THE IRON

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19959, 17 November 1934, Page 20

THE IRON

PRESSING GARMENTS There is a theory that woollen materials should be pressed with a hot iron and a damp cloth combined. Ii the damp cloth were ever thick enough, a* is the case with a tailor’s pressing apparatus, the results might be successful. As it is. the method usually leaves a shiny streak where the iron has passed, and many husbands have rued the day when their wives attempted to press their clothes at home. Actually, woollen stuff should be damped first, not really wetted, for it is liable to shrink. It should be gently sponged, the damp being as evenly distributed as possible. It can then he pressed safely with a dry cloth between it and the iron. All dressmaking patterns give the advice to press as one goes along and not afterwards. It is true that the pressing done in this way is more effective, and the amateur dressmaker floes well to make up her mind to have an iron at hand while she is dressmaking and ready to press each thing—seam or pleat—as it is finished. Even ordinary ironing is better when attention is paid to small details. Thus many of the artificial silk mixtures go shiny when ironed. These should always be ironed on the wrong side. Artificial satin petticoats, even crepe de chine blouses, look much better ironed on the wrong side. It may be remembered that so delicate a material as chiffon will suffer a hot iron with impunity and look the better for it. Shantung should never be damped at all. It should be allowed to dry completely, and then be ironed with a fairly hot iron, when it will come out with perfect smoothness. Velvet can be ironed on a hot iron set upside down in a vice. The velvet is then drawn over it. Velveteen seams can be pressed with no precautions at all.