I have a moderately priced iron from a department store. It has been OK as a replacement for a better one I had that died. I am trying to press out some satin for customer's project and it ruined the first piece I had by spewing water out all over it suddenly. It was on "DRY" setting and not even halfway filled. I thought perhaps it was not hot enough and being horizontal maybe some valve wasn't shut yet. Its now done it several more times, "ruining" new satin pieces and its taken all the physical discipline I have to not chunk it across the room. IS THERE AN IRON OUT THERE THAT DOESN"T COST A FORTUNE THAT WORKS????????????????????????????????????????? What do I do for the satin now that its all pieced together adn I can't just go start with new fabric. I tried washing the first fabric and it never ironed out straight again. I added starch and that irons nicely but you can see the starch(sizing) spots. I WILL NEVER ATTEMPT A WEDDING GOWN at the rate. :o(
Empty the iron and use it dry. For things that need a little steam, place a dry pressing cloth over them and spray the cloth with a little light nmist of water: press.
Next time, do what DH did: splash out on a steam generator iron with a separate water tank...
Kate, when you say he splashed out, do you mean he spent extra money for one?? Sorry for the loss in translation! I was so hoping would reply! What do I do with the pieces it wet today??? Any salvage?
Yup - they cost a bit more than a standard iron. However, it is a beautiful thing to use on the family laundry and on the customer garments. The iron heats up separately from the water, which goes to it as steam, so even on delicate things that you want a cool dry iron for, you can still give them a shot of steam in the okkard areas! :) It was an Aldi special offer.
What brand is it? We have an ALDI in Memphis, and there are all kinds of steam generating irons apparently. I just checked reviews on one and they said it was awful about spitting! Maybe they didn't know how to use it??
Mine's a Delta, made in China. I've made it spit occasionally, by having the steam on low and a cool iron setting. I usually give it a puff or two well away from the garment before I set it on the fabric.
Ok. If it's satin and you've got water spots and starch spots, I'm sorry but they are likely there for life. Been there, done that. You won't ever do it again. It's a lesson we all learn at one time or another. *sigh*
As far as irons go, I have been really happy with Black & Decker irons. About $50.00 at a wal-mart or target, etc. I've not had spitting even from the one that got dropped on the concrete floor. ;) And they have a cleaning cycle that you can put them through. I do this every now and again. It really helps to clean out any mineral deposits. Also, I run white vinegar through them just like the coffee maker to really clean them out.
As a rule, you never want to use spray starch on poly fabrics. Poly doesn't like starch. You can even get scorch marks using starch on poly, or poly blend fabrics. I save the starch for cotton and linen and leave it at that.
Every iron I've owned has leaked at one point or another. I think if I were working with fabrics that might be ruined by an errant dribble, I'd consider keeping a second, inexpensive iron on hand - one that had never ever been filled with water at all. Put a piece of tape on it and label it "DRY USE ONLY".
Thanks everyone for all the advice. I guess I should have realized all of this long ago, but some of us are made a bit denser than others! This is what I did- I sprayed distilled water on the entire piece (luckily not that big!) till it was completely wet through. I emptied the iron of water and proceeded to iron on the wool setting with a smooth cover cloth. It turned out fine luckily. I am just about finished with the pillow, just need some trimmings she requested. Yes, I had to put that as the subject line. I also had to restrain myself from writing in until my temper had cooled as much as the iron!
The best way is to haunt garage sales and second-hand stores until you find an iron that has no holes in the bottom -- it not only doesn't leak, it works better than irons made for people who don't store their dampened ironing in bushel baskets. The shape is more efficient, the thermostat can be set higher, and you'll soon start to wonder how you *ever* put up with all those holes.
If you find a second dry iron, buy it and stash it away in case the first one burns out or gets damaged, because there won't be any more when these are gone.
It's so much easier to mist a rumpled shirt with my Oil-O Pump than to fill the steam iron that I've gradually stopped using my steam iron entirely.
The Oil-O Pump is a cheap plastic hand-pumped aerosol bottle intended for making your own no-sticky kitchen spray, but it turned out that olive oil clogged it up almost immediately. I had noticed that it sprayed a very fine mist of water when cleaning it before use, and it doesn't clog when spraying pure water, so it moved into the sewing room and has been indispensable ever since.
