How to Iron a Shirt

We tend to divide our work pretty much the old fashioned way. Sure, you’ll find us in the kitchen together, but mostly it’s my domain. Maybe I’ll be out poking around the yard with him, but mostly it’s his baby. He takes care of my car, I iron his shirts. We don’t actually think about dividing the work. We just tend to gravitate to that with which we are comfortable with and it has worked for us for us.

Now, this is about ironing. Although I procrastinate, I really don’t mind it when I get to it. It’s kind of a mindless job that still gives me a sense of satisfaction. Even so, while most of it is a quick run-over with the iron, those cotton shirts can look quite daunting. Sometimes I spread out his shirt on my ironing board, and when I wish I was done already, I remember . . . to be thankful for his arms, his strong back, his loving heart . . . and I iron. I know that if he were not here . . . I would iron 300 shirts just to have him back for one day.
So, it looks like not all ironing moments are mindless . . . because I had another thought. If I can take pictures of cooking, why not ironing? Maybe a shirt ironing lesson is practical too. So here are my thoughts, beginning with the fact that you need a good steam iron. If you do not have that, you will do yourself a big favor by taking cotton shirts our of the dryer while still damp.
Then . . .

1) Spread the left side of the shirt out on the ironing board, leaving the rest to hang behind the ironing board - away from you. Straighten it out and iron that whole panel, starting under the collar and going down over the button holes.
2) Slide the shirt down toward you (the left sleeve hanging down on your side) and iron along the shoulder blade area toward the collar and down.
3) Keep sliding the shirt down toward you and go over the middle of the back – if there is a tuck, you can iron around it flat, or fashion it at the bottom and pull, then iron it in. Proceed all the way up around the collar.
4) Continue sliding the shirt over (toward you) and, with your free hand pulling it taut, go over the right side of the back and along the seam.
5) Slide the shirt over toward the front right panel, and starting around the sleeve seam, go over the base of the collar and head down around the buttons.
6) Hang the shirt over the ironing board by the shoulder so that one shoulder area can easily be ironed easily
7) Repeat with other shoulder.
8) Spread out a sleeve, lining up the seam and iron down to the cuff and around that area, doing both sides.
9) Repeat with other sleeve.
10) Last, but not least, straighten out the collar and iron it, pulling it taut with your free hand.

And remember to tell him how good that shirt looks on him!