Polyester is a man-made fabric that was introduced to the whole world by a genius chemist in 1941. For not so long that polyester is being used all over the world to make different types of clothes. But why is it used so much?. The reason behind that is its elasticity, it’s less expensive than other fabrics. Today polyester is used with other natural baric as a blend to prevent overpricing and wrinkling. Though polyester is a wrinkle-free fabric, but when blended with other fabrics the cloth may catch the wrinkles. Today it’s hard to find a 100% polyester cloth item because polyester may be wrinkle-free but is not breathable as linen and smooth as silk that is why it is blended with other natural fabrics.
Clothes with a more polyester ratio get low wrinkles but with less polyester, there is a high chance of getting wrinkles. In the old days, people used to wear the same cloth for 68 (that’s what they say)without ironing them. Well, that may have been possible back then, but is it really possible now? Can you iron a polyester? Well, there are a lot of questions that people want to know about polyester, after all, it’s a chemical fabric. But today we only focus on one question which is asked by a lot of my knowns and on the web which is – can you iron polyester?
Can you iron polyester?
Yes, you can iron a polyester but make sure it is in the right way. Being a plastic fabric, polyester may get burns and even melt at high temperatures when ironing. So make sure to avoid hot iron on polyester as it may damage your cloth or decrease the Longevity of the cloth.
Below I have written some steps to iron your polyester and polyester blends in the right way. Polyester blends are easier to iron than polyester but it gets get wrinkles easily.
How to iron polyester?
First set up an iron mode on low to moderate and steam mode, you can also set it to polyester mode if your iron has it.
If you want to increase the temperature then make sure to use any cotton cloth layer over the polyester garment so that it doesn’t get marks or melt. While increasing the temperature make sure the ideal range for polyester is 148°c. Along with keep water near you to spritz on the garment.
Step1- first turn your garment inside out and spritz some drops of water on it. Cover a garment with a piece of another cloth (cotton is good).
Step2- start ironing on the garment by moving it firmly and slowly. While doing so make sure that iron is always moving, too much delay on one spot can leave a burn mark in your garment.
How to steam iron polyester
Method 2 – You can also use the alternative method to remove any wrinkles from the garment. Instead of ironing, you can steam polyester. To use this method you need a steamer.
Step1- To steam the garment first, hang it on something like a hanger.
Step2- Then use the steamer over it to steam the cloth. While tugging, make sure to do it gently, so that, the fabric of the garment doesn’t get ruined.
If you don’t want to buy any steam appliance then you can choose another method to remove wrinkling which is using a dryer.
People also read- Is polyester warmer than cotton?
Use the dryer method on polyester
If you make your mind to use this method first you should check the label on the garment that if it allows it doing so. If nothing is written on the label you can check online on the brand site for the washing and caring instruction section.
Step1- So if it allows then treat the garment with fabric softener (Do check if your brand allows this, not all brands are a fan of this method). In case you don’t have a fabric softener then you can use simple water to treat the garment.
Step2- After that put the garment with a towel inside a dryer. The towel is used here to create the steam inside. Hold the process for 15 minutes by turning on the button.
Step3- After 15 minutes check the garment and see if the wrinkles are gone. If there are wrinkles still then continue the process for more than 5 to 10 minutes.
Tip- You can choose any method that sounds good to you. But make sure to not fold the garment immediately after the wrinkles are gone. You need to make sure that the garment doesn’t get wrinkles again. So to avoid the all hard work to remove the wrinkles you need to keep your clothes or garment in a systematic way, the best is to hang your clothes on a hanger instead of folding it.
While polyester is not a natural fabric so it needs less care than natural fabrics. The only thing you should know is to keep the heat low when ironing the polyester.
Though it is hard for polyester to get wrinkles, but sometimes the wrong way of washing and drying can cause this problem.
So what if it is stopped early so that it doesn’t get any wrinkles. All brands are different and they use different fabrics with polyester that demands different care.
So the first step is to read the instructions on the label and take them seriously.
If the washing, drying, and hanging process is done correctly, you rarely need any method discussed above to remove wrinkles because the garment doesn’t get any.
People also read- How to Keep Linen from Wrinkling?
How to treat Iron crotch?
While after doing all things right sometimes our garment gets iron crotch, and it is mostly in the case of polyester.
As polyester must be ironed on low to mid temperatures sometimes high temperature or placing the iron on one place for a long time may cause this problem.
Well if you face any problem of this type don’t worry you can prevent it from spreading further by using the method given below.
Use vinegar to remove the iron scorch
- To use this method you need vinegar and one clean piece of cotton or any cloth.
- Dip the cotton piece in vinegar solution and rub it on the strained part of the cloth.
- Start rubbing from outside and make your way inside to avoid it from spreading.
- After that take another piece of clean cotton and plain water. Dip the cotton in water and clean off the vinegar solution left on the cloth.
