How to Iron Dresses. Ironing dresses can seem like a difficult task at first. In actuality, ironing dresses can be easier than ironing other, more popular items of clothing. Take advantage of a dress's flowing openings to quickly and expertly iron it.

Turn on the iron. Heat the iron to an acceptable setting. If your dress is made of materials that are easily damaged, adjust the heat settings accordingly. Some irons indicate what materials are safe for their various settings.

Open the bottom of the dress. Pull the skirt over the ironing board's narrowest part so that the dress will hang on the ironing board. Turn the dress around until the back part of the skirt is positioned for ironing.

Iron the back part of the skirt with long, fast and hard strokes starting from the waist and ending at the seams. Turn the skirt so the sides are on top of the board and iron them in the same manner. Iron the front of the skirt when you have finished the back and sides.

Remove the dress from the board.

Unbutton or unzip the neck opening of the dress. Drape it over the narrow part of the ironing board like you did the bottom portion of the dress. If you cannot drape the neck portion of the dress over the ironing board without damaging it, lay the dress flat on the ironing board and smooth the top part out as best as you can.

Start ironing the back of the top part of the dress. Turn the dress over and iron the front part of it after you have finished with the back.

Iron the sleeves and collars. Lay the dress flat on the board and iron the bottoms of sleeves before the sides and tops of sleeves, respectively. Stroke collars carefully and try not to press the iron over places you have already ironed.

Hang the dress.

Wear the dress a few hours after ironing. This allows the dress time to cool and settle so that wrinkles don't form during wear.