O M G – you’re away from home and there’s no iron. Or you’re at home, and your iron has given up the ghost! What is a girl to do?
One of the oldest and easiest ways when thinking about how to remove wrinkles from clothes without an iron is to boil a big pot of water on the stove until it is super hot and bubbling. Once boiling point is reached, tip the water out into the sink and proceed to use the incredibly hot bottom of the pot as a makeshift iron! If done swiftly, this method can be just as effective as a real iron. Make sure the pot is exceptionally clean though!
A handy tip to remember is that standard household white vinegar is really effective in ridding your clothing of pesky wrinkles and creases. Create a spritz of three parts water, one part vinegar, mist it over your desired garments and leave to completely dry. It really works and it’s gentle for your threads.
You can kill two birds with one stone by making a nice cup of tea and steaming the wrinkles out of your clothes at the same time! Hold your clothing about twelve inches above the steaming kettle and you will be able to see the creases disappearing before your very eyes.
A slightly different version of the kettle method now: while you are having a shower you should try hanging up your wrinkled garments around the inside of the bathroom with the door closed. Give it ten minutes or so for the steam in the room to build up and you will start to see a difference. Not the most effective of methods but a handy tip for people who are traveling in hotels and motels.
Did you know that your mattress can be used for more than just sleeping on? Grab your wrinkled garment and roll it up in the fashion of a burrito, remember to roll, not fold! When the burrito is rolled, place it under your mattress for around an hour and the weight of it will help to eradicate most of the wrinkles that were present. (I used to lay out much of my holiday wardrobe flat on the bed base and leave it there until I used it – it used to work quite well.)
That’s right - the very same flat iron that you use to get kinks and creases out of your hair can indeed be used to do the very same thing for your clothes! When you think about it, women in the '60s did actually use a real iron to straighten their hair so this is just a reversal of technology! Though it may not be so effective for really big garments, smaller pieces of clothing can be de-wrinkled very easily using a hot flat iron, and also smaller pesky sections of shirts, like the collars and cuffs.
The trick to getting the creases and wrinkles out of your already dry clothes using your dryer is to get a small item like a handkerchief or sock damp and throw it in with the garments in question. Set the dryer to medium and let the whole lot spin for about fifteen to twenty minutes and when it is finished you should be able to see a significant difference in the state of your previously wrinkled clothes!
I really detest ironing and do everything I can to avoid it. My favorite is to dry everything on hangers so most of the creases drop out as the clothes dry. What do you do when you’re without an iron?