I Tried This Trick to Fix Stretched-Out T-Shirt Collars, and the Results Surprised Me

For as long as I can remember, my husband has owned a shirt we lovingly call his “nightshirt.” Neither of us has any idea where exactly this shirt came from; for the entirety of our relationship, this shirt has been strictly reserved for pajamas. 

The first reason for relegating this garment to the pajama pile is that, as all nightshirts should be, it is extremely soft. The second is that the shirt is clearly past its prime — especially when it comes to its stretched-out collar, which only seems to get worse over time.

As a firm believer in the power of incredibly soft clothing, there’s nothing (not even a stretched-out collar) that could convince me to throw out this particular shirt. But when I saw a hack on TikTok all about how to fix stretched collars on T-shirts, I figured it might be time to spruce up the old nightshirt. Plus, this is the kind of shirt that could surely survive anything. If the experiment went wrong or didn’t work at all, nothing would be lost in the process. 

The gist of the hack, outlined by @ChristieMoeller, is to first fold the collar of the shirt in a “wave” pattern, then soak it in ice water. After wringing out the wet collar and unfolding the shirt, you then iron out the collar and allow it to dry flat naturally. Once it’s dry, it should be as good as new.

I started by trying my best to follow the movements of Moeller to achieve the “wave” she talked about, but I was never quite sure what this meant. In the end, though, I ended up with a bunched-up collar that was similar-looking to the T-shirt in the TikTok. I filled a bowl with ice and water and soaked the folded-up collar in the water until it was soaked through. After wringing out the water, I unfolded the T-shirt’s collar and placed it on an ironing board. 

After ironing the damp shirt, the collar already looked a bit better, but did it look smaller or less stretched out? Not so much. I was skeptical, but I continued to follow the instructions and left the shirt sitting on the ironing board to dry overnight. I imagined the combination of ice water and heat might help constrict the fabric and shrink it down a bit, so I could still see a scenario in which this hack would work. But when I went to check on the shirt the next morning, I found it looked … exactly the same. Womp womp. 

If there was any collar shrinkage thanks to the experiment, it seemed minimal. The main effect of the hack seemed to be that the shirt felt generally stiffer around the collar — a little less soft and prone to wrinkles, maybe. But significantly smaller? Back to its original state, or what I would imagine its original state to be, anyway? Not really. After taking a quick “after” photo, I shrugged off the experiment and left the shirt to dry on the hanger for a few more days.

When I went to write this story, I was fully prepared to talk about just how pointless the hack seemed to be. And then I looked at the before and after photos and wondered if I might’ve gotten the whole thing wrong.

Does the collar look completely different? No. Does it look perfect? Also no. But does it look smaller? Yes, it actually does! Obviously, the difference isn’t night and day (seeing the side-by-side photos made a huge impact on my perspective), but it seems like the process did affect the shirt. I’d even venture to guess that the extra couple of days I gave the shirt to air-dry made a difference in terms of shrinkage. 

I still think there’s something about a worn-in, stretched-out, baby-soft T-shirt that makes it that much better than a new, stiff, not-yet-lived-in T-shirt. But it’s nice to know that there’s an option out there (that costs nothing) for making T-shirts look a little less like pajamas and a little more like real clothes if you want one. You could also use this hack to revive other casual T-shirts and even work shirts.

Preventing stretched-out collars in the first place is far preferable to fixing them (especially if the results are less dramatic than you hoped!). To keep T-shirt collars in good shape, wash shirts on gentle cycles in cool water. Rough cycles can cause friction on fabric fibers, and hot water can cause fabric fibers to expand, both of which can lead to stretching. Turning T-shirts inside out before you stick them in the wash can also help minimize wear and tear. 

Additionally, make sure to hold T-shirts at the bottom hem rather than at the collar when you’re taking them off. That advice works in reverse, too: Make sure you’re taking care not to stretch the collar out when you’re putting your T-shirt on.