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You have invited your office colleagues to your home for a party, and one of them picked on you for your wrinkled bedcover. Now that’s a real burn, man! Similarly, suppose your kids are having a sports day at school, and their athletic wear is full of creases and wrinkles, but you don’t have the time to gather all the types of equipment and go for pressing.
You must be worrying about how to make the fabrics on furniture and other home decor crease-free to leave no room for your overexcited colleague to speak on it or how to press your children’s school wear quickly so that they can have a wrinkle-free uniform. The solution to all these problems is a cloth steamer. It is portable, easy to use, and also has fewer chances of causing accidents.
Steamers do not need a constant electric supply. You need to put water in the container provided in the steamer and heat it by providing current till it creates steam. Once the water is heated and there is ample steam, you can disconnect it from the electricity and use it for some time. With this facility, you can use a steamer to treat almost all the creased fabrics in the house, from bedcovers to curtains.
There is no need for an iron table or a flat surface; you can apply the steamer on any fabric just the way it is. The steamer is versatile and can press a wide range of textiles, all kinds of cotton, polyester, silk, and wool. Take proper caution before applying superheated steam on delicate fabrics or threaded and embroidered work that may get ruined. A steamer is the best substitute for iron. It is as good as iron in removing creases and wrinkles from garments. You can use the steamer to remove wrinkles by hanging the clothes or even after wearing them.
Using a clothes steamer is a cakewalk. But, before beginning, you must read the instructions given in the booklet that came with the steamer. It contains the basic instructions on how to operate it like how much water to put in, how long it needs an electric connection, how to control the steam, maintain the temperature and so on. Besides going through the brochure of the steamer, read the information given on the fabric care labels of the garments before beginning to avoid any accidents.
You would want to avoid any hustle or bustle while pressing clothes. Avoid setting your steamer to heat without organizing the clothes that need ironing, or it may result in excessive heating and burns. Better sort the items that you want to press and keep them close before beginning the process.
First, fill the water tank of the cloth steamer with cold water and ensure that all the parts of the steamer are watertight to avoid any spills and leaks. Water spills will increase the chances of electric shock. Plug in the steamer and heat it for some time. Steamers generally get heated very quickly; it requires 2-3 minutes at most. Make sure the water is suitably heated and is perfectly steaming. Check the temperature of the steam by releasing a little bit of it by pressing the button.
In the case of ironing, you have to lay the clothes flat on a surface for pressing, but here you have no such restrictions. It is better to hang the same on a sturdy, heatproof hanger, preferably wood. Place the hanger on a straight vertical surface, preferably a shower rod, a doorknob, or the back of a chair. You can also press your outfits while wearing them, but it only helps to remove light creases.
Before beginning, remember though the task of iron and steamer is the same, the way of using them is different. Do not apply the techniques that you use with the former with the latter. Avoid pushing or pressing the nozzle of the steamer into clothes. Try to maintain some distance between the nozzle and the fabric. Along the textile, apply long downward strokes to remove wrinkles efficiently. You can use a pad for the surface while steaming clothes as it helps steam clothes with extreme wrinkles and creases. To remove excessive wrinkles from clothes, use the traditional method of pressing them from the inside or on the wrong side. The fabric’s heavy weight will work against the steam and help release wrinkles quickly.
After removing wrinkles by steaming, drying them is the most crucial task. Using a clothes steamer leaves the fabric slightly damp. Before using the garments or the textile, ensure to air dry them, or else there will be a damp smell from the cloth. If you put the clothes in the closet without drying them properly, it may lead to forming mildew.
Tip: After steaming the fabric, let the steamer and its parts completely dry before storing. Make sure to clean its parts regularly to increase its longevity.
