Practical Tips For Ironing

If you are a novice at ironing, this chore will seem like a daunting task. Getting the wrinkles out can be frustrating for certain types of fabric. Add on your inexperience and wrong technique, existing wrinkles might disappear but new ones could crop up when you least expect it too. Even worse if your garment ended up getting burnt. Below are some practical tips for ironing that you might want to try out to save you time and a fair bit of heartache!

Tips For Ironing That Save Time

Iron Your Clothes Damp

Ironing is easiest when the clothes are still damp. Don’t wait for them to be completely dry inside your dryer. Remove them while they are still slightly wet and move them straight to the ironing board. This saves time because wrinkles are easier to get rid of when the fabric is still wet.

Moreover, you don’t have to fill up your spray bottle and wet your clothes with this method. You skip a step which saves you a bit of time. If you have a steam iron, you might not even need to fill it with water to get rid of the wrinkles of a damp garment. This means you will have a lighter iron to work on without the water which makes it easier on your wrist.

Minimise The Wrinkles

This step begins during the drying cycle. Don’t fill up your machine to the brim. When clothes are tightly packed inside a dryer, they are much more difficult to iron with their stubborn wrinkles.

Therefore, don’t try to fit all that you can inside your dryer just so you can dry everything in one load. You will spend a lot of time ironing out the wrinkles later on. It would be more time effective overall to iron them wet or just hang them out to dry instead if you can’t iron them on the spot. Remember to straighten them out when you hang them for drying. This will also help to minimise the wrinkles.

If you use the dryer, it is also advisable to remove your clothes immediately from the machine once the cycle is completed. Smooth them out rather than pile them up in a basket. If you let a big pile of warm laundry sit in a basket, the wrinkles will be harder to get rid of once formed.

Buy The Right Iron And Ironing Board

Not only the right iron and ironing board makes ironing easier, they also play a part in helping to reduce your ironing time. A good iron can get rid of wrinkles faster with a higher amount of steam output and smoother soleplate. That is why some people prefer to pay a premium to get a Rowenta iron.

Similarly, an ironing board can reduce your ironing time if it has a larger surface area. This cuts down on the number of times that you will need to reposition your clothes for ironing. There are wide ironing boards for clothes as well as extra long ones which are ideal for ironing pants. On top of that, there is also a revolutionary design for the Flippr ironing board which, of course, aims to make ironing faster and easier for everyone.

Tips For Avoiding Stains While Ironing

Test Your Iron First

Always begin by testing your iron on an unwanted piece of fabric. This is especially true for steam irons which tend to have impurities leaking out of the steam holes that can stain your clothes. For me, I will press the steam jet button a few times to flush out any impurities before I begin using it on my clothes.

Follow The Instructions

Different steam irons will have different water requirements. Some allow for normal tap water while others might ask you to fill them with only distilled water. So, read the instructions carefully. This will help to prolong the lifespan of your steam iron. It will also help to prevent staining your clothes with if the wrong type of water is used over time.

Use The Right Temperature

You can’t have too high a temperature for certain types of fabric. So, check the temperature dial when you plug in your iron. Make sure it is at the correct setting for the type of fabric that you are going to iron. If it is too hot, your clothes can end up with a brownish stain.

If you are unsure, begin with the lower setting to be on the safe side. You can always turn it higher if you find that the iron is not hot enough for the garment you are ironing. Of course, you also can’t iron the same spot over and over again until it gets too hot. This will also leave a scorched stain. You will need a continuous gliding motion over a wide area. Go back to the spot that requires more ironing after the fabric has cooled somewhat.