How To Get Wrinkles Out Of Clothes

How To Get Wrinkles Out of Your Clothes Without An Iron

It's time to put the ironing board away.

We've all been there. You have an outfit in mind to wear to work or out for dinner, but when you pull it out of the closet, it's wrinkled. While wrinkles are always fashion no-nos, ironing is such a chore. Luckily you don't have to make the decision between finding a new outfit to wear or pulling out the ironing board, because there are several tricks for removing wrinkles from clothing using steam and heat minus the iron.

The first thing to try is an easy-to-make wrinkle releaser spray. According to Apartment Therapy, fill a spray bottle with two cups of water, one teaspoon of hair conditioner, and one tablespoon of white vinegar. Shake it up and spray onto your wrinkled clothes until they're lightly damp (not soaked). Stretch and pull the fabric until the wrinkles release and you're ready to go. If you are working with a delicate or easily stained fabric, you may want to test this on a small, unnoticeable portion of the clothing before spraying down the whole thing.

White Wrinkled Shirt

If you don't have the ingredients for the wrinkle releaser spray, or aren't sure about its impact on your fabric, grab your blow dryer. Hot air can zap wrinkles out of existence in no time. Self suggests holding the dryer about two inches away from the article of clothing and then letting rip with the hot air. Blow until the wrinkles smooth out.

My mother's favorite tip for getting wrinkles out was to hang dresses or shirts in the bathroom, close the windows and doors, and take as hot of a shower as possible. The idea is turn the entire bathroom into a steam room to remove the wrinkles, a process that usually took 15 minutes. If you're already bathed, a similar concept is to use a tea kettle as a DIY steam iron. Boil water in a kettle and hold the wrinkled clothing about 10-12 inches away from the steam pouring out of the spout, making sure not to burn yourself or your clothing in the process. The steam should flatten the wrinkles pretty quickly.

Another option is to head to the freezer and grab a few ice cubes, Apartment Therapy notes. Toss your wrinkled clothing in the dryer along with an ice cube or two and set your dryer on its highest heat setting and hit start. The idea is that the ice cubes will melt in the heat, generating steam that will remove the wrinkles from your clothes.

StyleCaster notes that people also have luck removing wrinkles by tossing a few damp dryer sheets in the dryer along with the wrinkled clothing. Set to medium and let it spin for about 15 minutes.

Finally, to smooth small sections of clothing like cuffs, collars, or hemlines, head to the bathroom for your flat iron. While this is technically still ironing, it's less cumbersome than pulling out the iron and ironing board. Real Simple smartly recommends making sure the flat iron doesn't have any hair product residue on it before using on your clothing and giving the plates a quick wipe down with rubbing alcohol. Set the temperature to low for delicate fabrics, higher for thicker and sturdier fabrics, and then simply flat iron your shirt to get the wrinkles out.