Fix the collar that curls and the cuff that slides

Quick answer: A curling collar usually needs collar stays and a better wash routine. A sliding cuff needs its button moved. A cuff that vanishes under your jacket means the sleeve is too long or too short. A tailor handles the last two in minutes.

You stand at the mirror at 7:40 a.m. The left collar point is aimed at the ceiling. The right cuff has crawled halfway down your hand. You've got a meeting at nine.

Both problems are fixable, and neither is your fault. Shirts come off the rack cut for nobody in particular. A little work makes them stay put on you.

Start with the neck

Button the top button. Slide one finger between the collar and your neck. One finger fits. Two means it's loose, and a loose collar is what collapses and curls. No finger means it's too tight, and a tight collar pops its button or pushes the points upward.

Do this with a tie knot in place if you wear ties. The knot takes up room, and a shirt that passes bare-necked can choke you by noon.

If the neck is right and the collar still misbehaves, keep reading. If the neck is off by more than half an inch, buy the correct size. The checks that tell you a garment actually fits cover the rest of the shirt.

Collar points that curl

Three causes, in order of how often they're the culprit.

No stays, or lost ones. Look at the underside of each collar point. There should be a small pocket, often sewn closed at the tip but open at the back. A thin plastic or metal stay slides in there and keeps the point flat. They get lost in the wash all the time. A cheap replacement set does the job, and metal ones outlast plastic. Pull them out before every wash and slide them back in before you wear the shirt.

Heat. A hot dryer cooks the glue in the collar's interlining until it bubbles or goes limp. Wash cold or warm, and hang the shirt to dry or pull it out of the dryer while it's still a little damp. The dryer is why your clothes wear out early, and collars are the first place it shows.

Ironing the wrong way. Iron the collar from the back, working from the points toward the center. Then flip it and press the front lightly. Ironing from the center out pushes the fabric into a ripple at each tip. Fold it down along the crease while it's still warm. The fold sets as it cools.

Keep one limit in mind. A fused collar with a bad interlining can bubble permanently. Once it ripples when it's flat on the ironing board, no stay will help. Retire that shirt to weekend duty, or wear it with a sweater over it.

A collar that gaps or collapses

A gap shows up when you wear a tie. The collar stands away from your neck and the knot sits in a hole.

Check two things first. Is the collar too big, or is the shape wrong for the knot? A narrow point collar with a fat knot gapes. A wide spread collar with a skinny knot looks lost. Match them. Spread collars take bigger knots. Point collars take smaller, tighter ones.

If the neck itself runs loose, a tailor can take in the collar band. It's a small job. Ask for it on any shirt you like and wear often.

For open-collar wear, flat floppy collars on casual shirts are mostly a fabric issue. Thin cotton with no structure won't hold. Look for oxford cloth, or a collar that's visibly thicker and stitched near the edge. A little spray starch on the underside, ironed in, gives a soft collar some backbone.

Cuffs that slide down your hand

Your cuff should end at the wrist bone and stay there when you lift your arm. If it slides over your knuckles, the cuff is too wide.

Move the button. A tailor takes the button off and sews it a half inch closer to the edge. It takes a few minutes. You can do it yourself if you can sew a button on. The cuff snugs up and stays put.

Test it before you commit. Button the cuff to the tighter spot. If you can still slide your hand through without a fight, that's the right spot. Many cuffs have two buttons for this very reason. Use the inner one first.

Wear a watch? Leave room. The cuff needs to slide over the watch face without catching. Snug on the wrist, loose over the watch. If you can't get both, buy the cuff for the watch and let the other side be loose.

Cuffs that choke, or disappear

A cuff that's too tight cuts into your wrist and makes your hand feel puffy by afternoon. Move the button outward by a quarter to a half inch. You gain breathing room without wrecking the line of the sleeve.

For jackets, the cuff should peek out a quarter to a half inch beyond the jacket sleeve. If it doesn't show, either the shirt sleeve is too short or the jacket sleeve is too long. Stand with your arms relaxed. Look in the mirror. A visible sliver of white at the wrist looks sharp. No sliver looks borrowed.

If the shirt sleeve is too long and bunches at the wrist, shortening it is a standard alteration. Ask the tailor to shorten from the cuff, not the shoulder, so the placket and button spacing stay right. Not every tailor will do it on a shirt with a complicated cuff. Ask before you drop it off.

What to buy, what to skip

Buy shirts with collar stay pockets that are open at the back, so you can replace the stays. Buy a sleeve length you can tailor. A little extra is fixable. Too short is not.

Skip any shirt marketed as "wrinkle-free" if the collar has a stiff, glossy feel. Those finishes can make the collar wave after a few washes. Test the fabric in the store. Crush a corner in your fist for five seconds and see what it does.

Skip the idea that a better brand solves it. A forty-dollar shirt with the right neck and a moved cuff button looks better than a three-hundred-dollar shirt worn loose. If you're building a wardrobe, ten garments get you through almost any week, and four of them are shirts. Get those four right.

The two-minute check

Before you leave the house:

• Stays are in, both sides.
• Collar points lie flat, with no ripple.
• Cuffs sit at the wrist bone.
• A sliver of shirt shows below the jacket.
• One finger fits at the neck.

If one of those fails, you know which fix to reach for. Fix it once, and the shirt works every time you put it on.

Walk into the nine o'clock meeting without touching your collar. That's the point.