I wanted to share with you one of my tricks I used for easily ironing the cuff of my sleeve when I don’t feel like breaking out the iron and the ironing board. I just use my hair straightener! It just takes me a few minutes to get everything pressed and ready to go for the day. I can do this in the morning before work because I’ve already got my hair straightener on. Here’s how the process looks.
I started with a button up shirt that is supposed to have a nicely folded and pressed cuff on the sleeve. You can see that it is a wrinkled mess.
The button tab on the shirt is twisted.
When let down, the sleeve is wrinkled toward the end.
Starting with the button tab, pull it tight and run the straightener along the length of it a couple times. Move fairly quickly, you don’t want anything to burn. Make sure you are smoothing out the wrinkles before you run the straightener over it. If you run it over a section that is folded, it will only make the wrinkles deeper.
Just keep going over it until it is wrinkle free.
Next tackle the unfolded sleeve. It is important to pull the sleeve tight with one hand, doing your best to smooth out any wrinkles. Using your other hand, run the straightener over small sections to begin flatting the wrinkles out. It is also important to marry a man who agrees to take pictures of you flat ironing your clothes.
Focus on the very edge of the sleeve to get that straight first, then work your way down.
You can go the whole length of the sleeve to tame the wrinkles for when you fold it up.
When the majority of the wrinkles are flattened, fold up the cuff to the length you want.
Now use the straightener to get a nice crisp edge on the cuff. Work your way around the cuff flattening the top and bottom edge of the folded part.
Replace your button tab and that’s it! A cleanly ironed cuff using your hair straightener!
You can see from the before and after pictures what a big difference a hair straightener can make! You can use this same method to iron collars, hem lines, and the center button up part of the shirt (what is that called?). Just make sure you are using it on a fabric that can handle the heat of the iron.
Does anyone else use this method for ironing?