Irons
It’s much to late to be up but I need to vent.
Irons.
Just how hard could it be to design a quality iron?
My old iron (which was perfect and lasted 10 years) has started leaking. It used to do it occasionally but now it does every few seconds. Annoying and unacceptable iron behavior. Especially when faced with the task of ironing 62 brand new yards of fabric.
So off to our fancy brand new super target, which I believe opened today. It’s huge, and of course irons were way in the far back corner. And they had a zillion to pick from, they even had $120 Rowenta irons.
But my theory is that $120 irons are just $30 irons with a brand label and I’ve never bought one.
So I settled on the big red $30 iron that claimed it was drip free.
Well it drips. And it smells like burning plastic. And it was designed by a moron – there are a couple huge buttons on the handle – one for “burst of steam” and one for the spray bottle behavior action. Well – these huge buttons are right on the handle – right where I would normally put my hand. What – did these folks design this iron to look cool or to be functional? How could they not notice in a quick test run that these huge buttons are in the way?
I actually wonder if the dripping I had problems with was a result of me hitting those stupid buttons and the water came pouring out.
Either way it’s back to super lovely target tomorrow in hopes of maybe a $35 iron that works.
And now I have 50+ yards of fabric perfectly slightly damp – just right for ironing – that will dry out and be a royal pain to iron tomorrow.
Arg.
But to end on a positive note – I finished the week at 20 3/4 hours in the studio. Given that I put in only 3 hours before Friday evening that makes me smile.
I also worked at least 7-8 hours on the business of art this week. I have a show proposal stamped and ready to head out the door in the morning. Yay!
This post should have been about a fun experiment I did today but that will have to wait for another day when the ironing gods are smiling.
Posted by Lisa in: Musings
I think I bought the same red iron at Target–got sucked in by the cool color. Besides all the flaws you have already mentioned, it doesn’t get hot enough. That’s what bugs me the most about modern irons–just not hot enough.
A good iron is an essential quilting tool. I managed to bump my $120 iron off the ironing board and onto the floor today .Not a smart move as the plastic casing is now coming apart. I dread the idea of going iron shopping again and hope I can put it off for a while.
It may be too late byt he time you reaqd this, but how about the old trick for ironing linen – wrapped and in the fridge/freezer? (I know, 62 yards is a LOT, but I have a chest freezer which occasionally gets used to hold damp fabric…)
If you eventually find an iron you’re happy with, please share the info. I’ve been crying this same lament for about 5 years and…maybe six irons later?…I am currently using a dripless iron which drips.
I don’t understand this. I’ve been sewing forever and earlier irons lasted for years and years.
I’m sorry to hear about your iron woes, and I definitely can relate. Not to dripping irons, but to the notion that when you’re all geared up for a task, need to do this to move on to the next step and boom, you’re sidelined by technical difficulties. It happens to me all the time.
You’re other news is good…all that fabric already dyed and the proposal!
I have to say ……I have been using a Rowenta at work( ironing drapery and upholstery weight fabrics) and it has been just lovely. I’ll bet one of your quilting friends can get you one wholesale through their supply distributor……whenever you are ready to iron with the big dogs.( By the way..I don’t OWN ONE either.. Maybe this year merry x-mas to me?!!)
I have a Europro (could be a Canadian brand, not sure) that is cordless and I love it for ironing fabric. No cord to scrunch up the fabric you just ironed. I paid about $100 over a year ago and so far so good. THat seems like a long time the way irons behave these days.
7 years ago I needed and iron because SOMEONE in my household used mine to melt plastic. When I went into the local big box store ( it may have been Caldors) I was amazed to find irons price from 9.50 to 110.00. I splurged and spent 11.95 and still have it, Protor Silex.
62 yards of fabric! Wow!
I bought a cheap iron at Target a couple years ago, and it doesn’t seem to leak too much. I’ll check what the brand name is when I get home tonight.
ohhhh – the dreaded iron problems – I recently purchased a Panasonic (NI-R73NR it has blue tank & cord reel) from Target – I think it was about $25. Love it – it gets hot, doesn’t drip and you can turn off the steam with out draining the water out – only down side – it doesn’t hold much water. It also has teflon sole – even fusible web doesn’t stick – just wipes off with tissue! My previous Iron was Black & Decker – it only lasted about 6 months and died.
I used to use a Rowenta and have no idea why they are so expensive. I’m very happy with my cheap Sunbeam Steam Master LX. (I had to go look to see what it was!) It’s been good to me going on 5 years. Of course, admittedly, I don’t iron a whole lot. I’m sure it was a Target purchase.
Clearly this is a hot topic – lots of comments.
Okay – sorry – my son said my standing as a professional artist would be in jeopardy if I wrote that. But I’ll take the risk.
Thanks all for confirmation that this is a fairly universal frustration.
Maybe it’s the water you’re using in your iron. The water here is very hard, so I only use reverse osmosis or distilled water in my iron(s). If I use tap water it splutters constantly………. that reminds me, it’s time to clean the iron(s) with vinegar/water just in case there’s been any calcium build up.
I use a cheap iron, cuz no matter what, it’s going to get knocked off the ironing board onto the carpeted cement floor. Not a happy situation. They’re usually good for about 2-3 falls before they don’t work……lately mine have started overheating when they’ve suffered their falls. The proctor silex cheapy lasted over 18 months before it stopped being useful……some kind of record for me!
Louise in SW Saskatchewan
Louise I also have really hard water so I use only distilled water in my iron. I think the problem was the iron was sitting with water in it for a long time unused.
I’m with you on cheap irons – that’s why I bought the last one as a cheap one – I was sure I would just knock it to the floor. But here it is 10-11 years later still working fine. It’s some kind of miracle I’m sure – I have never, not even once, knocked it to the floor.
Watch – tomorrow I’ll dump it over and break it :)