Originally Posted by ontheriver
I would rather use a cheaper iron and save the rest of the money for fabric. I find my irons don't last long, I think because when I am sewing they are on most of the day. Just bought a new, cheap one and it is driving me crazy with automatic shutoff. I iron, go to machine to piece, get up to iron and the darned thing is turned itself off and I have to waste time waiting for it to heat back up.
Here is what I do to cope with auto shutoff. I chain stitch assembly line style. When I have a bunch of units all chain stitched and ready to press I take the whole chain to my ironing board. Then I tip the iron to get it to heat up again and while it is heating I snip the theards between my chain stitched units. By the time I am done snipping the iron is heated up and ready to use.