What is press cloth? (this question could also be called "Have you ever used "stitch witchery"? Can you help me?)

Yup! Anything rather thin, to protect your garment. An old pillowcase or washcloth will do.

awesome! thank you!

I love that stuff. I’m short and have to hem everything; it’s been a life-saver on many occasions!

Total tangent: I got a sewing machine recently and have been hemming everything I can get my hands on. BECAUSE I CAN.

Well gee then EP; can I send you all my too long jeans and pants?

can i send you my pillowcase fabric?
(yeah, i kind of chuckled to myself thinking about how i was using an old pillowcase as a press cloth (new word for me) to make a new pillowcase.

Yes and yes. I’m not awesome yet and need the practice. But you might get stuff back with multiple hems. One in plain stitching and a few in fancy.

Mostly I’m practicing on my friend’s shirts. They are falling apart so the “hem” is to keep them from disintegrating more than they already have. The fancy stitches cover more fabric, so we figure will hold the shirt together longer.

awesome!
oh and i need this done before my party tomorrow…
;-)

on another completely unrelated note: does anyone else really like the smell that occurs when fabric is being ironed? It’s like the smell of clean laundry, but a little different. i think it’s one of my favorite smells. does that mean i’ve been at this ironing thing a little too long?

I secretly love to iron

damn it! i just got stitch witchery on my iron! now what do i do?

scrub it off while hot, carefully. Or wait for it to dry and then use a razor blade, carefully!

i got a dishcloth wet, and tried to scrub it off but it wasn’t budging. i think i’ll opt for #2. thanks!

awesome. it was still pretty warm, but i unplugged it and used a regular table knife to scrape it off. after i got a little off, the rest just peeled right off in one piece easy.

another related question: so if i have some cheesecloth that advertises on the packaging “many household uses including (blah blah) and steaming” are they suggesting you use that for the press cloth??

I suspect that it is referring to steaming food items.

I suspect syz is correct. The weave in cheesecloth is often too loose for me to be willing to melt things under it. And since you got some stuck to your iron, I’m assuming it can melt into things.

I do love the smell from ironed clothing!
Like clean laundry, but not quite.
The smell of warm cloth!

Just a note of caution to others following this in the future. Make sure both the fabric to be hemmed and the damp fabric you’re using as a press cloth are color fast! I got orange fabric dye all over everything once doing this with unwashed orange fabric. :(

ooh, thanks for the tip, augustlan!

syz, that’s makes a lot of sense!

ep, yeah, the weave probably is too loose, youre right. just to clarify for future possible crafters reading the thread, i got the adhesive on the iron by being a smartass and thinking that i didn’t need a press cloth. it didn’t soak through it or anything, the fabric just moved around when i set the iron down, and the adhesive became exposed directly to the iron.