Proper pressing is essential for accurate quilting. Before I get into hows? and whys?, I want to share my favorite tools for pressing. The first two are required and the last one is optional.
First, you have to have a pressing surface. It should be hard and stable and, um, that is about it. I have a standard ironing board, Walgreens style. I also have a small, DIY one that I made. I take it to classes and it works really well.
To make this custom pressing pad, I measured the size I wanted to cover. I layered muslin, batting, tin foil, batting and muslin and trimmed the sandwich to the proper dimensions. (Instead of tin foil, I bought the special material made just for pot holders, but I could not find it when I was ready to make it.) Then I quilted channels so there would be no shifting. I bound the edges with scrap binding. The really cool things about this method is that you can make it the PERFECT size and use stuff you already have. Yahoo!
These are my favorite irons, one for home and one for the road.
This is the Delongi Ironing System. It runs about $250 but is totally worth it. It gets hotter than a hootenanny, doesn’t leak and STAYS hot! I know the new auto-shutoff on many irons is a safety feature but just when I am ready to press again, the iron has to heat up, again. Grrrrrr!
Oh, are you worried about me leaving the iron on? I have a solution.
Every time I turn the iron on, I put my stick note on the door that says, “The Iron Is On.” That way when I leave the room, I see it and check the iron. (I also think leaving notes is a good habit to get into, as I get older, I think I will need more Post-its, just saying.)
When I am on the road, this is my favorite, the Steamfast SF-171 Travel Iron. I LOVE it!
It is easy to pack, heats up quickly, stays no-fooling-around hot, uses steam, all-around great iron. Love it.
The optional pressing tool is starch. My favorite is Faultless Spray Starch. It is easy to use, easy to fine and inexpensive.
I DO NOT starch everything. I use it only when I want to minimize stretch, say for piecing curves and bias edges. Or when the fabric just will not LAY FLAT! Somehow, this magic spray makes fabric fly in proper formation.
In Pressing Issues – Part 2, I will cover the hows? and the whys?
What are your questions about pressing? Leave a comment or question below.
See you soon!
Thanks,
Jenny
#jennykaequilts #pressing #delongi #steamfast #faultless
Hi Jenn. I can’t find a Pintrest button.
You mean you can’t pin from my blog? Hmmm, you should be able to. Let me look into it.
The floor lamp next to my ironing board and my iron are both plugged into a surge protector power strip. I turn my lamp off with the main power strip switch — if the lamp is off, I know the iron is off. I can turn the iron off and still leave the lamp on if I want. Either way, I know if the lamp is off, the iron is off — and I always turn the main switch off when I leave the room.
That is brilliant, Ellee. Thanks for sharing that great idea!
P.S. I don’t like auto-off irons either.
I know! Right? Drives me crazy.
If I didn’t have auto off irons my house would have burnt down years ago. I really like this one reminds me of the one my mom used