How to Get Wrinkles Out of a Graduation Gown (Iron Optional!)

If you're graduating from high school or college, you're going to want to look your best at the ceremony, and you don't want a wrinkly graduation gown stealing focus from your achievement! These gowns often have folds and creases in them when you first take them out of their cellophane packaging, but have no fear—we’ve compiled this complete guide to help you make sure you have a totally pristine, wrinkle-free graduation gown on your big day, whether or not you have an iron. We even consulted wikiHow’s laundry experts for their insights, so keep reading!

How do you get wrinkles out of a graduation gown?

You can get wrinkles out of a graduation gown either with or without an iron. The key is to avoid using high heat with whatever method you choose, since graduation gowns are often made of polyester, which can melt easily. Here are the best options to try:

Shower steam: Hang your gown from your shower rod, close the bathroom door, and run the hot water for 15-20 minutes. The steam should release the wrinkles.
Wrinkle release spray: Use a homemade spray of water and vinegar or a store-bought wrinkle-release spray to dewrinkle the garment completely heat-free.
Dryer: Place your gown in the dryer with a damp towel. Run the dryer on low heat for about 10-15 minutes—the steam created should dewrinkle the gown.
Handheld steamer: Steam the garment with a handheld steamer, making sure to move it continuously to avoid melting the polyester fabric.
Iron: Turn the gown inside out and place a towel over it, so your iron isn’t directly touching it. Use the low heat setting and move the iron continuously.

Section 1 of 6:

Removing Wrinkles with Steam from the Shower

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Hang the gown from your shower rod in the bathroom. To easily remove wrinkles in a pinch without an iron, professional cleaner Susan Stocker recommends using the steam in your bathroom when you shower.^{[1]
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Susan Stocker
Professional Cleaner

Expert Interview} Place the gown on a padded or wooden hanger (rather than a wire hanger, which can snag or catch on the fabric), and hang it on your shower rod. Make sure the shower head is angled away from the gown, so it doesn’t get splashed.^{[2]
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- Try to do this as soon as you remove the gown from its cellophane packaging to avoid getting more wrinkles and creases in it.
- Ideally, you should hang it up several days before your ceremony, not the morning of, so that you have enough time to de-wrinkle it without feeling rushed or stressed.
- Hanging the gown up early might also take care of a few of the wrinkles for you—many of them will relax on their own.^{[3]
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Meet the wikiHow Experts

Susan Stocker is a professional cleaner with over 10 years of experience and the owner of Susan’s Green Cleaning, the #1 Green Cleaning company in Seattle.

Bridgett Price is a house cleaning professional with over 8 years of experience and co-owner of Maid Easy based in Phoenix, Arizona, which was voted Best of The Desert by AZCentral.
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Run hot water for 15-20 minutes, letting the seam de-wrinkle the gown. “Keep the [bathroom] door shut, and let the steam dissolve the wrinkles,” instructs Stocker. If you want, you can even kill two birds with one stone and actually take a shower during this time! Just make sure not to splash your gown. “It also helps if you gently pat damp hands on the wrinkles before you shower. This loosens the wrinkles,” Stocker adds.^{[4]
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- Stretch and tug on the fabric once in a while during this process to help ease out the creases.^{[5]
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Section 2 of 6:

Removing Wrinkles with a Handheld Steamer

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Fill your steamer’s tank with distilled water and turn it on. Stocker says a handheld steamer is perfect for quick and easy dewrinkling.^{[6]
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Susan Stocker
Professional Cleaner

Expert Interview} Follow the instructions that came with your handheld steamer to set it up—this will usually involve filling the tank with distilled water, turning the steamer on, and letting it heat up.
- This is also often a safer option than ironing for a graduation gown, since the direct heat from an iron can melt polyester if you aren’t careful.
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Hang your gown up and run the steamer in downward strokes across it. Hang your gown up somewhere you’ll have 360° access to it, so you can remove wrinkles from the front and back. Use one hand to pull the gown taut, straightening out all the creases, and use your other hand to run the steamer in downward strokes across the fabric. Repeat all around your garment until it’s totally wrinkle-free.^{[7]
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- Keep your steamer moving constantly, and make sure not to hold it in one place for too long to avoid melting the polyester.^{[8]
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Section 3 of 6:

