# Ironing a wet shirt before it dries completely. Good or bad?



## trolperft (Feb 7, 2007)

I found that it makes ironing out the wrinkles much easier.
But I'm not sure if it do damage to the cloth of the shirt.
Is it OK?


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## rip (Jul 13, 2005)

That's a standard way of ironing; even if the shirt is dry, one sprays it with water to dampen it before ironing. I've never heard any caveats about fabric damage.


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## JibranK (May 28, 2007)

That is the best way to iron a shirt, so you're fine.


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## pt4u67 (Apr 27, 2006)

Let it dry some so that's its still damp and then iron.


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## eamuscatuli3 (Jun 12, 2006)

I do it straight from the washer, and it works perfectly.


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## a tailor (May 16, 2005)

ironing a shirt while still damp seems a good idea. i would do it but my good wife is the expert. she turns out perfection every time.

as to ironing a completely wet shirt i wonder. 
cotton is a vegetable fiber, its wet now add a hot iron. 
would the result be a boiled vegetable shirt?
would this be undue wear?


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## JerseyJohn (Oct 26, 2007)

The only problem with ironing a partially dried shirt might be that the shirt doesn't dry evenly, so it's still quite damp around the collar and seams when the body is nearly dry. My mother used the old pre-steam iron method: she used to dry shirts completely on a line, re-dampen them with a sprinkler bottle, then wrap them up in coffee-can sized cylinders to sit for a few hours.


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## eamuscatuli3 (Jun 12, 2006)

a tailor said:


> as to ironing a completely wet shirt i wonder.
> cotton is a vegetable fiber, its wet now add a hot iron.
> would the result be a boiled vegetable shirt?
> would this be undue wear?


Fortunately, the shirt isn't _completely_ wet out of the drier--most of the water has been wrung out of it during the spin cycle. Add to that the fact that whatever water is left quickly turns into steam upon contact with the hot iron. I haven't found any "undue wear" issues between my straight-from-the-drier method and waiting until the shirts are merely damp before ironing.


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## BlueParrot (Aug 27, 2007)

*damp ironing*

It is better if the shirt is slightly damp. In fact, my dryer has four settings for degrees of doneness: normal, damp iron, and damp iron+, and very damp. I use these settings all the time.


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## Rossini (Oct 7, 2007)

trolperft said:


> I found that it makes ironing out the wrinkles much easier.
> But I'm not sure if it do damage to the cloth of the shirt.
> Is it OK?


If you're organised enough to do so all the time, then great. As long as it's not _too_ damp though. Otherwise, a sprinkler bottle is an essential ironing companion to achieve a similar effect.


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## misch.chief (Feb 21, 2008)

yeah I agree with what has been said -definitely a slightly wet shirt is needed!


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## Alexander Kabbaz (Jan 9, 2003)

.


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