How to fold a pilot shirt
 

Asking after 2 decades in aviation. Epaullette holders kind of makes it difficult. What do you guys do?

I just shove it in my bag, hang it up in the room, and iron it before I wear it.

As Aerocat does, I don’t worry about it too much, just iron when I get there as whatever I do, it still looks a bit crumpled. I tend to roll the shirts and trousers rather than fold them, which does seem to help. Got the tip from some program following a butler. (Although his technique was a meticulous roll with crepe paper between, which needless to say, I’ve never tried to emulate!)

Agreed...

... and agreed.

At home they are on hangers, so no need to fold. (Although at this time of the years I wear a jersey over them, so they are very seldom ironed!)

I've used one of these for nearly 20 years, and it makes keeping clothing, particularly shirts, neat and tidy in any suitcase:
https://www.eaglecreek.com/products/...rment-folder-l

The external dimensions are 45 x 32 cm/17.75 x 12.5 in. The 'pack' has 4 triangular panels on the top, which open outwards to reveal the inner storage area. The base, or back, of the pack has a semi-flexible, rectangular plastic board in it, to aid rigidity. There is an additional, loose, plastic board as well, the purpose of which is described in the next paragraph.

Neatly fold your already-ironed shirts and trousers to fit the planform of the rectangular part of the pack, place the loose plastic board on top ofthem, and fold the 4 triangular panels inwards over it all, securing the panels with their velcro (hook and loop) closures. The 4 fold-out panels allow the closed pack size to be adjusted for varying amounts of shirts and trousers, thus preventing clothing in the pack from shifting and becoming more creased.

On arrival at your destination hotel, hang up the shirts, and any minor creases usually fall out in a few hours. You can speed up that process by hanging the shirt/s you next wish to use in the hotel bathroom, and the airborne moisture created by your first bath or shower does a great job of assisting the disappearance of any creases.

Iron the shirts at home, keep them on a hanger, and only (neatly!) fold and pack them shortly before departing for the airport (i.e. best not to pack the shirts and leave them in a suitcase overnight). In 17 years of scheduled long-haul airline flying, using the above method, I never had to do any layover ironing, including those trips with multiple legs, where 3 or 4 uniform shirts were carried!

I also found the variously sized packing cubes, with zippered closures, to be great for preventing the suitcase contents from looking like they had done time in a cement mixer. Eagle Creek are not the only makers of such stuff, there are other manufacturers with very similar packing systems, but this particular garment folder was well worth the price for avoiding down route ironing!

Another Eagle Creek fan here - although depending upon the nature of the trip, also rolling garments.

G

I learnt very early in my airline career never to waste time at home ironing shirts that I was going to wear some time later somewhere else. If I needed an ironed shirt away from home, then I ironed them away from home and freed up that time at home for far, far more valuable things than ironing shirts!

AerocatS2A has the right answer!

Wash the shirt you have just worn on the sector in by tromping it around in the shower while you are tubbing up for your night out (during which you are not going to waste any valuable drinking-time ironing), hang it up in the shower cubicle dripping wet and by call time it will be daisy fresh and ready to wear.

Beam me up Scotty. There’s no intelligent life down here!



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I hold the shirt facing front away from me, left arm in left hand, middle of the collar in right hand. fold all the way down the middle, from the top of the collar (right hand) and grab the right arm with your left hand so you're now holding both sleeves in the left hand, closer to you than the right hand. make it all neat so the creases are where you need the, epaulette holders lined up etc, then i hold the shirt against my torso with the right hand, and fold both sleeves diagonally down, away from me, so they're just about touching the other side of the shirt, then fold the whole lot in half, so the collar is touching the bottom of the shirt. nice rectangle shape, goes at the bottom of my hard-shell suitcase and isn't creased when i take it out in a few days time to wear on the return sector!

That or I don't iron it and i wear a nice cosy jumper....! God i love winter

Steaming the shirt in a hot shower seems to get rid of the creases I find.

Certainly doesn't look like the place to find many members of Mensa!!