has anyone ever had problems with spray sizing? Ironing board is set up on a wood floor never thought anytning of the overspray--didn't see it didn't bother me! oops big trouble when I put the board away--both DH and myself have had major slips and falls in that area. of course I will never admit the reason for the slippery floor. Put a rug over it and all is well!!!

I sew a bunch of triangles or whatever and then turn the iron on for the length of time it takes to do those pieces. My sewing room is on the south side of the house and it heats up greatly.

Last house had hardwood thruout, this one we rent now is all very light color carpeting everywhere, so I throw a blanket underneath when I do a lot of starching just to be safe.

I leave mine on all the time while I am sewing, but plugged into a surge protector with a lamp. The surge protector is plugged into an outlet that turns on a nd off with the switch plate by the door. Therefore, If the light is on the iron is on, but if the light is off so is the iron. This way I don't run the risk of burning the house and it saves me a lot of grief from DH.

Maria

smart lady!!! :lol:

:lol: My DH always asks, "Why is the light on the iron blinking?" :lol:

Same here.......


Esqmommy, I live in Concord, right next to you.......

ok. i confess. i knew mine had an off position. i just never use it because it auto-offs, too. heats back up in a flash, though.

sometimes i do the sensible thing and turn it "officially" off before i leave for work. not too often, though, because i don't want the earth to shift on its axis. :lol:

I also have an auto off iron, but when I leave the room for the day I always make sure to unplug the iron. Safety first.

I'd leave mine on if I could - but one that doesn't shut off is hard to find. I'm sure the shut-off irons were NOT invented by a quilter! I wish they would give you an option on the iron for auto shut-off or not.

I have one iron that turns off after a few minutes which works well for me. Then when I'm done for the day, I manually shut it off. But, I also have a small iron I keep by my sewing machine that's great for piecing. I leave it on while I'm working then turn it off when I'm going to be away from it for a while. To remind me that it's on, I put a hair scrunchy on my wrist as a reminder. I had to do that when I left it on overnight ( :shock:
hope this helps !!

My stays on the whole time. But it does shut off automatically if I haven't used it for a while.

i have a tile floor in the laundry room. same problem.

same here. iron in the laundry room, machine in the ..hhmm..other room.

love to stretch, auto shut-off.

Me, too! Exactly that. I have to make adjustments when I sew blocks together. I cut them exactly right but when I go to put them together, they're not always exactly right (busy gremlins visiting in the night, I assume). I also sew my pieces together very carefully, only to find that I have a "pointless" point or my seams are off by a thread width or more. Again, it's gotta be the gremlins! If I press with an iron, it's almost impossible to make adjustments ... the crease made with the iron is a real problem (like the gremlins) so just finger pressing works very well for me until the quilt top is complete. And, yes, in spite of the gremlins, the end result has all the points and seams and measurements correct.

These days I have to combat forgetfulness. So I have a system--if I remember to use it! I have a slip on bracelet next to the iron. When I turn on the iron, I put on the bracelet. When I turn off the iron, I take it off and put it back. If I'm running around later and see that I have on my bracelet, I check the iron and take off the bracelet.

My DD bought me a Proctor Silex that stays on till you shut it off!
Steams nicely too!

imak

Hi
My husband got me a black and decker iron for Christmas one year that has an automatic shut off feature. It will shut down after a certin amount of time and willnot turn back on until you lift it up.
It willbee when shutting down and beep when it has reached the set temp.
He too was afraid that I was going to burn the house down while we slept.

I too got a fun wake up call in the morning. :wink:

Liz

I think they should be made with people motion detectors. If you're in the room with the iron, it's on. When you leave the room it shuts itself off.

Best of both worlds and safety wouldn't be an issue. At least in my world that's how it would work. :)

I try and work in blocks...turning the iron off in between. My iron doesn't shut off automatically, but beeps madly if you leave it for any length of time. I have the iron set up in the laundry room and usually sew on the dining room table, so hop up and stretch between "jobs" and if the iron takes a bit to warm up, its time to put the kettle on.

Does anyone use those mini irons? I have been tempted to splash out and buy one, but they are expensive and I think I may be inclined to forget it's there and give myself a nasty burn.

ME, TOO!!! I finally found one that stays on for an hour but always is OFF when I go to use it!? Like it's evil & KNOWS when I want to use it! can't find one that doesn't shut off! They say it's a safety feature but I think it's worse to have to turn it on & off all the time! Takes more electricity that way, too! Plus, this one has a light on it that stays on for the whole hour whether it's turned on or not!? Weird. :x

Because I finger press, only, when I'm building a quilt top, I use a mini iron when I'm finished just to do all the seam allowances before I use a big iron to press the whole quilt. I got my mini several years ago at half price. This was when it was a new product and before all the fancy tips/accessories came with it. I'm quite happy with the basic one I have and there is no substitute for it when I need to do all those tiny seam allowances that are going in all directions. I would not advise setting that mini down and leaving it while it's on. If mine is turned on, I am using it. It has a little holder where you prop the hot iron, but I also have a ceramic floor tile that I set the holder and the iron on. The holder by itself is almost useless, unless they've improved on it since I got mine.

