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How do you clean your dress shirts?

TomW

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I wash mine in warm water on the gentle cycle and hang to dry. I iron when barely damp and then hang overnight before returning them to the closet. They remain perfectly pressed and I (one of a very small minority) find ironing to be occassionally pleasant. If I cannot iron at the appropriate time, I bag them while still quite damp and iron as soon as I am able. I never send shirts out.

I steam and brush my suits after each wearing or two and dry clean when soiled or every 12-18 months, except those items worn only seasonally, which are cleaned before being packed in acid free paper placed in acid free boxes, which are then put up on the upper shelves in my closets. I've had very good results this way.
 

ernest

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You should always use a pillar cover in which you put your clothes to avoid these hits the side of the drum
 

ernest

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When a garment is made, Ottusch said, manufacturers often stretch a fabric to its max so that slightly less cloth is needed. (A tiny bit of fabric factored over thousands of identical garments is a significant savings.)
But when the garment is washed, the cloth fibers will shrink to their natural state. The warmer the water, the greater the reversion
I have always problem with sleeves' lenght as they shrink from 2 to 4 cm after many washings..........

I have notice that by pulling on sleeves of one of my Hilditch which had been washed in machine and had shrunk a little (- 1/1.5cm) I was able to recover the original lenght.

So if it shrinks a little this is not a big deal.

May be I will wash in machine with cold water and in a pillar cover with no rinsing (with no soap, no water?)


I prefer washing by hand than having too short sleeves (my nightmare because I have old shirts which are 5 cm too short...)
 

johnw86

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Stain remover on the cuffs and collars.

Warm water, gentle cycle.

8 minutes in the dryer on low heat.

Hang to finish drying.

Steam iron (Gave up the starch based on a previous thread).
 

Eric

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Do any of you own a steamer? I don't take nearly as meticulous care of my shirts as you all. I just take them to the cleaners when needed, and if they are alittle wrinkled but not dirty, I'll steam out the wrinkles with a steamer.

Eric
 

kabert

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My local dry cleaners. I don't know what or how, but they haven't broken a button, etc. in over two years of using them (weekly). They charge about $1.20/shirt. I guess I've been lucky in finding them, as I have used cleaners over the years that destroy buttons on a weekly basis. For anyone in DC wondering who they are, I don't know their name, but they are on MacArthur Blvd in NW DC across the street from the Starbucks and next door to the Palisades Post Office. It's run by an Asian family and their English is very sketchy....

I have used the local "high-end" cleaners - Parkway Cleaners -- a few times. They are unbelievably expensive though. Like $5/shirt. $25 for dress pants. $40+ for a wool suit. Like I said, expensive. But hey, delivery to one's house is free. I have no idea what they do that justifies the cost, but they do seem to do a great job. I go to them only for problem stains, tuxedo shirts, and similar unusual cases. Some people I know though will use no one else.

I did recently notice on a few dark blue fine weave shirts a slight sheen was forming on the collars and cuffs. I washed them in the washer and now the sheen is gone. I think the nap of the fabric just got matted down after years of commercial laundering at the dry cleaners.
 

HitMan009

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Here is my method....

I wear some shirts that are almost 10 years old so I am pretty sure this method works.
Shirt is inside-out and be in one of those Rubbermaid round tubs.
1) Use Tide Liquid on main soil areas: collar, shirt cuff, etc...
2) Dampen the shirt just enough, using one liquid Tide cap full of water.
3) Let set for around 30 minutes.
4) Fill the tub to totally cover the shirt, most of the time is slighty warm water, for white shirts, hot water.
5) Leave for work, allowing detergent to break down oils, dirt, etc.  Around 9-10 hours.
6) Rinse detergent off shirt, around 4-5 rinses.
7) Compress into ball, squeezing as much water out as possible.  Do NOT wring out your shirts.
8) Hang Dry for an hour or so till shirt is slightly damp to the touch.
9) Iron inside and out side of shirt cuffs.
10) Iron inside of shirt sleeves, shoulders and yoke(the side that contacts the body).
11) Iron back of collar.
12) Iron on the inside of the shirt(the side that contacts the body)
13) Now invert the shirt back to the correct position(outside of the shirt on the outside, inside of the shirt on the inside).
14) Iron shoulders, yoke, then sleeves.
15) Iron back of the shirt, then front of the shirt.

Have a spray bottle handy for any tough wrinkles.  The finer the mist, the better.  I find the steam from irons useless and prefer just using a spray bottle.

-Hitman009
 

sirgarnetwolseley

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I used to wash three shirts at a time and try to iron them all while still damp. Ironing the first was a zen-like experience, the second was a tiring chore, and the third was sheer torture. Recently, a shirtmaker warned me off of ironing damp shirts straight out of the washer. She said the time required to iron a damp colar to a state of dryness will tend to cook the fabric, significantly shortening the collar's life. My current method is as follows; I wash my shirts in warm water, usually with some towels or sheets and hang to dry on wooden hangers (I don't think the material of the hanger matters). This way I have a large fleet of clean, unironed shirts hanging in my closet at any one time. The night before, or sometimes in the morning, I pick the shirt I want to wear and give it a light misting from a bottle, paying particular attention not to get the cuff too wet. I iron it dry and hang on a hanger, ready to go. I much prefer this method as I only need to iron one shirt at a time and it is significantly faster to iron a barely misted shirt than a damp one straight out of the wash. And I don't use any starch as I can't see its purpose, other than to shorten the life of your shirts, particularly the collars and cuffs. If I wanted a stiff collar and cuffs, I would order my shirts with a stiff interlining. I don't want anthing too stiff though so I order them with a soft lining in the cuffs and a medium one in the collars. Comments?
 

j

(stands for Jerk)
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I agree about the cuffs and collars. Ironing them to full dryness is a risky undertaking. That's why I dry my shirts most of the way in the dryer (I know, I know). I re-mist the body fabric and also iron the underside of the collar and cuffs. I may start going to the hang dry method; I just have to find space to do that.
 

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