jeanne49

I seem to always scorch my ironing board cover, even the ones that claim to NOT scorch. I always use steam - and it's set on cotton. Does anyone else have this problem or can you give me some words of wisdom on how to prevent this from happening.

I had a cheap one from WalMart on, got a (what I thought) good one from Bed, Bath and Beyond which was well padded and two sided. I left the old one on and put the new one on over top of that. I've had the second one on for about 6 months now but after about 3 months it started to get very browned/scorched at the end where I do most of the ironing. Took it off tonight and thought maybe if I sprayed it with a stain remover and give it a good washing maybe I could get some of the brownness off.

I was thinking that before I put it back on maybe I should put a layer of insulbrite on top of the ironing board and then the cover back over that. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Tartan

I like to iron on a good size square of white freezer paper to my cotton topped ironing board. The shiny side sticks to the surface for quite a while. When the freezer paper gets looking grungy from the starch, I peel it off and iron on a clean square.
Another trick is to cut off the closed end (makes a tube) of a brown paper grocery sack to slip over the ironing board. This protects the board when using starch and you just replace it when necessary.

Jan in VA

Have you used the same iron all the times you have done this?
Perhaps the iron setting is not quite accurate and you should adjust down a bit.

Jan in VA

jeanne49

Tartan, that's a good idea of using the freezer paper, hopefully I can wash out some of the stained area and I will use your method from now on. I do use starch and also Best Press, depends on what I'm ironing, and I was wondering if that stuff was the cause of my problem.

Jan in VA, I have used 2 different irons over the past few years and had the same problem with both, but I will turn the heat down a notch and see what happens.

Thank you ladies for your advice

ManiacQuilter2

THANKS for posting your suggestion again Tartan. I think that the they are stains from the starch being scorched.

Snooze2978

Sure glad to know I'm not the only one with this problem. I thought it was because I used to spray starch my fabrics on the ironing board and then let them dry before I pressed them, thinking it was the starch that burned. But this last time while pressing some light colored fabrics, the stain pressed into the fabrics. Sure hope it comes out when I wash it. But I'm lucky enough on this particular project as the coloration won't be noticed as much.

QuiltnNan

great tips here. i used the freezer paper once, but have forgotten. need to keep it in mind

tessagin

I know this may sound crazy but I wash my ironing board cover. I also use the iron cleaner. And with steam and a high setting to clean my iron I run my iron across a terrycloth towel at the highest setting. When my iron is cold, I have also used the micro fiber sponge or cleaning cloth like they use on cars. If it won't damage the finish on a car, it won't damage the iron plate. I just dampen it with cold water and wipe. A true scorch won't wash away. It's same thing as a burn.

bearisgray

I get scorch marks where I had "loose" water. Now I try to wipe spills up before the iron touches them.

Pennyhal

When I got a new Rowenta I wanted to know what they highest temperature was. So I called them. Apparently, they don't make their irons to certain temps at the settings. Instead, they could have a range of temperatures. So each iron could be of a different temperature at any setting. I needed a temperature of 350º but the iron only got to 340º at the highest setting. I don't know if this is true of other brands of irons, but it is possible that you have an iron that gets a lot hotter than other people.

I don't know exactly what my husband measured the temperature for me, but he used a thermacouple and I put my iron on top of it.