pressing

Go faster iron

I’ve wanted a better iron for a while. I had a good one when I was at university, but shortly after I started sewing I dropped it and it never worked again. I hastily replaced it with something cheap and cheerful which I have been using ever since. It probably says something about its age that it’s styled to look like an early iMac – all white and blue translucent plastic. Anyway it worked. In fact it still works – at least it heats up. It just can’t steam. I don’t remember dropping it, but one day in November it poured water all over the ironing board when I started to use it. As soon I looked at it closely I saw the water tank had cracked.

I managed for a while by not putting any water in the iron. I made steam by dampening my fabric with a spray bottle of water, which I can’t recommend. It works but it’s easy to get the fabric too wet.

This is what I got for Christmas. Might seem silly to get excited over an iron, but this one is so much better than my old one. It produces loads of steam, it has a really long cord, and it hasn’t dripped once so far. And it’s red. Everyone knows red ones go faster, right? If anyone’s really interested it is a Bosch Sensixx’x DA50 Edition Rosso. Sounds more like a sports car than an iron.

Red iron

Not a snowy landscape

Thanks so much for all the lovely comments about my coat! I have been wearing it every day to walk to work. Although almost all the snow has gone from round here it’s still pretty cold. This, however, is not a snowscape.

It’s how the fabric for my latest project came out of the wash. Or rather, how one of the fabrics came out. The dress has two different coloured fabrics: a black base and cream trim. Both are lovely medium-weight cotton drills with a little cross-way stretch. The black fabric has come out of the wash with barely a wrinkle. I almost don’t need to press it before cutting. But I rather fear the white isn’t going to recover from its trip through the machine no matter how hard I press! Still, at least I found out now rather than after finishing the dress. It may be saveable; I’m going to get the iron going and see.