Tips on how to Iron Dress Pants

While we would all like to rock dress down Friday clothing five days a week, most guys will certainly find themselves dressed in dress pants most of the time. A well ironed, non-wrinkled pair of pants finishes off an outfit, and says you really care about your job, body, etc. Having your pants ironed at your local cleaners is easy-but a chore and can get expensive. If you are like most guys, you will wear a suit or good dress pants a couple of times before forking out the dry cleaning money. Understanding how to iron your pants yourself can make you more self-sufficient and offer a fundamental familiarity with the clothing you're wearing.

Why Guys Hate to Iron Their Dress Pants 1. Fear of destroying them - Too high of a heat setting and the iron will give it a permanent shine. 2. Lack of how to really iron dress pants - Google ironing a shirt and you will find a huge number of advice and videos out there. How to iron dress pants? Nope. 3. You assume nobody notices - Lots of the guys in your workplace don't iron their pants or shirts - who is going to notice, right? Wrong - if you have ambition, then dress like it.

What You will need "	Ironing board "	Iron "	Water - not from the tap, it could leave spots "	Clean(ish) dress pants

Essential Dress Pant Ironing Tips "	Press the iron (pick it up, put it down); do not rub it across the clothing. Let the steam and pressure become your friend. "	Make sure you get our any stains/dirt Prior to ironing. Or else you could have a permanent stain. "	Ironing time is an art. So the rules are a little flexible. There really should be as little time ironing as it takes to press out the wrinkles. Steam helps. I start out with 2 seconds, then change the time based on the fabric thickness and reaction to pressing. "	Make sure the iron is the right temperature for your dress pants. This really is a no-brainer, just check out the iron. For example, wool could be easily damaged by an excessive amount of heat. You need to let the iron cool and be sure it is set correctly when ironing dress pants after doing shirts (which are normally made from cotton and thus need a higher temperature setting).

How to Iron Your Dress Pants

Iron the Linings of the Pockets

Most dress pants have inside pocket linings. Although no one will ever see these, if they're badly wrinkled and you wear your dress pants close fitted, an impression of the wrinkles could possibly be visible. Prevent this by smoothing out the lining. Note that linings usually are made from cotton. You may have to start with a warmer temperature if you are ironing wool dress pants, and then let the iron cool for a couple of minutes before ironing the rest of the pants.

Go Top Down Turn your front pockets out and then press the iron on the top of the leg. Lift the iron up, reinsert the pocket, and then iron along the top part of the dress pant, paying special attention to pleats and re-forming any folds.

Move to the back of the dress pants, and pull out the back pockets. Iron these areas and then move up to the waistband.

Finally, move to the opposite front side of the pants, turning the pocket inside out and repeating the procedure. Mark the Dress Pants Crease at the base to Get Ready For Ironing Flip a dress pant leg up and off of the board so that you're working with just one leg, and lay it flat on the board. Look within the cuff and find the two seams.

Get the dress pant leg so that one inseam lies right on the top of the other, in the center of the flat leg. With the inseams in the center, the edges of the dress pant leg are where you would like to iron the crease.

Spray the cuff with water and press down lightly on each side of the dress pant leg. This will likely leave a really good crease at the cuff and an inch or two up the leg.

Mark the Crease at the Top Find the same two vertical inseams and match them up, one on top of the other, just like you did with the bottom, but this time at the top of the pants.

Lay the top of the dress pant leg flat with the inseams centered. Carefully iron (press down remember?) a crease into place along that edge, about six inches down from the waistband.

Don't iron the crease all the way up to the waistband. The base of the pockets (on the inside of the dress pants) is a good spot to stop, or if you have pleated dress pants you can just iron the pant crease right up to the bottom of the side pleats.

Iron the front side Crease Now that you've got the start and finish of the crease marked, it's just an issue of connecting the dots. If the inseams are still set one on top of the other, the crease ought to be the very edge of the dress pant leg as it lies flat. Press gently down in one spot with the iron. Then lift the iron, progress up a little, and repeat it. Always push downward rather than sliding the iron across the crease.

Work all the way up from the marker at the cuff to the marker slightly below the pockets. It's worth reaching inside the dress pant and pulling the pocket aside so that you don't accidentally press its shape into the dress pant leg while you're working on the crease and wreck your hard work.

Press Down the Dress pant Leg Once you have your creases set you can press the middle of the dress pant leg between the creases to get out any small wrinkles or folds. Use the same motion you've been using: press the iron flat, pick it back up, and repeat again a little bit further along. If you're worried about the dress pant fabric, you can cover it with a thin, clean white cloth and press through that. In the case of delicate or napped weaves (like those expensive thin grey flannel pants) a barrier avoids "shine," which is the slicked-down look you get when you have ironed too rigorously or at too high of a temperature.

You do not need to press both sides of the same dress pant leg. Once you're done ironing both legs (and the rest of the dress pants, if desired), be sure to hang them to let them dry completely before wearing. If you wear the dress pants damp you'll work the crease right back out, wasting all your hard work. Ok, now you look impeccable and should have confidence in coming off as a true professional, standing out among other workers (and maybe even bar patrons after work).

Check out this link for more information: Tips to Iron Cloths