{"id":19145,"date":"2021-01-18T15:27:38","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T14:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/feineherr.de\/how-to-press-a-suit\/"},"modified":"2021-01-18T15:27:38","modified_gmt":"2021-01-18T14:27:38","slug":"how-to-press-a-suit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/feineherr.de\/en\/how-to-press-a-suit\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Press a Suit Yourself"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Potsdam master tailor Kathrin Emmer<\/a> showed us how she presses. When she is making a suit she uses the iron in quite a different way; here it was only about pressing a finished suit as a matter of care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pressing like a tailor, and why technique matters more than force<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In tailoring, pressing is almost as important as cutting and sewing. Tailors smooth and shape cloth with the iron, they can stretch it, widen it or shrink it. These are skills that have to be learned and practised, but that does not mean an amateur should not dare to take an iron to a suit. Anyone who can press a shirt can press a suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pressing cloth: the most important rule<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What matters is that you never set the iron directly on the cloth. There must always be a damp cloth between the iron and the fabric. Without it you would press a shine into the cloth. To dampen it, use a brush dipped in water, or a spray bottle of the kind you use for shirts. If you work with a steam iron, the cloth does not need dampening. A large piece of cotton or linen makes a good pressing cloth, ideally one that has already been washed a few times. Old shirts will do as well; the back gives you a big enough rectangle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While you work, make sure the pressing cloth lies flat and without creases on the suiting, because creases in it will print through. Lift it now and again to check whether the suiting underneath has shifted and is rucking up. Steamers are only a limited alternative to an iron. Steam alone will take out creases, but it cannot smooth cloth the way only an iron can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jacket or trousers: what needs pressing, and when<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Trousers are what you will press most often. With the jacket it is usually enough to hang it up overnight after wearing. Pressing is only necessary if the creases in the crook of the arm or across the back have not fallen out by morning. How well the cloth recovers depends on its quality, on its weight, and of course on how badly it was crushed. A worsted of 450 g and upwards is as a rule less delicate than a superfine summer cloth of 180 g per square metre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The technique, step by step<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Kathrin
Kathrin Emmer wraps the buttons in aluminium foil, because the steam could dull them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The sleeve is drawn over the board and covered with the damp pressing cloth. It stops the iron putting a shine on the cloth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"A
A piece of card is slipped under the edge of the side vents so they do not mark the cloth beneath.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The back of the jacket is smoothed, worked from both the inside and the outside.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The lapels should roll. No sharp crease may be pressed into them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The lapels are pressed inside and out. The cloth is smoothed and the lapels roll elegantly again.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Finding
Before pressing the legs you have to find the exact line of the crease. If the trousers are badly bagged, that can be difficult.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The legs are pressed one at a time, and of course inside and out. Fold the other leg up and lay it aside.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The leg and the line of the crease are pinned to the board so it cannot shift.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The legs bag at the knee. The trousers need that fullness there, but it has to be shrunk back with the iron.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The front of the trousers is smoothed. On pleated trousers the crease must run all the way up to the waistband.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The waistband is smoothed with the iron where needed. Here too you press through the damp cloth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Potsdam tailor Kathrin Emmer shows how to press a suit at home: the damp cloth, the order of work, and why the lapels must roll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[697],"tags":[790],"class_list":["post-19145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-care","tag-guides"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feineherr.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feineherr.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feineherr.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feineherr.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feineherr.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/feineherr.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feineherr.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feineherr.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feineherr.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feineherr.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}