Sew-a-Long: Press Cloth

A press cloth acts as a guard between a hot iron and a your beautiful design through the construction steps of a garment. Here you will learn how to make your own press cloth.

A press cloth in fabric stores can retail $3 to $15. I find this ridiculous as you can make your own easily. It is just a rectangle of fabric! Hence, why I am sharing how to make your own press cloth in about 10 minutes or less.

Silk organza material is fantastic for general pressing as it can be used at all heat levels, it is sheer (Woot! It's see through) and the fine weave does not leave any imprints on your project. I will use Silk Organza for this tutorial. 

Materials

• 0.5 m Silk Organza fabric
• 5 inches (approx 0.15 m) of ribbon
• Serger or sewing machine
• Thread

• Chalk
• Ruler
• Fabric scissors
• Thread scissors

Step 1

Decide upon the dimensions of the guard. I find 22" x 20" works well. These dimensions let a guard cover the depth of an ironing board sufficiently. 

Step 2

Cut out your desired dimensions in the silk organza. The rectangle can run on grain or crossgrain. 

Step 3

Now to finish off the raw edges. You can neaten the edges however you like, I find the quickest way is to serge the raw edges. If you do not have a serger you can zigzag along the edge.

Step 4 (Optional)

This step is completely optional. I like to add a ribbon handle to hang my guard when not in use. I appreciate an organized studio and hate not having all my tools handy. Basically, I am a neat freak. 

The best way to attach on a ribbon handle is to fold over ribbon with raw edges lined up to a raw edge of the organza. Feed through the serger and/or sewing machine at the same time as Step 3. 

​Final Design

Voilà! You now have an all purpose press cloth.

Happy Sewing!
Designed, photographed and written by Sheila Wong Studios