How to iron a shirt

T.M.Lewin video guide in getting that perfectly ironed shirt in just 3 minutes.
on 11/01/2010 - 12:11
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Richard Billett
Author: Richard Billett on Wed, 18/08/2010 - 10:34

I bought a Lewin 100 regular fit shirt and find it's a right bu88er to iron, even after trying these tips.

The issue is that when you iron the front, the sleeves fold-over on themselves (gravity eh!?) and get 4 or 5 creases in them. I then have to iron the creases out while trying not to introduce new creases to the front! GRRRR!

Any suggestions apart from a maid? Would starch help or make it worse?

Cheers
RJB

BillyB
Author: BillyB on Sat, 21/08/2010 - 07:14

Hey RJB - my beautiful wife (who irons my TML shirts!) is just ironing now and says she understands what you mean about the creases. She has the following suggestions you might find helpful

1. Make sure the ironing board is high enough to stop sleeves from touching the board or floor

2. Ironing aid can help keep creases at bay during the ironing process. Unlike starch, the shirt is still comfortable to wear. It also helps it hold its pressed look for longer when being worn.

3. Try gently holding the nearest sleeve up with your free hand as you iron the sides and back of the shirt.  This can be where creases can occur in the sleeves.

4.  When ironing the collar, do so very close to the front edge of the board so your sleeves hang straight down instead of sitting over the front of the board as you iron the collar.

5. Before starting on the body, try gently curling the sleeve inside itself so it falls into a gentle corkscrew shape.

6. After you've finished ironing the entire shirt (as per the video) and the hanger is inside the shirt, hold the hanger in your free hand and touch up your sleeves. The hanger will help hold the rest of the shirt flat and avoid adding creases to the body.

Finally, a couple of minor 'dents' are unavoidable, unfortunately. Train yourself to think "save time ironing" instead of "must be perfect". Your shirts will still look better than those guys who dry-clean their shirts and get awful creases in the cuffs - they're a real fashion faux pas!

Hope this helps.

BB + Wife, Sydney

DanTML
Author: DanTML on Thu, 19/08/2010 - 16:13

Hi Richard,

I'm not quite sure what you mean? How are the sleeves folding over on each other?

Let me know and I'll find an answer!

Thanks,
Dan

BAMIMAN
Author: BAMIMAN on Fri, 13/08/2010 - 20:26
What a nice tip there,this will really go a long way to look good and maintain the materials, nice one!!! cheers
Will Cooper
Author: Will Cooper on Sun, 01/08/2010 - 20:35

HAve sent the link to my fiance. she has only ironed two garments for me and they were terrible. This video should help her improve her technique. She took 15 minutes to do one shirt so if we get under 10 with this video that will be a result. We get married in three weeks time so an opportune moment to iron my shirt for the day.

Thanks Jon!!

Surgeon Fraser
Author: Surgeon Fraser on Sun, 01/08/2010 - 17:17

THANKS, JOHN

Some really useful tips here even if you have been ironing for years. Will try them next time for a speedier end result.

Simon Brand
Author: Simon Brand on Sun, 25/07/2010 - 12:15

Lewins are great and thank you for the cheque........I mean tips. Will try doing the button up. Nice to see such a successful home grown company thats not floated with a team thats taken them to where they are.

Pound for pound I would say they are the best shirts going. Some other shirts may produce shirts that are a little nicer but they cost 3 x as much and are not 3 x as nice as TM's. Particularly some of John Francombes..........they are the nuts. 

Cheltenham Gent
Author: Cheltenham Gent on Sun, 25/07/2010 - 11:07
First of all well done T M Lewin. Great community site and good information. However there are many of us who prefer not to iron at all so how about bringing back the excellent non-iron range you had about two years ago. I am literally desperate for some of these.
Gliding Dutchman
Author: Gliding Dutchman on Mon, 05/07/2010 - 11:28

Hang on - he only ironed one sleeve, and one side of the yoke!

I'd say it's worth taking a little bit longer and doing it properly - this is a very cursory effort if you ask me.

Janice Stanhope-Gosson
Author: Janice Stanhope... on Wed, 30/06/2010 - 11:33
Top tip doing up shirt button. To the man who complains about the difficulty in ironing their shirts why are you even looking at this if you don't like their product?
Rajesh Seeruttun
Author: Rajesh Seeruttun on Sun, 27/06/2010 - 22:51

My average was about 6 mins, cheers John

Heel first, genius!

David Lister
Author: David Lister on Fri, 25/06/2010 - 11:01

Its not surprising that TM Lewin need a video on how to iron, considering how difficult to iron thier shirts are!

Im not surprised either that this comment keeps 'dissapearing' from the thread...

 

Brian Haroldsson
Author: Brian Haroldsson on Wed, 23/06/2010 - 21:44
Doing up the top button. Simple and effective, plus pressing on the heel. Thanks for that one!
Habib Michael
Author: Habib Michael on Wed, 23/06/2010 - 20:23
just learnt something new today..nice concept..taking this back to Nigeria..
Guy Fisher
Author: Guy Fisher on Mon, 21/06/2010 - 08:35

Oddly enuf, thats how i've been ironing my shirts for 20 years. the Lewin shirts are a great fit but a bugger to iron as the the shirts get older. i have found that dampening them down and leaving for a couple of hours and then dampen them down again and then iron. crisp finishes! Only use a little starch as it leaves the shirt shiney. I gotta get a life!

Adam Cusick
Author: Adam Cusick on Wed, 09/06/2010 - 23:16

I also use starch spray to keep my T.M Lewin looking sharp.

If I don't, my shirts look very average after 1 hour of wearing them.

Pavel Parfenov
Author: Pavel Parfenov on Wed, 09/06/2010 - 19:42
Get yourself a maid. It takes time to teach her but then it pays back.  I do some minor ironing before I wear a shirt.
maxi_crawf
Author: maxi_crawf on Sat, 24/04/2010 - 12:21
I will try that, it looks a lot easier than the way I do it,    and a tip, I treat myself to a steam generator iron ( the water is in a seperate base unit) it makes life a lot easier!!
Ian Cheffy
Author: Ian Cheffy on Tue, 16/03/2010 - 22:43
Now I know why I got a wrinkle in my collar today - I was pressing on the front of the iron, not the heel! I don't think my mother taught me that bit - or I'd forgotten. Very useful video - thanks a lot.
David Davies
Author: David Davies on Wed, 10/03/2010 - 17:39
This really helped me improve the finish of my shirts.
STUART MANN
Author: STUART MANN on Wed, 10/03/2010 - 17:23
Fantastic. At last, a quick and easy way of ironing. Doing up the top button is genius. I still cannot beat 3 minutes, but I love a challenge.
Cyril Cloth
Author: Cyril Cloth on Thu, 21/01/2010 - 15:21
This is sooo useful. It's something I dread every Sunday night but I'll be approaching it with a spring in my step from now on!