How to Iron a Button-up Shirt for a Crisp, Clean Finish

• Set the iron to the highest steam setting and spritz the front and back of your shirt using a spray bottle filled with water before you begin.
• With the collar popped and the shirt’s back flattened across the ironing board, work out any wrinkles by slowly going over the entirety of the shirt with the iron.
• Flip the shirt on the ironing board and repeat, paying special attention to work out any wrinkles from the buttonholes, front of the collar, and cuffs.

Setting Up the Iron

Fill the iron with fresh tap water. In almost all cases, fresh water from your tap is fine for ironing. Fill the iron up before getting started. Some older advice said to use distilled water, but this isn’t necessary and might even damage the iron. The one exception is if the tap water in your area is particularly hard, meaning it has a lot of dissolved minerals in it. In this case, mix the tap water with half distilled water.

Select a high heat setting for cotton shirts. Most dress shirts are made with cotton, so a high heat setting is best. This will give you a nice, crisp finish. Always check the care tag to confirm the material that the shirt is made from. The care tag may also give the ideal temperature setting for the iron. Polyester, wool, and silk shirts can’t handle high heats, so make sure you set the heat lower if you have shirts made from these materials. Don't go any higher than the low or medium setting on your iron.

Set the iron to its highest steam setting. You’ll need plenty of steam for a good finish, so don’t be shy. Crank up the steam setting to high. This will smooth out your dress shirts nicely.

Spritz all your shirts with a spray bottle before ironing. Damp shirts tend to smooth out better, and a little extra moisture helps really get rid of those wrinkles. Fill a spray bottle with clean tap water and spritz down all the spots you’re ironing first. This should give you a smoother finish. You can skip this step if your clothes are still damp from washing.

Collar

Pop the shirt collar and flatten it onto the ironing board. Take the shirt and flip the collar up. Press the back of the shirt down onto the ironing board in any spot so the front of the collar faces up. Flatten the collar out so it’s nice and even. Some dress shirts have buttons holding the collar down, so make sure you undo these first. Remember to unbutton the shirt too.

Slide the iron across the collar. Press the iron down against one side of the collar. Then apply gentle pressure and slide the iron smoothly from one side to the other to work out any wrinkles. You can make a few more passes if the collar still looks wrinkled, but 1 or 2 is usually enough. Some say that you’ll get a better finish if you iron the front or back of the collar first. There’s disagreement, so you can experiment to see if you notice a difference.

Flip the shirt and iron the other side of the collar. Once the front of the collar is nice and smooth, flip the shirt over. Flatten out the collar again, then pass over it with the iron. This way, both sides of your collar are crisp and smooth. If you’re having trouble getting any of the wrinkles out, try spritzing the collar with the spray bottle a bit more.

Front and Back

Flatten the buttoned side of the shirt onto the ironing board. Take the side of the shirt with the buttons and tuck the neck over the pointy part of the ironing board. Then press the shirt onto the ironing board, trying to stretch it out a bit lengthwise. Smooth it out so it’s nice and tight against the board.

Slide the iron from the outside of the shirt towards the buttons. Hold the iron so it points up toward the shirt collar. Press it down onto the shirt with gentle pressure, and work it horizontally from the outside to the inside toward the buttons. Stop when you reach the buttons. Continue working in this pattern until the side of the shirt is smooth. Be careful not to hit any of the buttons with the iron or you could rip them off. If the space in between the buttons is wrinkly, then carefully press the thin point of the iron into these spots.

Repeat the same motion on the other side of the shirt. When you’re done on the first side, flatten out the other side of the shirt onto the ironing board and tuck the neck over the pointed part of the board. Smooth out this side with the iron using the same motion as you used on the first side. On most dress shirts, the pocket is on the side without the buttons. Smooth over this very carefully so you don’t rip it.

Run the iron down the buttonhole section. This is the placket, the part with the buttonholes. You want this to look nice and crisp too. Press the iron down at the top of the placket near the neck. Then smoothly run it down the placket to flatten it out. Don’t try this same motion on the other side with the buttons, or you might rip them off.

Flip the shirt and iron the back. Once you’re done with the front of the shirt, move on to the back. Flip it over and center the collar at the pointy edge of the ironing board. Tuck the collar over the pointy part to hold it in place. Flatten the shirt out, then slide the iron from the top of the shirt down. Work in even rows to avoid making any new wrinkles. You could also do the back of the shirt first if you prefer. The order doesn’t matter.

Slide the shirt left or right to get any sections that couldn’t fit. You probably won’t be able to fit the whole back of the shirt onto the ironing board, so slide it to the side so you can reach the rest of it. First, slide it to the left and iron that section. Finally, slide it to the right and iron this part to finish up the back.

Finish up with the stitched section on the shoulders. This is the yoke, the boxy section on the back around the shoulders. Adjust the shirt so the whole yoke is sitting on the ironing board at any point. Slide the iron across it to work out any wrinkles. It's common to miss this spot, and many people overlook it. Don't be one of them! Make sure your whole shirt is crisp and smooth.

Sleeves and Cuffs

Spread out the shirt cuffs and press them flat. Unbutton all the parts of the cuff and open them up. Then press the cuff flat onto the ironing board at any point, facing up.

Iron the inside of the cuff first. This gives you a crisper finish. Slide the iron across the inside of the cuff from one side to the other. You might find it easier to just use the front edge of the iron for this. It fits into the cuff better. Watch out for the buttons here too. You don't want to rip any parts of the shirt.

Flip the sleeve and iron the outside of the cuff. With the inside of the cuff done, flip the sleeve so you can reach the outside. Flatten out, the same way as you did with the inside. Then slide the iron across the cuff to smooth it out. Repeat the same steps for the other cuff.

Spread the sleeve out and iron it. Turn the shirt so the sleeve points down the length of the shirt. Stretch out one of the sleeves and press it down onto the ironing board. Make sure the sleeve is folded at the seam. Then work the iron from the top of the sleeve down until you reach the cuff. If there are still some wrinkles left, work the iron across the sleeve to smooth them out.

Turn the sleeve and iron the other side. Finally, all that’s left is the other side of the sleeve. Flip the shirt over and flatten the sleeve out. Then gently run the iron down the sleeve to the cuff. If there are still wrinkles, then work the iron across the sleeve towards the seam as well.

Repeat these steps for the last sleeve. Once you've successfully ironed one sleeve, the other one is no problem! Simply flip the shirt over and stretch out the sleeve down the ironing board. Give it a quick ironing and your shirt is all set to wear.