UKC

Fooking pain. Spent 15 mins on it and am taking a break before I get started on the arms.

In reply to Smythie:

I've outsourced the ironing of my clothes for years....quite easy where i live as there are at least 6 dry cleaners within walking distance of my house

but you enjoy!

In reply to Morgan Woods:

This sounds like a wonderful plan. What sort of price are we talking about?

I loathe ironing.

In reply to Smythie:

I suggest you throw you iron away and free yourself from the shackles

In reply to brothersoulshine:

my local guy does shirts beautifully washed and ironed for the princely sum of 1.50 each, or 7 quid for 5 shirts.

In reply to Morgan Woods:

Dear Morgan

Could you delete your post, my wife reads this forum, she might ask for an increase in the housekeeping.

Norrie

In reply to Smythie: Buy some non-iron shirts and forget about the ironing.

In reply to Smythie: collar first, then arms, then body. that's the secret.

Or outsourcing, which is the route I've recently taken. I now find myself inwardly moaning that I have to leave the appropriate number of shirts out before I leave on Monday morning. Further evidence for my theory that, regardless of personal circumstances we each have a fixed and finite level of moaning. as circumstances improve, all that changes is the content of the moan.

In reply to Smythie: Was thinking the same last night, then realised i'd done 6 shirts in well under an hour.

You could just roll your sleves up, then theres no need to iron them

In reply to Morgan Woods:

i too have outsourced. she's very well trained

In reply to Norrie Muir:

surely she should get back to ironing your shirt!

In reply to Bob Hughes:

if you must iron your own shirts it's best if they're slightly damp so don't let them dry too long....even straight out of the washing machine is ok though a little difficult to manage.

In reply to Smythie:

Ahem... I used to occasionally teach ironing to 'young people'. Tis a long and boring story that I shan't burden you with.

However, if you're spending that long on a shirt, I suspect you're over-ironing it.

Top tips:

1. either start off ever so slightly damp, or use a plant sprayer to dampen each section you're going to iron.

2. Do the collar first, in 2 sweeps: corner to middle, then other corner to middle.

3. Now do the shoulder yoke. Holding the shirt by the collar, slide it onto the ironing board so the point of the board is towards the shoulder. Again, iron from shoulder to middle. Reverse shirt and do the same for the other shoulder yoke.

4. Next the sleeves... But I ain't going to talk you through the rest or we'll be here all day...

Do spend time placing the shirt exactly how you want it on the board. Smooth it out with your fingers before you go anywhere near it with the iron (too easy to add creases by mistake).

Only experience can teach you how to use just the point of the iron...

Make sure your iron is at the correct temperature and steam setting for the shirt's material: too hot and steamy and you'll just wrinkle it/wreck it.

Don't do what I saw one wee lad do and try to fill the water reservoir by holding the baseplate under a running tap. He thought the steam holes were where the water went in too...

Right, where's my anorak?

In reply to JayH:
wear a jumper over the top, then you only have to iron the collar
or
buy some non-iron shirts
or
have an understanding wife/girlfriend/mother

In reply to CT:

Wear a waistcoat and then just iron the collar?

In reply to Petzl: Or even better, i'm currently sat with my fleece on (damn aircon!) though now wondering what the point of ironing my shirt was...not like theres anyone to impress around here.

In reply to Smythie: I once went out with a girl who told me that she "couldn't stand to see a man ironing". She felt it was incompatible with our masculinity or something. Strange girl - some very old-fashioned habits, such as insisting that her man walked "upstream" from her when crossing a road (as if my body was going to make much difference to the speed of a car travelling towards her).

I was highly impressed with her attitude towards ironing; I hate doing it, and I am expected to wear a smart shirt to work. I Was looking forward to many happy occasions when she would say to me "Oh, stop that, dear. You put that iron down, and let me do it while you sit down and have a beer."

Strangely enough, she always managed to be absent from my place when I was ironing. Crafty bird.

In reply to JayH: you iron your anorak as well, i thought it was just your socks?

In reply to Jon Greengrass:

:oP

Aye, but I'll tell you this, bub, I'm still never gonna be ironing any of *your* shirts.

In reply to Smythie:

Get your mum to do it...what the hell else are they for?

In reply to Smythie:

Get poly cotton shirts and tumble dry them - they probably won't need ironing at all if you hang them up straight away unless you are needing an extra specially good finish - even then you probably only need to do the collar & front if you are keeping your jacket on.