Useful Tips

Style Tips

The traditional way to display a shirt for a well-dressed Gentleman is to show 1/2 an inch of the collar at the back of the jacket and cuffs are exposed 1/4 an inch to 1/2 of an inch below the jacket sleeve. This protects the fine wool from being soiled by body oils.
The collar size should allow comfortable breathing and swallowing at all times and it is commonly advised to be loose enough to have room for two fingers between the buttoned shirt collar and the throat. There should be no gap at the back or side of the neck, which demands a custom shaped neck hole.
The buttoned cuff, called a sports cuff, is suitable for more casual and informal events, the double cuff, known as the ‘French cuff’ is the formal method of styling a shirt for business, black tie events and weddings alike, and lately, also fashionable with denim jeans and boots.

Caring for your Shirts

Handmade shirts are an investment and they deserve to be well looked after.
Your HEJDA shirts will give you years of joy by following simple guidelines.
Please avoid commercial laundries, any form of bleach and the ever so popular hills hoist.
Collars and cuffs can be replaced. Purchase replacement sets at the time you order your shirt and wash it with the shirt once a quarter to have matching colours.
HEJDA shirts feature Real Mother of Pearl buttons and real shell buttons. Should they break, we will replace them or send you a do it your self-replacement kit free of charge, just send us a note.

Washing

Wash your shirts separately from other clothes and sort by colour.
Front loader washing machines are preferable and bleach free washing powder is recommended.
Pure Cotton shirts deserve a hot wash (60 to 90 degrees) after each wear to completely remove body oils, which are easily absorbed by cotton.
To keep white shirts white you may wash them once every 6 months with 30 ml of liquid laundry bleach in the pre-wash cycle at 90 degree Celsius.
Fold your collars up, remove collar-stays and unfold French cuffs to minimise friction at the folds.
Unbutton your shirts totally to minimise tension on buttons and buttonholes, this includes the sleeve plackets.
Hang your shirts on plastic hangers to dry, in a laundry, from a shower curtain rail or in a breezeway, inside or in the shade, ensuring the collars are standing up and the cuffs are unfolded. Avoiding direct sunlight, saves natural fibres from fading and brittle damage.

Personally, I use Omo for white shirts and Biozet for coloured shirts. HEJDA shirts are made from pre-shrunk shirtings and should be washed hot, to maintain their look. Whites can be washed up to 90 degrees celsius and colours up to 60 celsius.

Ironing

Pure cotton shirts are best to be ironed with a hot steam iron when they are moist.
Start with the collar, followed by the yoke, then cuffs and sleeves, and lastly the body.
To spare you frustrating hours of ironing and save you time, I do suggest you find a good ironing service. In Sydney you may pay $1.75 to $3.50 a shirt for hand pressing – worth considering perhaps.
However, I am more than happy to share my knowledge of proven ironing tricks.

The secret to having crisp shirts is to have moist cotton fibres and a hot iron.
To achieve this put the near-dry shirt, or a bundle of them, in a plastic bag, in the freezer for 24 hours or until convenient to be ironed. Instant steam within the cotton fibres is guaranteed the moment a hot iron hits the frozen shirt.
Personally, I spray them with a fine mist of water using a spray bottle and let them rest for 5 minutes before freezing them, which reduces my ironing time to 5 minutes a shirt – my laundry fills up my freezer at times – but it is worth the saving in time and the wonderful result.

Special care is to be taken ironing collars: move the iron from the centre to each point and from each point to the centre to keep the collar symmetrical. Iron the collar from the underside to avoid shiny collar points.
Fold the collar down only after you have ironed the yoke and press the front fold of the collar with a lot of steam with the tip of the iron from the inside only, holding the collar round, just touching the board at the front – I am happy to show you during a fitting…

The cuffs and joining sleeve plackets and pleats are easily ironed from the inside of the open cuff, move the iron from the cuff up into the sleeve to press the bottom of the sleeve and pleats at the same time as ironing the cuff.
French cuffs should be folded immediately after ironing when they are still warm and kept in position with a plastic clip or pin. Pressing the fold should be avoided for a fuller look of the cuff and it will also help to make the cuff last longer.
Turn the right side, that’s where the buttons are attached, inside out to easily iron the placket with the buttons facing down towards the board.

When ironing the body or collar apply firm pressure onto the iron and pull the fabric straight, gently stretching the seams, especially at the front, to give the shirt a crisp look where it is exposed the most. Have fun and take care ironing.

>Folding

A beautifully ironed shirt is best stored hanging in a wardrobe, but if space is an issue or when travelling it may be necessary to fold shirts in a way that they do not badly crease. Fully button a shirt before folding it and using tissue paper will give the shirt stability and help reduce creases at the fold lines.
Turn the shirt onto its front and put a piece of tissue paper down the back. Fold each shoulder together, with the tissue paper, to the centre back and angle the sleeve down towards the hem. Fold the bottom of the shirt to just above the cuffs, up towards the collar and fold the remaining shirt length in half, covering the collar totally to protect it. Turn the shirt over and straighten the chest if necessary.