How to Steam Press Men's Pants
Keeping more of your money in your wallet is easier when you learn how to steam-press men's pants. By following the steps below, you will be able to press men's pants instead of taking them to the cleaners, saving time and money. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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1
Check the care tag of the pants you are ironing and set the iron to the suggested temperature setting. Do this step for every pair of pants you iron. Lightly spray the pants with water and wait a few minutes for the water to soak in a bit.
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2
Place the pants on the ironing board. Grasping the waist with the zipper between your thumbs, pull them onto the narrow end of the ironing board, until the narrow end of the ironing has reached down the leg. Straighten the fabric by stretching it a bit by the waist band and by making sure the side seam follows the line of the ironing board. Push the pocket down to its normal place by reaching inside the pants and straightening it. Press this area, making sure to get the zipper flap as well.
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3
Slide the pants off and slide the other front side onto the ironing board. Follow the same steps as listed in Step 2.
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4
Flip the pants over and pull them onto the ironing board to iron the back portion. Flatten down pocket flaps and make sure the inside pockets are laying straight down before ironing. Pull up on the waistband to straighten any areas and use your hand to flatten areas as needed. Iron, making sure not to forget the waistband.
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5
Grasp the pants by the bottom of the legs. Place the inside seams together, then match up the outside seams. Lay them down on the ironing board with the legs on the wide part of the ironing board. Take the top leg and pull it back; you should see the inside seam of one leg, which should be somewhere close to the middle all the way up to the crotch. Gently set the leg you are holding down over the top part of the pants while you iron the other leg. Usually you can see the seam from previous pressing; try to maintain this seam. Run your hand over the leg and you can feel anywhere that fabric is folded over; straighten it out. Make sure the seam is straight and iron that leg.
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6
Pick up the leg that you set aside and lay it on top the ironed one, straightening it and matching the front seam with the previous one. Flatten any folded fabric with your hand, making sure to feel any folds underneath the top layer. Once it is flat, iron this side of the pant leg, pressing the front and back seams in.
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7
Flip the pants completely over on the ironing board and repeat Steps 6 and 7. Hang the pants on plastic hangers (metal ones create fold creases) by inserting the legs through the opening almost halfway. Bring your hand up underneath to make sure there are no folds caused by the hanger.
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Tips & Warnings
Some tags will say to iron the pants inside out. Go ahead and turn them inside out and continue the instructions until it gets to pressing seams. At that point, you will iron the legs of the pants inside out, but then you will turn them right-side out to complete the front and back with a quick press to press the seam in.
Some fabrics are tougher to iron, such as linen; turn your iron up a notch and spray on a little extra water.
Do not try to iron leather or suede.
Always test a small area of fabric with the iron to make sure it is not too hot.
Turn the iron off and unplug after using it. Store it in a place where it cannot be reached by children, making sure the cord is out of reach.
- Photo Credit Photos by Linda Batey
