Long time/first time, I have a dress uniform jacket (think tuxedo quality) that was left behind on my last trip to the dry cleaners. Difficulty level: wrinkled and needs to be freshened up in less than 24 hours. Do you have any suggestions how to clean and press it tonight? Thanks!
Oh, I sure do have some suggestions—and I'm thrilled with the timing of this question, arriving as it did just before the holiday season, what with its fancy dress affairs, kicked into full swing. While the question is specifically about a dress uniform jacket (cue Gang of Four) the advice I have to offer you can also be applied to suit jackets, classic navy blazers, and even tuxedo jackets. Let's do this thing.
Steaming
Stickler-ish fabric-care experts will warn you about the dangers of steaming suit jackets—steaming will warp the fibers! Steaming can cause the lining to pucker, creating unsightly ripples! Steaming a hanging garment may cause stretching!—and I feel honor-bound to mention that to you. I also feel compelled by the fact that I live in the real world with the rest of you to mention steaming as an option for de-wrinkling and freshening up a suit, dress uniform, or tuxedo jacket, and give you a few pointers on how you might go about doing so.
If you have a steamer, great! Use that. It can be a handheld dealie, like the ones that are so popular among frequent travelers (hot tip from me to you, the frequent traveler: drain the water out before packing to avoid damp messes), or a standing model. Both are great! To use, heat the steamer, hang the jacket on a sturdy hanger, and steam away. Depending on how wrinkled the jacket is, you may want to give it one pass, allow it to hang for 15-20 minutes while the wrinkles ease out, and then do another once over to ensure it looks its best.
But let's say you don't have a steamer. All is not lost! You can certainly employ a tea kettle for steam-making purposes (mind your fingers) or the old shower steaming trick, which involves hanging your jacket up in the bathroom while the shower blasts hot water, creating a steamy de-wrinkling chamber. Do you mind if I level with you? I've never found shower steam to be particularly effective and it is, of course, quite wasteful unless you're in the shower performing your ablutions, in which case, shower steam away. I can, however, provide a tip to help you make shower steaming more effective and it is this: After you've steamed the garment while hanging, lay it on a flat surface, like a bed or table, and smooth it with your hands, pressing down quite firmly.
Wrinkle-Eliminating Sprays
The lay-garment-flat-and-smooth technique brings us nicely to this next subset of de-wrinkling tips, the first of which is about as lo-fi as you can get. This is seriously so startlingly good at removing wrinkles, you won't even believe it. Grab a clean spray bottle, fill it with water, and lightly spritz the jacket—you don't want to saturate it, so be sure to keep the bottle at least six inches away from the fabric, which will allow you to mist the fibers without soaking them—before using your hands to smooth out wrinkles. As the jacket dries, more of the wrinkles will ease out, so employ a small amount of patience before repeating as needed.
If you want something a little more commercial, Downy Wrinkle Releaser is a good option. You can also take a DIY approach by combining 1 cup water with 1 teaspoon liquid fabric softener in a spray bottle. However, beware the scent, which some find to be a bit cloying. Using the product a few hours in advance of donning whatever it is that needs to be de-wrinkled will allow the smell time to dissipate, as will hanging the jacket (or shirt, or slacks, or dramatic kimono) outside or near an open window. Don't underestimate the power of fresh air, is what I'm trying to tell you.
Ironing
I'm usually a save-the-best-for-last kind of gal, but in this case I deliberately saved ironing—which I do not at all find to be the best, total honesty time here!—for the end of our discussion about de-wrinkling. Not because it isn't the ideal approach (it is actually the ideal approach, humph), but because ironing tends to be a chore that many people absolutely dread. I know, because I'm one of them! And I, like, love scrubbing a bathtub. With that said, there are loads of people who really love ironing and we should all strive to be a bit more like them. Ironing is a good thing to do! And the more you do it, the more comfortable you'll get with it, the less awkward it will feel, and one day you'll wake up to discover that you're a person who doesn't at all mind ironing. Weird but true.
To help you down the path to becoming A Person Who Loves Ironing, here are a few tips for you to keep in mind. The first is to go slowly and use patience. Oftentimes, our instinct when it comes to tackling tasks that we absolutely hate is to rush through to get it over with. That is totally understandable! But rushing is also likely to yield a less-than-stellar result and can also result in mishaps like, oh, I dunno, running the iron over your hand. So! Take a deep breath and don't be afraid to take your time.
The next tip is to lean on YouTube, which has a trove of how-to videos detailing all manner of ironing techniques. I like this series of short clips because it's broken down by suit detail, providing individual instructions on how to iron lapels, pockets and collars, sleeves, underarms, etc. The narration isn't the most scintillating, so if you'd prefer your ironing tutorials be delivered with a British accent, try this one.
There are also a few small details around technique that will help to up your ironing game: Place a towel between the ironing board and the garment, which will help to protect buttons and other embellishments when ironing the inside of garments. Check the care tag for details on what fabric type you're working with to determine which heat setting to use; in the case of suit, dress uniform, and tuxedo jackets, which are generally made of wool, you'll want to use the medium heat setting, which will most likely be identified right there on the dial as the one to use for woolens. In addition to placing a towel down on your board, the use of a press cloth is absolutely a thing you should do. "A wha?" A press cloth. It's exactly what it sounds like, a piece of cloth that you place in between the iron and the garment in need of pressing and, in the case of wool items, it's especially crucial to use one to help protect against scorching or those ugly shiny patches that sometimes occur while you're ironing. You can use virtually any light-colored fabric that is iron-safe—an old white tee or a lightweight cotton dishrag are good options—or you can buy a dedicated press cloth online or in the notions department at the kind of stores that still have notions departments. Man, I love a notions department so much.
Oh right, and you should have a good iron. Do you need a recommendation? Check out The Sweethome's pick. You'll be in good hands with The Sweethome, they manage to be even more obsessive than I in their approach to their jobs.
Speaking of which! I should probably take a quick sec to introduce myself to you and explain why our friend with the wrinkly jacket described himself as a "long time/first time" and you're like, "Who even is this lady?" I'm Jolie Kerr, and I'm a Clean Person. I started writing a weekly Q&A-style cleaning advice column way back in 2011, first on the Hairpin, and more recently on Deadspin. Along the way, I also wrote a book and started a podcast.
I'm so excited to be bringing my act to Esquire, where I'll join you each week to tackle your cleaning conundrums, from the super basic ("Oh hey, I don't think I actually know how to do laundry?") to the utterly esoteric ("There appears to be a mushroom growing out of my bathtub, should I be worried?"). No question is too weird, or too personal, or too simple to ask. I really mean that! Look, someone once asked me to explain how a sponge is used, and I've fielded more questions about testicular care than we have time to discuss today.
So! Hit me with your best spots, so to speak. My email is joliekerr@gmail.com; you can also find me on Twitter @joliekerr. We'll have some fun, I promise. No really. You don't believe me right now but one day you'll find yourself flitting around your home with a feather duster, admonishing your roommates that they're not to use Pledge because of silicone build-up, and you'll be all, "Damn. That Jolie chick was right."
I'll look forward to hearing from you on that day!
