An Ironing Station

I believe that I’m hard on irons.  It’s weird because my cars last forever.  I’ve sewn a million miles on a sewing machine from the 1950’s but give me a new iron and I can ruin it in no time at all.

Not long ago I was chatting with a Digital Velocity customer service lady and was telling her how much I had loved my Digital Velocity Steam Generator iron.  But I had not loved that it lasted less than two years.  After she read my blog posts, we came to the conclusion that I was pushing my irons beyond their capabilities.  The Digital Velocity Steam Generator iron is rated for 12 – 16 hours of use per week.  I was turning it on, bypassing the auto shut off, and leaving it on probably 3 hours in the morning, and another 3 or 4 hours in the afternoon . . every day.  So basically, I ruined it.

I do have another Digital Velocity iron that I’ve been using but it’s a smaller model, has the auto shut off with no way to bypass it so it’s still working.  I haven’t managed to ruin it yet.

I kept looking at the i300 ironing station by Digital Velocity.

And here’s what it looks like in my sewing room!

 

I’ve used it for several weeks now and while it isn’t the only iron I’d ever want to own, if it continues to perform as it has so far, I hope to never be without it.

The drawback is that it takes about 15 minutes for the steam generator to begin “generating”.  I’ve learned to save my big ironing projects for first thing in the morning.  When I’m ready to start sewing, I turn on the iron, and the steam generator, check my email and by the time I’m done reading email, it’s ready to begin ironing.  As you can see, I keep another iron on the ironing table, and I have an iron next to my sewing machine for small jobs.

Where it really shines is on quilt backings and the back sides of tops.  Once tops have been folded for a while, or even hung, the seal allowances can get wonky.  See the blue button on the side of the handle?  That’s the button you push for steam and when you push it, you’d better have your fingers out of the way because massive amounts of steam comes forth!  If you’re not pressing on the blue button, no steam comes out.

Another instance where this ironing station really makes me smile is when I’m ironing large pieces of fabric that have been in the washer/dryer.

I read the rule book about not washing huge pieces of fabric but I sometimes break the rules.  Then I pay the price of having to iron out those deep set wrinkles.

 

Mary Ellen’s Best Press will help remove these wrinkles but so will plain steam!

Just steam . . no starch or fabric finish.  This iron gets the wrinkles out on both sides of the fabric.  Often, when I think I’ve done such a good job using a regular steam iron, when I go to fold the fabric for the shelves, it looks like the back side was never ironed.

The iron feels more like an antique iron in my hand, versus the way the modern day irons feel.  I don’t find it to be overly heavy but I love a heavy iron.  It took some getting used to because you sit it down flat when not in use, instead of standing it up on it’s end.

Things I really love:

• The tank, which sits near the iron and connects via a hose, holds 6 cups of water where most irons hold less than 2 cups.
• It is recommended that you use tap water.  I love steam and go through at least a gallon of distilled water for irons that recommend distilled water.
• The tank can easily be cleaned . . it is not part of the iron.
• Because the steam is coming through the hose from the detached tank, I’ve not had it spit or sputter once!
• The iron does not have auto shut off, which I like, though I’m being very careful to shut it off when I’m not using it.

The ironing station is expensive . . a bit more than I would normally pay for an iron but I’ve wanted this type setup for quite a while and as of now, I’m very happy with it.