Ironing Best Practices

How to get the best results from your Rowenta steam iron

If you've been around long enough and purchased the so called wrinkle free or no ironing clothing, you know there's a catch to those phrases. They look great for the first wearing, and still look pretty convincing after one trip through the laundry process. But eventually that old familiar slept in your clothes look returns. While there is some truth in advertising discrepancy, the legal department is on the manufacturer's side.

Partly due to the difficulty in knowing what degree of wrinkling warrants pulling out the iron. Some people can stand more of a rumpled look than others. And I wish you well in proving your level of wrinkle tolerance should be the industry's standard. So the choice returns to taking them to the cleaners or pressing them yourself.

Well, if convenience is top priority, then the cleaners may be the way to go. However, if you are looking to save some money, you will need to  re-acquaint yourself with your iron. But convenience can still be had if you follow a pattern when ironing. It may sound pretty silly to give advice on how to iron, but having a flow to your pressing of fabric will shorten the time you have to do it and give you results that will look like they came from the cleaners.

Each piece of garment requires a certain level of care when dealing with heat and steam. Using the wrong heat and steam selection can alter the look and feel to your pieces. Remember, when you buy garments and curtains, their creases and folds were set with heat and steam.

And while a home iron isn't as powerful as a professional one, it can create some fairly un-changable results. We have all seen the double crease in the pants legs syndrome.

So how can you get the best results from your steam ironing efforts? Follow the manufacturers directions. That is the number one rule to achieving great results. The fabric selector switch is your friend. It's not there to make your life hard. If you're ironing rayon, don't go beyond the setting listed for it.

If you want a steamed, creased look, don't ramp up the iron to cotton, unless you are ironing cotton. Use the spray button to lightly cover the garment with a mist and use more pressure. Also, there is a difference between getting rid of wrinkles and making creases. It takes far more heat and steam to make a crease than to flatten out wrinkles.

Some iron manufactures are only concerned with giving clothing a softer look rather than that flat, displayed in a wrapper look. Hence, the reason for the lower wattage irons.

If you have heavier clothing, then you want an iron with high heat and steam out put. That requires more wattage. You should seek an iron with at least 1000 watts capacity with a large water container.

The best garment pressing flow is starting with the collar and if desired the sleeves. Reason being is those small areas are quick to do, but if you leave them for last, you run the chance of having to re-iron the front and back of your shirt or blouse.

The hanging cord moving back and forth against your garment can be enough to crease or wrinkle what you have already ironed. And laying the shirt against the ironing board could result in running the iron across the items causing a steamed crease in an undesired area that wont come out so easy. Doing those small areas first helps to lessen that.

When ironing pants, completely unzip the zipper, slide the opened end onto the small portion of the ironing board and iron from one side of the pants to the other, moving the pants around the smaller portion of the board.

After that, laying the legs flat and doing each separately gives the best results. But you can keep them together and iron them together. You run a greater chance of getting a double crease along the pants leg with this method. The best practice is to start from the side crease with more pressure and decrease pressure as you move the iron to the front crease of the pants.

However, since you will be ironing both the inner and outer side of each leg, you may not be saving any extra time by ironing   both legs flattened against one another. Though ironing the bulk of your clothes at one time will save on your electric bill, you will have a better look to your garments by ironing them the proper way as you need them. The choice is yours. Here's to your ironing success.

Tim Taylor has owned many steam irons and have no regrets toward giving an honest endorsement for this wonderful iron

by Tim Taylor

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