According to people in this career, the main tasks are...
| Task | Importance |
|---|---|
| Hang, fold, package, and tag finished articles for delivery to customers. | 91% |
| Operate steam, hydraulic, or other pressing machines to remove wrinkles from garments and flatwork items, or to shape, form, or patch articles. | 91% |
| Straighten, smooth, or shape materials to prepare them for pressing. | 90% |
| Remove finished pieces from pressing machines and hang or stack them for cooling, or forward them for additional processing. | 90% |
| Finish pleated garments, determining sizes of pleats from evidence of old pleats or from work orders, using machine presses or hand irons. | 89% |
| Lower irons, rams, or pressing heads of machines into position over material to be pressed. | 89% |
| Shrink, stretch, or block articles by hand to conform to original measurements, using forms, blocks, and steam. | 88% |
| Identify and treat spots on garments. | 88% |
| Finish fancy garments such as evening gowns and costumes, using hand irons to produce high quality finishes. | 87% |
| Push and pull irons over surfaces of articles to smooth or shape them. | 87% |
| Finish pants, jackets, shirts, skirts and other dry-cleaned and laundered articles, using hand irons. | 86% |
| Select appropriate pressing machines, based on garment properties such as heat tolerance. | 86% |
| Slide material back and forth over heated, metal, ball-shaped forms to smooth and press portions of garments that cannot be satisfactorily pressed with flat pressers or hand irons. | 86% |
| Use covering cloths to prevent equipment from damaging delicate fabrics. | 85% |
| Spray water over fabric to soften fibers when not using steam irons. | 84% |
| Position materials such as cloth garments, felt, or straw on tables, dies, or feeding mechanisms of pressing machines, or on ironing boards or work tables. | 83% |
| Examine and measure finished articles to verify conformance to standards, using measuring devices such as tape measures and micrometers. | 83% |
| Moisten materials to soften and smooth them. | 82% |
| Finish velvet garments by steaming them on bucks of hot-head presses or steam tables, and brushing pile (nap) with handbrushes. | 82% |
| Measure fabric to specifications, cut uneven edges with shears, fold material, and press it with an iron to form a heading. | 82% |
| Insert heated metal forms into ties and touch up rough places with hand irons. | 81% |
| Clean and maintain pressing machines, using cleaning solutions and lubricants. | 81% |
| Press ties on small pressing machines. | 81% |
| Block or shape knitted garments after cleaning. | 81% |
| Activate and adjust machine controls to regulate temperature and pressure of rollers, ironing shoes, or plates, according to specifications. | 81% |
| Brush materials made of suede, leather, or felt to remove spots or to raise and smooth naps. | 80% |
| Sew ends of new material to leaders or to ends of material in pressing machines, using sewing machines. | 79% |
| Select, install, and adjust machine components, including pressing forms, rollers, and guides, using hoists and hand tools. | 71% |