I bought a small iron in clotilde catalogue & found that it doesn't really get hot enough & doesn't have the weight behind it that you need. I also have the tiny one & rarely use it because it takes too long to iron something with it. You have to hold it down for a long time. I bought it at Joann's with a 40% coupon! I used to make cloth dolls, wish I'd had it then! :?

I leave mine on, too. It has an auto shut-off and I never used to even unplug it...
Let me tell you, though, that we did almost have a fire. Not because of ME!!! When our (old) bug service came into my sewing room to spray, the guy moved my iron - onto the faceplate, did his spraying and left it - on the faceplate! It turned itself ON, steamed all the water out, burned the ironing board cover and burned itself up! When I came home and smelled it, I completely lost it! The ironing board was already rusted. It could've been a very serious problem.
Now, I unplug the iron when I'm finished for the day and we have a different bug service. They never spray in the sewing room.
Lesson learned. (My husband is an insurance broker so you know how loud he can talk to remind me to unplug it!)

Thanks Weezie and Sam...could be useful for small fiddly bits...using the tile for a safer stand is a good idea. We are really fire conscious here, inside and out. I always do a quick check to make sure everything is off before I go out.

I solved the problem of getting spray sizing or starch all over my ironing board and floor by covering a cardboard box(mine is about 18 inches square, but 24 x 24 would be ideal) with tinfoil, taping the seams. The sides are about 4-5 inches high, so I can spray fat quarters, etc. ( I learned to cover it with tinfoil after the colored cardboard bled all over several fat quarters I had sprayed in it!! :( :( )

My iron does not shut off automatically. Since it's plugged into the bar ontop my table with the lamp, I just shut it off whenever I'm leaving my quilting room long enough to turn the lamp off. My iron is always ready for me when I need it.

I leave mine on also. I have called my DH a few times asking him to check it when I leave for work thinking I may have forgotten to unplug it. Ooops.

Kyia

I have a story. My son rang my workplace when he arrived home from school to tell me the fire brigade were outside the house and they had to break the door down because the house was in flames. I had left the iron on! You can imagine my panic and fear. Before I went dashing out of the door, he told me to calm down he was only winding me up, BUT......... I now have an iron that automatically shuts down. Needless to say I could not admonish him because if the boot had been on the other foot!!

Has anyone ever had an iron burn up? (other than when left on its face)

I also have a Rowenta that has no switch to turn it completely off, there's always a light flashing. It will turn itself off if I leave it face down on the wire rack off the end of my ironing board, but if I leave it standing up it will stay hot for a long time. I kind of like the warm-up time as a stretch break for me. Must be why I'm so slow at piecing :wink:

I didn't realize my Rowenta didn't have a "shut-off" on it until this post :oops: And I had been leaving it plugged in :roll: Not anymore.. Thanks for all the help

I leave the iron on all the time when piecing and unplug when I leave.

ON, always on. Yes it has auto shut-off. Onky takes a few secs to heat back up.

i learned my lesson the first of november 2008 ihad forgot to shut mine off an it was the day my daughter got married i had got all my ironing done an we had the wedding next door at my brothers well after the said there vows an all my son comes back to house for something an found my iron laying flat on kitchen table an my hubby still hasn'tseen the iron print on table i try an keep something over it so i try an make sure it is off any more

I leave mine on when I am in the room, but turn it off every time I leave the room. The same power point is connected to a lamp as well, so I just turn off at the power point then I know it is off and safe if the lamp is off. It's a very old iron so I am pretty careful with it.

I don't know how this is effecting my power bills yet, but I only have it on when I am using it a lot. Once i am done with piecing it is rarely on unless I need it.

I don't turn my iron off while I am in the room working. However a few years ago I turned my iron Off and left the room. A couple of hours later I heard a popping sound coming from the sewing room. When I went to check I found the iron white hot and the sole plate was bubbled up. Now I unplug the Iron when I leave the room

SCARY! Wash there any damage to anything else?

Me too. On with an automatic off.

I recently bought two cordless irons from a local supermarket (Lidl - German and great quality). They were 15 euros each (around 20 USD).

You can either use them corded or cordless and they sit on a base unit with the heat plate protected. Cordless, you can iron for about a minute before they cool down which is great for pressing seams. When you put it back on the base unit, it heats up again in about 20 secs. You can also lock them to the base unit which is a great safety feature when the kids are around. I have one up in my sewing room, plugged into a switched socket specially installed by DH, and i switch it on when i go in there and off when i come out, almost without thinking about it! The one downstairs is for hubby shirts and doesn't get much use at all! :mrgreen:

Mine is on while I am in the sewing room. The cord goes across the door way so I am always singing "Skip A Rope" when I go to fill my coffee cup! I unplug it when I am done pressing all the pieces.