The most popular opinion about keeping a shirt wrinkle-free is hanging it in a closet. But what if you are short on space or about to travel? Business meetings, destination weddings, and for any purpose require you to pack your mens dress shirts. It’s very challenging to fold a pack of shirts while keeping them presentable and wrinkle-free for the destination occasion. If you don’t know the tricks to properly pack a shirt wrinkle-free, it will be a mess in your travel backpack. It is a definite saviour in such times to know how to fold a dress shirt without wrinkles. By keeping your shirts properly, you will also ensure to keep the shirt collar in perfect position.
If you would like to dress like professionals at work then you must take care of your shirts.
Factors Determining Amount of Wrinkles:
The amount of wrinkles in a shirt is dependent on many factors. Some of them are listed below:
- Fabric type i.e. some shirts are made up of wrinkle-free fabric and some are non-iron shirts as well.
- The weave of the shirt
- How long and how tightly your folded clothes are packed
Pre-requisites of Folding a Shirt Wrinkle-Free:
First, get a freshly laundered shirt and iron the dress shirt well to remove all the wrinkles effectively. Next, you have to find a clean, dry, and smooth flat surface. If you could not find such a spot, spread a clean thick cloth or a towel on the floor to serve the purpose. Now follow the step-by-step instructions given below.
Step One: Button up
Before folding and packing a dress shirt, fasten the buttons of the shirt. Do not forget to button up the cuffs and the collar as well. This will keep your shirt in place and prevent extra creases on the shirt.
Step Two: Lay it Out
Lay the shirt face (buttons) down with sleeves outside, on a smooth surface. Make the shirt even on all the sides and smooth out all the wrinkles with the help of your hands.
Note: Do not do this on your bed or couch. You can use a flat table.
Step Three: Fold Sleeves
Horizontally fold one sleeve inward, halfway up the sleeve, and towards the middle of the shirt. Repeat the same steps for the other sleeve as well. You may feel exhausted but it will keep your shirt in place and good shape while travelling.
Alternate: You can also fold the sleeves along the shoulder crease. Just follow the above-mentioned folding method but this time fold the sleeves diagonally i.e. the sleeve cuff will be lined up with the collar here. Repeat the same for the other sleeve.
Whatever method is used for folding the sleeves the rest of the steps will remain the same. Now fold the bottom of the shirt.
Step Four: Final Foldings
Fold the shirt in a half by folding the bottom of the shirt up towards the collar.
You are done with folding the shirt if it is a shorter dress shirt.
If the shirt is long then follow the previous step and fold it again. Keep your folds lined up with each other and even keep your shirt wrinkle-free and presentable.
Tips:
- If you want to store the folded dress shirts without wrinkles for a sufficient period, you should store them in small stacks. It lessens the weight on the packed shirts and hence lessens the chances of unwanted creases on the clothes.
- Also, store the folded stacks of shirts in a well-spaced manner to avoid wrinkles.
Folding vs Rolling:
It is a never-ending debate. Some people find rolling the shirt a more convenient way of wrinkle-free packing instead of folding it. But both of these methods have their pros and cons.
Folding is the best method of packing lightweight clothes that get wrinkled easily. Thick fabric clothes and sweaters require less space when they are folded instead of being rolled. In short, folding is preferred by most people when it comes to packing the clothes wrinkle-free but you may not be able to see what you have packed at a glance.
One undeniable advantage of rolling is you can see clearly what you have packed and where it is. It’s a good option for medium-weight clothes that do not get wrinkled easily. Not only that, you can have a lot of space left in the bag when you choose to roll your clothes.
But lightweight shirts can’t stay smooth if you roll them as there is too much fabric inside when you roll them, especially with long sleeves.
Short sleeve shirts are even easier to fold.
