Pressing Matters: Elevate Your Ironing Skills with Professional Techniques

Essential Pressing Tools for Every Sewist

Understanding the right tools for pressing can significantly enhance the finish of your sewing projects. Here’s a guide to the basic tools every sewist should have in their toolkit, as highlighted by experts in the field:

Sleeve Board: A sleeve board is invaluable for controlling seams on smaller garment parts. It’s particularly useful for shorter seams and offers more control, which is crucial when working with couture techniques.

Pressing Cloth: Wendy Ward recommends always using a pressing cloth to protect delicate fabrics like silks, synthetics, and especially coating weight wools, which require high heat. This simple tool prevents marking and melting of sensitive materials. For more details, check out her blog post What is a Pressing Cloth and Why You Should Use One.

Tailor’s Ham: This essential item ranges in price but can also be DIYed using scrap fabric, which is a great way to recycle and customize the size to suit your needs. There are numerous tutorials online for making your own tailor’s ham.

Advanced Pressing Tools for Expert Garment Finishing

Elevate your sewing projects with these advanced pressing tools designed for precision and professional-quality results:

• Clappers: A clapper is a wooden tool used to achieve perfectly flat and crisp seams or hems. After pressing a seam, place the clapper on it to absorb moisture and set the fabric’s shape.
• Velvet Needle Board: Discussed in detail in our episode on occasion wear sewing, a velvet needle board is essential for handling napped fabrics like velvet without crushing the pile. It allows you to work on the fabric’s back while preserving its texture. Check out more about this in our episode on chic holiday creations here.
• Seam Roll: Similar to a tailor’s ham but more cylindrical, a seam roll is ideal for pressing long, narrow areas like sleeves and pant legs, offering greater control and precision.
• Point Presser: This specialized tool made of hardwood is designed for pressing out lapel and collar points, ensuring sharp, professionally finished corners.
• Point and Creaser: A small wooden tool used primarily in tailoring to push out points and turn out corners, essential for detailed garment construction.

Rebecca’s Favorite Book on the Topic

Explore an essential resource:

• David Page Coffin’s “Shirtmaking”: Recommended for anyone serious about mastering the art of shirtmaking, or sewing in general. The David Page Coffin’s custom techniques for ironing and setting up an innovative ironing board + table contraption. It’s a must-read for pressing enthusiasts, offering insights that advocate for a simpler, technique-focused approach over purely technical advancements. Find this fascinating read here.

Tracy’s Favorite Ironing Tools

Get an insider’s look at the ironing tools that make sewing projects a breeze for Tracy, featuring her top picks that have been mentioned in past episodes:

• Philips Azur Steam Iron: Tracy’s go-to iron for all her projects, the Philips Azur Steam Iron is celebrated for its reliable performance and excellent steam capabilities, making it a favorite among our listeners.
• Prym Ironing Board Cover: A practical addition to any sewing setup, Tracy uses a Prym ironing board cover that features 1cm squares and measurements. While it’s not perfectly accurate, it’s incredibly useful for pressing hems and ensuring alignment. Check it out here.