Great success with a steamer

**unixken** · 29th May 12, 06:28 PM

With an eye toward freshening the drapes in my living room, I picked up a "Shark Press and Refresh" Garment Steamer (Model GS500) when I happened to see one on sale a few days ago.

I had read in a few threads here, about the success of steaming out the occasional wrinkle in wool, when a full pressing isn't warranted. So I tested it on an old wool blazer I had in the closet. It really worked a treat to revive a garment that had suffered some nasty wrinkles. I next tried it on the wool dress slacks for my CGAUX uniform, and it again worked great!

Today, a Tweed Argyle jacket and waistcoat arrived, that I'd purchased "pre-enjoyed" from another XMark member. It had a couple wrinkles from shipping. The steamer removed the wrinkles with just a couple passes, and the jacket looked brand new!

The particular steamer that I purchased is a bit heavy for a hand-held device. But it comes with several brush heads and bonnets to protect and groom the fibers, and it quickly generates steam like nobody's business. It comes with a pad that hangs from any door, and allows for a garment to be hung up against the pad while steaming. The pad keeps the steam from penetrating through to the door, and allows for VERY quick work, completely eliminating the wrinkles!

This is the unit I bought. For garments, there are less bulky units available, certainly (but again, I bought this to do big heavy drapes, on the rod.)

I almost can't wait for one of my kilts to get a wrinkle, so I can try it on one of them, as well. So far, it's worked fabulously on the wool garments I've tried. I'm curious to see how it works with the P/V kilts... and oh, yeah... the drapes, too.

**MacMillans son** · 29th May 12, 06:51 PM

Steamers do work great unixken, just be careful on the pleats especially with those heavy duty large steamers. They can put out enough heat and water to decrease the shape of your pleats if you're not careful. Sometimes a short steam and let it a hang a bit is better than really steaming the heck out of it until the wrinkles are forced out.

But I agree, they really are a niffty tool.

EDIT: Sorry I didn't check the link first. Although I'd provide the same feedback, I envisioned you using a large floor model designed for drapes and such. I use a similar sized Jiffy travel steamer for my kilt steaming.

**madmacs** · 29th May 12, 06:52 PM

We have one for cleaning the floor that converts to do other things (bissel i think) tried it on the low steam setting on a suit coat yesterday, seemed to work well...

If you're steaming coats though, take care if they're fused rather than canvassed... You can cause yhe fusing to bubble, break down, or lose its glue...

**unixken** · 29th May 12, 08:44 PM

Good advice from each of you. What I did was start from an inch or two away from the garments, rather than make direct contact at first, to gauge just how intense the steam would be. Then I made some quick, light passes, two or three at a time, with the grooming brushes coming lightly in contact with the fabric. I wasn't about to bear down and scrub. I kept the steam source moving, and the contact light. The wrinkles smoothed themselves out with no effort.

**sadkingbilly** · 15th August 12, 12:02 PM

I have a heavy duty floormodel steamer with ajustable pressure and multiple nozzles from single to wide enough to clean windows with. Works wonders, money very well spent. I use it to clean tiles outside, blankets, even leather couches. Gets stains out of clothing like jeans without effort. Yes I use it for clothing and other fabrics as well. Most important note is, do not get (subject) too wet or it won't work anymore and dry up ugly.

Might try and see if it will get the wrongly pressed last pleat realigned..