Removing Wrinkles with an Iron

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Set your iron to low heat with steam. Graduation gowns are usually made out of polyester, which means you need to be very careful when you iron, since high levels of heat can cause melting. It’s a good rule of thumb to use your iron’s lowest heat setting, but check the label on your specific grad gown to make sure you’re using the correct temperature.^{[9]
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- Different irons give different indications that they're ready. Sometimes a light turns on, sometimes an icon appears.^{[10]
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- If you're unsure how to tell when your iron is ready, check its instruction manual.
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Put your inside-out gown on the ironing board with a towel over it. Turn your graduation gown inside out, then lay it out on your ironing board, making sure it’s completely flat to avoid ironing in any more wrinkles or creases. Cover the gown with a towel, so your iron won’t be directly touching the gown itself—this is another layer of protection to prevent any melting or scorch marks.^{[11]
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- Your towel probably won’t be large enough to cover the entire gown, so you’ll need to iron in sections, moving the towel to new areas when needed.
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Place the iron on top of the towel, and keep moving it continuously. Whenever the iron is on the towel, continue to move it without pausing, so that it doesn't rest too long in one spot and burn the gown's fabric through the towel. When you finish ironing the area of the gown covered by the towel, move the towel to the next area of the gown and start ironing continuously again.^{[12]
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- Start at the collar of the gown and work your way down in areas the size of the towel you're using. Never let the iron touch the gown's actual fabric.
Iron the entire gown, but focus especially on the fold lines that cut horizontally across the chest and pelvis area of the gown. Keep the towel over top of these areas while you iron them and continue to move the iron without pausing.^{[13]
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Hang the gown back up immediately once you're done ironing it. Put the gown back on a padded or wooden hanger. Place it somewhere that it won't be squashed and rumpled by other articles of clothing.^{[14]
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- Turn your iron off as soon as you've finished ironing the gown and leave it upright on the ironing board to cool down for at least 10 minutes before you put it away.

Section 4 of 6:

Removing Wrinkles with Vinegar Spray

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Combine water and vinegar in an empty spray bottle. Pour 1 cup (240 mL) of distilled water and 2 teaspoons (9.9 mL) of white vinegar into the bottle. Use a funnel to avoid spilling.^{[15]
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- This is the base of the homemade wrinkle release spray you will use to get the creases out of your gown.
- This shouldn't make your gown smell like vinegar as long as you don't overuse the spray. Make sure to give the gown enough time to dry and any lingering vinegar smell will evaporate.^{[16]
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  Research source} Don't use this spray the day of your graduation or your gown might not be dry in time.
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Add 1 tablespoon (15 mL) of conditioner into the spray bottle. Use the same conditioner you do on your hair in the shower. Squeeze the conditioner into a measuring spoon. Then place it in the funnel and push it into the spray bottle with the water and vinegar.
- Conditioner is thick, so use a toothpick to press it through the funnel into the spray bottle. Wash it down into the bottle with a small amount of hot water if it's getting stuck.^{[17]
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Add 5-10 drops of a clear essential oil if you want. This is optional, but will help mask any smell of vinegar that might otherwise linger on the gown. Only use colorless essential oils so that you don't stain the fabric of the gown.
- Use any oil you like the scent of. Some good options are lavender, peppermint, sage, rosemary, and juniper. These are all colorless and will leave a light pleasant smell on the gown after you've sprayed it.^{[18]
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Shake the spray bottle vigorously. Combine all the ingredients in the spray bottle by shaking it with your hand. The products don't all blend easily so you will have to shake very hard. The wrinkle spray is ready when the ingredients are thoroughly mixed and foamy.^{[19]
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- The amount of time this will take depends on how hard you shake. Check for the foamy consistency to know when the spray is ready.
Use a padded or wooden hanger. Hang the gown on the back of a closed door, or against a wall.^{[20]
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Test the spray on a small area of the gown. Spray a little bit of the homemade wrinkle releaser on a patch of the gown that will be mostly hidden from sight. Wait until the spray dries to make sure that the fabric of the gown doesn't get water spots.^{[21]
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- Try an area at the hemline near the back that isn't very noticeable and won't show up in many pictures if it gets water spots.
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Spray and tug the fabric to release the wrinkles. Spray an area of the gown with the wrinkle releaser. Gently tug and smooth the fabric to get the creases out between every two or three sprays.
- Work your way over the entire front of the gown, and then turn the hanger around and do the back.^{[22]
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- Spray in a sweeping motion and don't overly saturate the fabric or it could smell like vinegar when it dries.^{[23]
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Let it air dry slowly. Don't use a hair dryer or other heat source to speed the drying. Keep the gown hanging up, away from other articles of clothing that could cause it to wrinkle again, until graduation day.^{[24]
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Section 5 of 6:

Removing Wrinkles with Wrinkle Release Spray

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Use a wrinkle release spray from the store to remove wrinkles. If you don’t want to make your own, there are tons of wrinkle release sprays you can buy, and they produce great results without an iron. “I love the Downy release sprays,” says professional cleaner Bridgett Price. “I spray Downy release on my clothes and give it a great shake. And the wrinkles come out like magic. It's wonderful, I highly recommend that spray!”^{[25]
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- For many of these sprays, all you need to do is lay your garment out flat or hang it up, spray the fabric until it’s lightly damp, then gently stretch out the wrinkles with your hands.
- Follow the directions on the bottle of the specific product you buy, though!

Section 6 of 6:

Removing Wrinkles Using the Dryer

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Put your gown in the dryer on low with a damp towel. First, check the gown’s label to make sure you use the right heat setting (again, high heat is a no-go with polyester grad gowns!). Once you confirm your gown can be briefly dried, place it in the dryer with a damp towel—the steam created will help release the wrinkles. Dry the gown on low for about 10-15 minutes, and voila! It should be wrinkle-free.^{[26]
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- Remove the gown from the dryer immediately and hang it up right away to prevent more wrinkles from forming.

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Question

How do you unwrinkle a graduation gown?

Drew Hawkins1

Community Answer

A simple way to unwrinkle your graduation gown without risking any damage to the material is to steam it. Put the gown on a padded or wooden hanger instead of a wire hanger so it doesn't snag the fabric. Hang the gown from the shower rod in your bathroom. Turn on the hot water and let it run for 15-20 minutes. Keep the door the bathroom shut and allow the steam to de-wrinkle the gown. Every now and then, give the gown a gentle tug and stretch to remove the creases.

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Can I put a graduation gown in the dryer?

Drew Hawkins1

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The heat of a machine dryer can easily damage or melt the fabric of a graduation gown, so don't use a dryer to remove wrinkles and creases. You can use an iron, but you need to make sure it's set to low heat with steam. Place your gown on an ironing board and cover it what a towel to protect it. Run your iron over the towel to iron the gown beneath it and remove creases and wrinkles. Start at the collar of the gown and work your way down in areas the size of the towel you're using. Never let the iron touch the gown's actual fabric.

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Can you steam 100% polyester?

Drew Hawkins1

Community Answer

Yes, you can steam 100% polyester fabric, such as a graduation gown. The simplest, easiest, and safest way is to use your shower. Place your item on a hanger and hang it from your shower rod. Turn on your hot water and shut the door to the room to allow the steam to build up. Every few minutes, use your hands to gently stretch and smooth out the fabric to remove wrinkles and creases.

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Tips

When you're ironing your graduation gown, you can gradually raise the iron's temperature to medium if the low heat setting isn't removing all the wrinkles. Don't raise the heat any higher than medium setting.^{[27]
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Warnings

Never let the iron touch the gown's fabric without a towel covering it. The iron could easily burn a hole through the synthetic fabric even if contact is only made for a fraction of a second.^{[28]
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