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A Great Iron

First, speaking of good irons, go check out Bonnie Browning’s blog and see what she did to her iron.  She’s busy with the AQS Show so I know she’ll never know we’re all gasping at what she did!  After reading that blog post, I looked at my ironing table and realized I had four irons sitting there, all too close to one another.  Did I move one or two or three of them?  No . . not yet!  🙁

Vince was traveling somewhere and stopped in at an antique store.  I can’t figure out if he likes to shop for me or if he picks up something for me so I won’t complain about the things he buys for himself.

He got this little travel iron!

How cute is that?  And, it gets hot!  And, it steams like no iron I’ve had lately.  It’s all I’ve used since he brought it home.  I love how it feels in my hand, as well as the temperature and the steam.

I’m not an electrician but does it seem weird to you that this little iron is 700 watts and it gets hotter than my Rowenta that has 1700 watts?  The little travel iron has different settings and it doesn’t seem to be getting too hot . . it just works like I expect an iron should work.  The Rowenta seems hot enough sometimes but not other times.  I even unplugged it from the surge protector and plugged it directly into a different wall plug to see if that made a difference and it doesn’t.  Sometimes it just doesn’t seem much hotter than warm.  I don’t like it!  Maybe I’ll take a lesson from Bonnie and park the travel iron too close to the Rowenta and then I won’t feel bad if I toss a 5 month old iron.  My luck, I’d ruin the travel iron and the Rowenta would walk away unscathed.

No, I’m not going to do that.  But really .. there has to be a real iron out there that gets hot and steams.  Oh yes . . there is one.  My mother owns it.  It’s a Rowenta!  I’ve tried sneaking it out of her house.  She always checks her sewing room before I drive away to be sure the iron is still there.

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Comments

  1. Oh, how funny. You won’t believe this, but I picked up the exact same model iron recently at an estate sale. I’m using it for classes. These old irons are wonderful. Tell Vince he has good taste!

  2. I have a Nancy’s Notions branded Rowenta iron from about 8-9 years ago. It was a Christmas gift from my mother. Last fall it started getting flaky: the thermostat control (as far as I can tell) stayed maxed out and I burned a piece of synthetic fabric. So for my birthday my DH gave me a Oliso iron. It is heavy and steams well. I don’t care of the auto off, but, the thermostat is dependable.

    BTW, the wattage isn’t an indication of how hot an iron get, it is only indicative of how much electricity it draws.

  3. I have that same iron!! I use it exclusively… mine came with a little muslin drawstring bag to keep the steam bottle in. So cute and I only paid $3 at a garage sale.
    Someone, somewhere is going to develop the perfect iron and become a millionaire.. wish it was me!

  4. Hi Judy, I used a Velocity iron in a Harriet Hargrave class last year and that was a great iron. It has it’s own water pump inside to generate steam. It never spit and always stayed hot. It does have an auto shut off but did not take long to heat up. I’m saving up for one because they are not cheap. Terry

  5. hey judy – completely unrelated to this post, when’s the next quiltathon? i can’t find any info on your sidebar. are you still hosting them?

  6. I have such issues with irons!!!
    I had a WONDERFUL Shark that I LOVED… had it for 2 years and the plate separated from the rest… can’t duct tape that together!
    I bought a B&D with a great no-stick plate- I LOVED IT!! So did my puppy- he chewed the cord up… I didn’t care, I taped it up and continued to use it for nearly a year when it finally “popped and fizzed” I know coz I heard it- I turned to see it’s red light slowly fade and it was gone- never to heat again. 🙁
    So I just bought another B&D- and it kept turning it’s self OFF- I understand it has an automatic after 8 min of inactivity- BUT I WAS USING IT IN MID IRONING!!! So it went back to the store… I tried 3 others and I am down to a cheap, lightweight Toastmaster… works fine!

  7. Poor Bonnie – sad tale of her iron. The one Vince got you is cute! and the fact that it works great is a double bonus but you’ve got me wondering why it looks like in the photo the plug is next to the instruction book and there’s nothing attached to it. LOL
    I have the little Rowenta travel iron that attacked Bonnie’s large Rowenta – I’ll have to remember to keep my separated since it appears they don’t lay well together!

  8. I have one of these little irons. My mom bought it for me to take on a trip when I was still in high school. ( That was in the late 60’s.) I never thought about using it for my quilting. I’ll have to give it a try. I’ve been using a Rowenta steam generator iron for the past several years and it works well. The only downside is that if it runs out of water, I have to let it cool down before unscrewing the cap to add more water. (I try to remember to check the water level before I turn it on.) The iron I used before this one was a Rowenta Professional model. It steamed really well, but the removable water tank started to leak and then one day the iron just wouldn’t heat. I was pretty disappointed considering what it cost. I can’t deal with the irons that have the auto shut-off. I know that they are safer, but I guess that I usually take to long with my piecing and I also have to go into another room to press and then I need to wait for the iron to heat again. My sewing time is too valuable to have to wait for an iron to heat over and over again.

  9. Oh MAN, now that you put it on your blog, EVERYONE is going to want one! I have been using these irons for years for quilting, and they are the BEST! I look for them everywhere, and have bought MANY on ebay, and have given half a dozen away as gifts for my quilting friends. I pick them up where ever I find them. They need to start making THOSE again! The bottles are hard to find, and I just broke my last one, when I dropped it, not it leaks.
    One more thing on my list if i ever get to go antiquing! I have my girlfriends looking for them for me, too.

  10. I have an old iron that looks a lot like yours–got it at a garage sale a few years ago. I agree with you; it gets a lot hotter than my Rowenta. I had to turn it down a lot because I was afraid of burning my fabric. No wonder the old gags had an iron mark on their clothes—irons got hotter back in the day.

  11. This is the one that my mom used to take with her when I was young. I’m in my fifties so you know how old they are. I got another one from a garage sale and my husband dropped it in the garage. As great as they’re built, they don’t stand a change of survival hitting a concrete floor. I’m envious. It’s a great find

    Naomi

  12. I just check Ebay and guess what Judy, you have one with a green box which is rare! Someone is asking $199 to start the bid. Right now I have a cheap Sunbeam and it’s temperature fluctuates a little and the spray feature died. I’ll have to check out the irons at Ebay.

  13. I bought a Rowenta iron when I had a coupon for 50% off at Joanns. I’m glad I didn’t pay full price because I don’t see what all the hype is about. But, I had to have one because I have bought more different kinds of irons than I’d care to admit. The best irons I’ve had are one’s I bought from this little store called “Ollies” that sells clearance stuff and refurbished stuff. The only one I didn’t like was Haier, it shorted out one night and melted the base plate, caught the ironing board on fire and blew the breaker.

  14. Bought the GE F49 in 1973 prior to shipping out overseas. I’ve lost the water bottle. Not a problem since I don’t use steam when I piece quilts. It is set up next to my s.m. and gets nearly daily use.
    Jackie in La.

  15. Ahhh, what memories! That was the iron I took with me to college back in [cough cough] 1959. I used it quite a while but eventually bought a regular size because I had a family to iron for. In those days everything was ironed. Okay, I didn’t do sheets and towels but I know people who did. Anyone remember pants stretchers?

  16. I bought a Rowenta iron when I had a coupon for 50% off at Joanns. I’m glad I didn’t pay full price because I don’t see what all the hype is about. But, I had to have one because I have bought more different kinds of irons than I’d care to admit. The best irons I’ve had are one’s I bought from this little store called “Ollies” that sells clearance stuff and refurbished stuff. The only one I didn’t like was Haier, it shorted out one night and melted the base plate, caught the ironing board on fire and blew the breaker.

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