How to Iron Pants

Nobody likes wrinkled pants. Face it, wrinkles make you look lazy and sloppy, almost as if you rolled right out of bed. There's something about ironed pants that help you look sharp and well put together. Almost all pants, aside from jeans, require ironing. Follow these few steps to learn how to correctly iron your pants.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Men's Casual Pants
• Mens' Dress Pants
• Women's Causal Pants
• Women's Dress Pants
• Clean Cotton Cloth
• Ironing Boards
• Irons

1. Turn the pants inside out. Look for the tag that gives ironing and fabric information for the garment.

2. Choose the heat setting on your iron appropriate for that fabric. Linen and 100 percent cotton take a high setting; wools and cotton blends call for medium heat; polyester, rayon, nylon, silk, acetate and acrylic all require a low heat setting.

3. Fill the iron with distilled water if you will be using the steam setting on cottons or linens.

4. Test the iron on a small area to make sure you don't have the setting too high'this can damage or discolor the fabric.

5. With the pants still inside out, iron the waistband, pockets (on both sides), fly area, seams and hems, in that order.

6. Turn the pants right side out and pull the waistband over the pointed end of the board. Iron the waistband area and any pleats along the front of the pants below the waistband.

7. Lay the pants lengthwise along the ironing board with both legs together and carefully line up any preexisting creases.

8. Take the hem of the top pant leg and bring it toward the waistband, folding the top leg away from the bottom leg. Iron the inside (hem to crotch) of the lower leg. Turn the pants over and repeat for the other leg.

9. Smooth out both legs carefully and iron the outside of the top leg. Give extra attention to cuffs, if the pants have them.

10. Turn the pants over and iron the outside of the other leg.

11. Hang warm pants immediately to avoid wrinkling. Fold them through a suit hanger to avoid crushing them in a pant hanger.

Tips & Warnings

• The material in many suits can become shiny with too much ironing. You can avoid this by placing a clean cotton cloth over the area before ironing it.

• Avoid spot-cleaning pants just before ironing. Any wet spots may become permanent stains if ironed.

• Irons are very hot and heavy; avoid ironing when small children are near, and never leave a hot iron unattended.