Eventually, if you're a serious garment sewer, you will want to purchase a steamer. I use mine for steaming gowns, jackets, and other dry-cleanables. I also use it to pre-shrink yardage before cutting.
There are a few things to keep in mind when steaming:
- Always steam with a soft towel in one hand. Preferably this should be a towel with a very smooth "velour" finish on one side. As I steam, I wipe off the head every few seconds to catch any drips before they fall.
- If your steamer is dripping a lot, it may need a good cleaning - check the manual for how to do this.
- If you do drip on something (and I almost always do) then take the towel immediately and, holding the velour side of it towards the fabric, blot the drip spot from both sides of the fabric with your hand. That helps to suck up the water as fast as possible.
- Some fabrics are very, and I mean *very* susceptible to water spotting. If you are using something new you might want to purposely drip on some spots and experiment to see what the effect will be. Acetate is the worst. I hate acetate. Some formal silks and synthetics are also bad. But nothing in my experience is as bad as acetate. Really, acetate sucks.
- For fabrics that I am afraid of spotting, I steam them vertically. That way drops, as much as possible, go down on the floor and not on the fabric (usually)
- For fabrics that I'm not worried about spotting, or that I'd rather steam flat b/c they are susceptible to stretching, i.e. suiting wool, I steam them flat.
