Ironing silk can be tricky because of the heat involved. Permanent damage may be caused if one is not careful. Silk is best ironed when slightly damp, with the iron put on a cool setting. Below is the details steps to follow when you need to iron your silk sheets and/or sleepwear:

1. Preparing your silk
Silk is best when ironed damp in order to minimize the effects of the iron’s heat. We recommend ironing right after a wash.
– If you handwash your silk, squeeze very gently after rinsing to remove excess water from the fabric. Remember: DO NOT WRING/TWIST the silk, it may break silk threads and cause stretch/tear.
– If you use a washing machine, you may iron directly.

2. Other preprations before ironing
– Make sure the surface of your iron is clean. If your iron is stained with metal stains, you may remove them by applying a baking soda solution. DO NOT IRON if your iron is dirty or have metal stains as it may permanently ruin the silk.
– Set the iron to be either on a delicate or silk setting, or the lowest setting if there is no specific settings for silk.
– Prepare a pure cotton sheet of white or natural color and lay the sheet on the ironing board. This is to prevent coloring of the ironing board to leach onto your silk, which may cause permanent damage to your silk.

3. Ironing your silk
– Silk fabrics tend to use weaves that give a shiny surface and a dull, matte back. Always iron the backside.
– You are going to iron silk part by part. Make sure the part you are ironing is smoothed out without wrinkles.
– You may iron the silk directly if the setting is on silk, but generally we recommend using a press cloth to cover the area you are aiming to iron to prevent potential damage. A small piece of thin cotton cloth would be ideal for the press cloth in this case.
– Press the iron to the surface of the silk (or the piece of press cloth) to start ironing. Keep the iron moving to avoid local overheating which causes silk fiber deformations.
– Once you finish ironing one part of the silk, smooth out another part and move the press cloth over to start ironing until you are done.

To summarize, some points to watch out for are:
– Only iron when silk is damp.
– DO NOT WRING/TWIST silk to remove excessive water.
– Clean your iron beforehand.
– Use an undyed sheet between the ironing board and the silk.
– Iron the inside (dull side) of your silk.
– Do not leave the iron in one place for too long.

We recommend you iron your silk after every wash or two washes. Regular ironing helps preserve the natural sheen of silk and may extend shelf life of silk considerably.