Dry iron vs steam iron
 

Can someone explain to me why one is preferred over the other?

Really can't explain it except to say that I had always used a steam iron- Shark Professional but swithched to using an iron only on the dry setting. I like the dry iron much better.

i use a dry iron so that there's no chance of dribbling anything on my quilt pieces. the dry iron does not have steam holes to leave little 'bumps' on the fabric. i know... seems silly... but that's just me.

i save my expensive steam iron for projects that require steam.

I am on the other side...I prefer steam to dry. I think I have heard you should use dry when using fusible material but I don't even bother with that. I use steam for everything. If I am working with delicate fabric or if I am afraid of water dripping, I use a pressing cloth.

The dry iron has a solid sole plate, no steam holes. This allows for a hotter surface, even heating and no imprint of the steam holes on the fabric which is horrible for applique pieces especially if you are using fusible. If you want steam it's easy to spray with water. The steam iron with no water still leaves imprint. The newer irons seem to have smaller steam holes but more of them.

The dry iron new is under $25 so no big expense at all to have one.

Wow! What great advice and I just figured steam! Great question and thanks for sharing.

Also, if you screw up and get something sticky from an iron on applique on the bottom of a steam iron it's a real beast to try to clean out all the holes.

I don't use steam. If I need any moisture I use a spray bottle. When this iron gives out I want a dry only iron for the solid sole plate.

I use both. My travel iron has a solid plate and is great for pressing small items without distortion. Plus no holes to get caught on points, which happened a lot to me with the iron with steam holes. The steam iron is great for pressing wrinkles out of fabric or pressing completely blocks on the right side of the fabric.

With a dry iron, there is less possibility of stretching the fabric, but I find that the seams I'm pressing are not as flat as when I use steam. I prefer using steam for that reason, though I am very careful to PRESS rather than iron.