Intro to Pressing / Ironing

Functions of pressing finishing are: • To remove the unwanted creases and crush marks – During manufacture of garments, creases form in the garment and also during the process, garments are subjected to crushing due to its movement from place to place and handling of the operator. The creases and crushes formed give a bad appearance to the garment and hence they need to be removed. Pressing does the work of removing those creases and crushes. More creasing will be seen in the case of garments handled in bundles by tying up tightly or when piled on trolleys and boxes. • To induce creases to the garment based on the design requirement – In trousers, skirts and shirts, creases are required at certain places to make it look attractive. With the pressing operation, creases can be formed at required places like shirt collars, pleated skirts, edges of hem and cuffs, pocket flaps, waistband top edge’s and patch pocket edges. • To enable the garment fit to the contour of the body – Pressing helps in shrinking and stretching. Pressing is done to make the garment fi t to the contour of the body especially in wool fabrics. It is called as molding. After molding it is not possible to unpick the seams and return garment parts to their former fl at state. • To enable further sewing by preparing the garment for next sewing operation – There are two terms used in pressing – Under pressing and final pressing (Top off). Under pressing is the pressing operation on semi constructed garments to make the garment parts ready for further sewing. Final pressing is the process of pressing the completed garments finally before packing the garment. Under pressing operation helps the garment parts to be pressed for making further sewing easier. • To finally finish the garment for packing – During under pressing, the surface of the fabric would have changed temporarily because the various garment parts are under pressed for easy sewing. It sometimes results in gloss or glazing caused by extreme pressure of press in order to achieve a fi rm edge or seam. In order to remove the effects of under pressing and to make the garment ready for packing, final pressing operation is carried out and the garments are pressed to get a finished garment.