There will probably come a time when you find yourself without an iron. Perhaps it broke, or maybe you’re on holiday and your hotel doesn’t provide one. Or maybe you can’t bear the thought of setting up an ironing board, waiting for the iron to heat and waiting for it to cool to put everything away again.
However, creased clothing can look untidy. If you find yourself in one of the above situations, you might wonder: how do you get creases out of clothes without an iron?
Whatever the situation, we have six methods you can try to get your clothes wrinkle-free without having to plug in your iron.
1. Wrinkle Remover Spray
This is by far the easiest ironing alternative but not necessarily the fastest. The garment must be damp for the spray to work, so you will have to wait for it to dry before putting it back on.
Wrinkle remove spray can be a great solution when travelling. You can easily dampen your item of clothing, spray the wrinkle remover on it and hang it to dry.
If you can’t wait for your clothes to dry, you can help them along with a hairdryer.
2. Tumble dryer
If you have a tumble dryer, you can put your clothes back in the dryer to get wrinkles out. This is ideal for items of clothing that are creased all over.
You can also throw in some ice cubes or damp dryer sheets which will create a steaming effect to remove wrinkles even more efficiently.
3. Clothes Steamer
A clothes steamer is made for the purpose of getting wrinkles out of fabric without an iron. To steam clothing, you hang it up, aim the steamer nozzle at the garment and then release the steam onto the garment.
Some people even prefer steamers to irons. With a steamer, you don’t need an ironing board as you hang the garment up to steam it.
Plus, an iron can only treat a small section at a time, making it inconvenient to iron larger fabric items such as curtains and bedding.
4. Hair Tools
If you use a hairdryer or straighteners to style your hair, then you have a makeshift iron on hand already.
Hair straighteners are the closest comparable tool to an iron as they do the same thing that an iron does, except they do it to hair rather than clothes.
To use hair straighteners to get creases out of clothes, just heat the straighteners, clamp them together and glide them over creases.
Be sure not to keep the straighteners in one spot as they could burn your clothes.
To remove wrinkles with a hairdryer, you’ll need to dampen the item of clothing first. You can use a spray bottle as it doesn’t need to be soaked. Hang it up and then dry on a low heat, with the hair dryer not too close to the garment.
You can also pull it down or smooth it out while you’re drying.
The hairdryer method can be handy when you’re travelling because most hotels provide hairdryers free of charge.
5. Creating Steam Without a Steamer
If you don’t have a steamer, you can get the same steaming effect in a few different ways with things you already have at home.
In the shower
Firstly, you can steam your garment in a hot shower. When you jump into the shower, bring the garment into the bathroom, making sure the door is shut. Or if your shower is big enough that they won’t get soaked, bring your clothes into the shower.
The temperature of the water has to be warm enough to give off steam to recreate the effect. It’s also most effective to ‘steam’ the item for at least 15 minutes.
You can also run a heavy item over the wrinkles as soon as you get out. For example, if your iron is broken but you still have it, you could use it to do this.
Steaming your clothes in the shower is also a great method to use when travelling as you may not have access to an iron, but you will definitely have a shower!
In the kitchen
If you’re not partial to a hot shower, you can also use a kettle or boiling pan to steam your garment.
If possible, hang the garment up over the kettle or pan and put whichever one you’re using on to boil. The steam should smooth out any creases.
You can also hang your garment up and bring the kettle or pan to the garment and place it underneath while the steam is still coming out.
Never hold the item over the steam yourself as you risk getting burned.
Again, when you’re done, use something heavy to further press out the wrinkles.
6. Press Under a Mattress
Another alternative to ironing is having your clothes pressed, however, this would quickly become a significant budget. Luckily, you can achieve the same effect by doing it yourself at home.
Smooth out your item of clothing on a flat surface, roll it up and put it under a mattress, or similarly heavy item, for around 20 minutes. The wrinkles should be pressed out.
In The Wash is your guide to the best laundry and cleaning products, tips and tricks. Our mission is to solve the UK’s cleaning and laundry dilemmas!
