The dirty side of white shirts

I have just posted, finally, full shots of my first white shirt. I have another one half done down in the sewing room. It is quite different and I am looking forward to sharing that one with you soon.


I wore my first shirt to my first class of the semester this week and was very happy and comfortable in it.


However getting dressed for that class I encountered a major issue with 100% cotton white shirts.


Ironing.


Getting this shirt ready, it had been washed after one wearing over the holidays, took a lot of time. Ironing those puffy sleeves was no joke. Made me wonder if I need one of those little Martha Pullen round knob iron things.


Suddenly I was old school.


Should  I be using starch? I don't like the spray stuff, which I tried, too many inhaled chemicals I decided. My steam iron wasn't quite enough.


Made me think of the old Coke bottle with the shaker on top that my mother used to use to dampen ironing, and even of the semi-damp tablecloths she used to keep in the chest freezer in the basement until she could get around to ironing them.


How does a modern woman starch/iron a bunch of white shirts so they are really sharp, without spending 40 minutes each doing it?


Now I think I am pretty good at the ironing board as a sewer, but "the ironing" doesn't play the large role in my life that it played in my mother's or grandmother's.


My GQ style Guide advised men to do their own shirts, so they would last longer, to iron them wet from the washing machine and to use the ironing board backwards with the square end in the shoulders.


I am beginning to see why men send their shirts out, although that isn't something I am about to do with mine. 


If I press while I sew why wouldn't I iron after I have sewn?


Any great ironing thoughts and insights out there?