Tulle is a lightweight, versatile and honeycomb-like textile used to create stiff ballerina skirts, elaborate wedding decorations, beautiful home décor items and fashionable wedding gowns and veils. Constructed of silk, wool, cotton, polyester and polyamide materials, tulle is a cloudlike and frothy fabric that requires a gentle touch when folding and reshaping the material. When your favorite, voluminous tulle garment needs flattening, there are several safe methods to compress the delicate material without ruining it.
Ironing
Set the iron on the coolest and lowest temperature setting.
Lay the tulle fabric flat on a covered ironing board. Place an old cotton handkerchief or cotton sheet on top of the tulle. The cotton material acts as a pressing cloth and protects the gentle tulle during the ironing process.
Move the iron quickly over the cotton pressing cloth to flatten the tulle. Using your hands, press and flatten the garment into the desired shape.
Steam Pressing
Place a large piece of aluminum foil under the ironing board cover. Set the iron to the lowest steam setting.
Add distilled water into the iron’s internal reservoir. Use distilled water, instead of tap water, to keep the iron from rusting internally. Let the steam escape from the iron before your start pressing the garment.
Place the iron 3 to 4 inches above the tulle fabric. Move the iron quickly over the fabric to steam. The indirect heat, reflecting from the aluminum foil, allows the fabric to become pliable without harming the delicate material.
Work and shape the tulle with your hands until it is flat.