. Would love to know what the women here think…
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly
DeleteI'm with the pro-ironing bunch. I send out the dress shirts I wear to work, and use a Rowenta steam iron to touch up "play shirts" like seersucker and madras after giving them a short tumble in the drier.
ReplyDeletea pox on everyone's iron...to the barricades in wrinkled but all cotton, all prep shirts...saddles to the wind all you non ironers! into the breach we go.( or is into into the beach?)
ReplyDeleteIf you are wearing all-cotton khakis, which you should be, there will be plenty of wrinkling downstairs so the wrinkling up top should be managed. A few wrinkles are okay, such as you might get if you lightly ironed the shirts yourself or sent them out for laundering and pressing but without starch. The extremes are to be avoided – heavy starch with knife edged creases on the one hand, or straight-from-the-dryer on the other. I think the pictures of Clark on this site perfectly capture the preferred look.
ReplyDeletenever knew there was a preppy iron. but now my eyes are opened. will order a Rowenta with over 300 teeny holes for proper steam...Can't wait to attack my Lillies with it.
ReplyDeleteHaha. Should we say that Rowenta is the official iron of SWNE? I submit, then, that Miele is the official vacuum.
DeleteWalk around your town today and look for people with wrinkled clothes. You will probably find none. People of traditional taste iron their clothes or have them laundered. People of other taste wear synthetics or "non-iron" cotton. I am eager to meet the (apparently) many readers of SWNE who wear un-ironed Mercer and Donnelly. That must be quite a sight!
ReplyDeleteI do love to iron, so everything cotton or linen gets ironed. Nothing looks so great as pants/shorts/sleeves with a sharp crease. I use starch as it helps things stay crisp longer while wearing. --Holly
ReplyDeleteWhat context and what shirt decides it for me. Cotton means the fibre. Old OCBD shirts with frayed cuffs used for puttering about don't get ironed. Corduroy shirts of course not. Anything that I wear anywhere to work is ironed, even and especially if it has a Tattersall pattern. Short sleeved Madras is where the question comes in. No question whatsoever if it has French cuffs.
ReplyDelete