How to Iron a Silk Scarf

We, at Littleviews, design silk scarves and sell them on Sketch-Views.com. With that in mind, if you own or buy a silk scarf (or scarf out of any thin material), you’ll need tips on how to iron it. Our video, “How to Iron a Silk Scarf” shows you how!

How to Iron a Silk Scarf Transcript

You can read a short article about the video in the description box under the video. Below is a rough transcript of the video:

Welcome to our Littleviews tutorial on how to iron a silk scarf, created by Littleviews artist and designer, Karen Little.

Washing silk scarf material is easy. Fill a basin with warm water, add gentle soap, like baby shampoo, and squeeze.

The problem begins when you rinse your scarf, especially if it is a natural fiber like silk or fine cotton. These fabrics, like the silk scarf shown here, wrinkle easily, especially when wet. They do not drape smoothly.

While it is nice to squeeze thin scarves in a towel, and we do that later in the process, we still need to iron. What removes wrinkles efficiently is using a mesh pressing cloth when ironing. Using a mesh pressing cloth, in fact, is the key to success!

To dry freshly washed scarves, we usually fold them to fit on a hanger or rod.

When we are ready to iron, we re-dampen the scarf with water spread by a spray bottle, then roll the scarf in a towel where it will stay for several minutes to promote uniform dampness.

If you are processing several scarves, they can all be rolled in the same towel.

When the scarf is uniformly damp, you will find that many of the wrinkles caused from washing are now relaxed and the scarf is easy to handle.

Now, let’s get ironing!

To iron, spread the scarf on your ironing board, then cover it with the mesh pressing cloth.

To use this pressing cloth, set your iron on high heat with no steam. Do not, of course, use a very hot iron directly on the scarf, especially if it is synthetic, as it might melt or pucker.

With the pressing cloth in place, iron as normal.
If the scarf becomes dry during the ironing process, dampen it by using a spray bottle.

As you can see, when done, your scarf will be silky smooth with not a trace of wrinkles.

Should you need to touch up your scarf without using a pressing cloth, lower your iron setting to Silk / Wool. Set it even lower if your scarf material is synthetic.

As demonstrated, however, this 50 inch silk scarf we used came out perfectly smooth. By using a mesh pressing cloth, there are no little creases, wrinkles, or dents.

Note that scarves made of synthetic materials do not wrinkle as easily and may not need as much pressing. Silk, thin cotton and wool do, however, with your only other cleaning option being taking them to a dry cleaner.

Links

The key to successfully ironing silk scarves, or any thin material, is ironing on a mesh pressing cloth.

Contact

  • This video tutorial was written and produced by Karen Little and was published on YouTube in September, 2020.
  • The video, hosted on our YouTube channel (Littleviews & Sketch-Views) is free for inclusion on non-commercial websites (or other media) with attribution to Littleviews.com.
  • The announcer is Rose McDonnel. Would you like us to create a video-article for you? Ask!
  • All other material on Littleviews and Sketch-Views (with noted exceptions) is copyrighted on the date of publication or as noted in credits.
  • Questions? Ask Karen Little at Karen@littleviews.com