This is my Oliso, my current iron which I bought on the recommendation of a friend. It is a really neat iron, honestly. There are feet under the iron that raise it up off the ironing board until you touch the handle, at which time it lowers itself to the ironing board and you can happily iron your quilting, your laundry, whatever. It's really neat and the iron has been doing a nice job.
Unfortunately, my Oliso is dying. When I plug it in, half the time it doesn't even finish heating up before it goes into auto-off mode. Even when I do get it to heat up all the way, often times it will go into auto-off mode within a minute or less after I've been using it. And conversely, sometimes I will leave it for long periods of time as I cut out more fabric... and not once will it go into auto-off mode UNTIL I'm just about ready to use it. And the steam function just isn't working well any more, even though I've descaled it very recently.
The other unfortunate thing is that this is not a cheap iron. I bought this to replace a Rowenta (also not a cheap iron) whose water compartment had burst and was hemmoraging water all over my quilting. (I know, some people say the fastest way to kill an iron is to put water in it, but I love using a burst of steam to really get those seam allowances pressed crisply.)
I've decided that since these expensive irons don't seem to last any longer than the less expensive ones, I'm just going to get less expensive irons from now on. I'd rather pay $25 every couple years than $100 every couple years!
So, without further ado, here is my new iron:
I know what you're thinking. "Huh? That's NEW?!?" Yes, it is! I just bought it at Target yesterday for about $28. It's a Black & Decker "The Classic". It's pretty retro in styling, and to be honest I really like the way it looks. It's got some good weight to it but not as much as those heavy Rowenta irons. And of all the irons at Target, it was the only one with a soleplate that looked like this:
You see the two rows of holes for steam to blast onto the fabric? All of the other irons only had one row... not enough for me. I wanted to be sure that the steam actually hit the seam I'm pressing, not just the fabric all around it.
Now, I just need to eat some lunch so I can have lots of energy to play with my new iron. Yes, I'm excited to have a new iron. I know, I'm weird that way. LOL! Happy quilting everyone!
I agree with not buying expensive irons any more. The Reliant or Reliable, something like that and about $130, has been getting rave reviews. Still, it's $130 as opposed to
ReplyDelete$30 so ... we'll see.
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ReplyDeleteI received an email notification for one of these comments that has since been removed... Not sure why you removed them because your comment was in no way offensive or upsetting!
ReplyDeleteYou commented that you're of a similar mind with me about irons, that you like them to be weighted and produce decent steam, and that you go through irons pretty fast like I do. :) I'm glad I'm not alone!! I'm also glad to read that Black & Decker is a favorite brand of iron for you, I'm really hoping that this new one pleases me. So far, it's doing a great job. I'm pressing fabric for a crib quilt backing and it's doing fantastic on getting the fold marks out. :)
I'm still using a small Rowenta craft iron. My number 1 preference in an iron is that id doesn't have auto shut off. I hate getting up from the machine to press and then have to wait for the iron to reheat!!! Love the retro look of your new one.
ReplyDeleteI have the same iron & love it.
ReplyDeleteI had an older Black & Decker that DH knocked over one too many times & had to be discarded. After trying several other "best & brightest" irons I wanted to have my old B&D back.
I like to have a weightier iron because I feel that it helps to get the wrinkles out without me having to practically stand on it (or press down really, really hard).
Hope you have as much fun with it as I do.