Pure cotton shirt

Becles

My husband has bought a full dinner suit for work that includes a pure cotton shirt.

The first time I washed it, it got put in the washer with the other shirts at 40°C. I use washing powder and fabric softener. Then it got put in the tumble drier with everything and came out with thousands of creases in that took ages to iron. Some ironed out but it still looked creased.

The second time, I washed it as normal, then hung it on a hanger till it was damp. I ironed it damp, then let it finish drying in the air, and ironed it again. This method was much better, but not perfect.

Anyone got any better tips for looking after the cotton shirt? He's going to be wearing it at least once a week, so I need a method that's quick and easy to keep it crease free.

Debt_Free_Chick

Are you using a hot iron with steam? As you've seen, the tumble drier tends to "fix" any creases and simply makes them worse :mad:

A damp iron, hot with plenty of steam would usually do the trick. You could try one of those spray ironing helpers, but I've found limited success with them. Another option is to spray water onto the shirt before you iron it - but this shouldn't be necessary if it's sufficiently damp.

Annoying, isn't it :mad:

trigger2

try using some spray starch when you iron it

[Deleted User]

The shirt needs to be ironed slightly damp. An os way (before steam irons) was to spray the shirt with water and roll it up, leave it a bit and then iron. It works. My dh has quite a few cotton shirts and they aren`t daunting to iron using this method

saving-grace

Some of my husband's cotton shirts are easy to iron, others are really really difficult to get the creases out of (even if very damp, or with a good steam iron). I've found spray starch does help a lot.
Its £1.49 in Sainsbury's but 99p at the dry-cleaners in the same store (Johnson's I think?)

elona

I would iron it straight out of the washing machine using spray starch and then put it on a hanger to finish drying.

GeordieBird

I always put things that will need ironing to dry on a hanger, seems to start the process!

reverie

My OH wears a shirt a day and he is a big chap, 17.5" shirts with extra long sleeves. They take a LOT of ironing. I try and iron them whilst damp, very hot iron and always use starch. Ironing cotton shirts is also a case of the more you do it the easier it gets I think. Collars, cuffs, sides, sleeves etc