But the last time I used it, I dropped the detachable pump handle, it rolled under something, and I'm going to have to clean the entire sewing room to find it. Since it didn't work at all for its intended purpose, I'll be greatly surprised if it's possible to replace it.
I just use a regular misting bottle, you can buy them at dollar stores or greenhouses or walmart or wherever. I don't know if they are different from what you have, but it worked ok for me, as long as they had the adjustable twirly thing at the spout to make it a fine mist, not a stream like a water gun lol! I even kept some that cleaners came in if I didn't like the cleaning stuff.
Have been extolling the virtues of vintage "dry" irons to all and sundry for ages. At last count am up to six or seven, not counting mangles (ironers).
No matter what type of steam iron one chooses, boiler/generator/gravity fed/pump/ or plain old "steam" iron all will eventually leak and or spit water if not properly maintained and used. Also many steam irons will not steam below a certain temp as they do not get hot enough to produce steam.
I'd rather dry iron damp laundry/sewing than deal with all the palaver of using any sort of steam iron, especially when there is much ironing to be done at once. If one is ironing something like heavy cotton or linen, very few if any domestic irons get anywhere near hot enough/produce enough steam to do a decent job, IMHO.
One more thing about using commercial steam irons like boilers, generators and gravity feeds. One must make sure all that steam has a place to go if doing lots of ironing at once, otherwise the padding beneath will become "wet" and that moisture will defeat any attempt at good ironing. Commercial laundries use "vacuum" ironing tables/boards. Home users can find the same sort of items from vendors such as LauraStar and EuroPro. There are also "light commercial" units sold by some dealers like AllBrands which work well also.
Another tip, when choosing a steam iron, take another tip from commercial units. More holes is not always better. Ironing and pressing basically involve resetting a fabric's "memory" and smoothing it out. Natural fabrics need more moisture than synthetics for this function, but the function must be carried out rather fast to prevent whatever one is ironing/pressing from wrinkling/creasing again upon movement. That is to say after the application of moisture,heat is used to dry the article and set the memory. If one examines the soleplates of most commercial steam irons the holes are mostly located at the top portion of the iron. This is so as one makes the upwards stroke on the fabric, steam is applied to help weaken the fabric bonds and allow for easier rearranging, so to speak. As one continues passing the iron over the area, the part of the soleplate without holes applies dry heat to dry the previously steamed part and set the new shape. The entire process is much like setting one's hair with curlers. If there is too much moisture and not enough drying, whatever is being ironed will look crumpled quite soon, and likely to re-wrinkle upon being moved.
Ok, lecture over. There will be a pop quiz tomorrow. No open books.
On any given day you can purchase the original (vintage ) article of "dry" irons at any estate sale, eBay, Craigslist, MIB for usually no more than $5.
Tend to think Vermont Country Store likes to have things that are "unique" and "cannot be found elsewhere so they can charge whatever they please. Case in point, VCS used to have soap flakes at 2 boxes for about $10 or so, then they stopped selling them. Word was the company (Lux) stopped making them. Several months ago got an email soap flakes were back, but now one bag was $15 or so. After an initial order found an online source that had them for $8.99, same exact soap flakes in the same package. VCB lowered their price eventually, but now it seems they no longer carry soap flakes. I wonder why?
That used to be true around here, too, but the last time I saw an old dry iron in a thrift store, it was in the "collectibles" section and was priced $45.00.
Sadly as word has gotten around about vintage this and that, this does seem to be the case. Have one word for you, "eBay". Thank goodness for all those wedding, anniversary, birthday and other occasion gift irons. Women probably beamed with gratitude when presented with said item, then promptly chucked them in an attic or cupboard. There they joined such things as waffle irons, electric mixers, blenders, electric carving knives and all those other kitchen gadgets someone told the world housewives couldn't live without. *LOL*
Now, if you want to talk about prices for vintage items becoming dear, try vintage Wamsutta or Pequot bed linen. Time was one could take several sets for a snip, now they have become so dear I've stopped informing friends about the benefits. Let them buy those 300 thread counts ones instead!
OK, you got me here. What is special about Wamsutta or Pequot? I confess, I did invest in some 800 and 1000 thread count sheets, which should last me the rest of my life! I am also fond of my waffle iron with the reversible plates, my electric mixer, and my electric knife. I used to use my blender a lot, but now that the kids are grown, we don't have much call for milk shakes. The knife is the best thing for cutting the bread that comes out of my breadmaker several times a week.
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