I bought a dry iron from Old Vermont Store, its great and I Use it mainly for pressing applique but found all my steam irons leak so I use this iron all the time now. I think it cost $39 or such.

I bought this dry iron based on a recommendation from this forum and I LOVE IT. I have never had a dry iron until I bought this one and it is the best iron I have ever had. I highly recommend it for all quilters.

reading this thread reminded me of my Mom's dry iron that was heavy, hot and so old that it had a cord that had a woven covering. My brother-in-law, who irons a shirt daily, LOVED this iron and when my Mom died this past Dec, we found the iron in a cabinet with a slip of paper with his name on it. It brought back lots of childhood memories for my sis and I--learning to iron with pillow cases and my Dad's hankerchiefs, my Mom using a 7-Up bottle with a sprinkler stopper to dampen the clothes and then placed in a plastic bag overnite to prepare to iron--all things that younger folks won't experience. I think the iron is at least 50 yr old and still works.

Myself--I love steam and just use a cheap iron bought at Walmart--had it for years now, dropped a couple of times, and still works. Only think I would change is I'd like it a little heavier so it did more of the work and me, less.

I've been very happy with my ~$10 iron from the $ store. In the past I've had to replace irons because of leakage etc but this one has been wonderful.

Wow! Those are "my" memories, also. Ironing handkerchieves, then moving on to learning how to properly iron shirts, then pants, etc.

I think my mother's sprinkling bottle was an empty ketchup bottle...lol...and roll everything up, stick it in a bag, then off to the 'icebox' (it was really a refrigerator but my mother always called it an icebox) until she had a chance to iron them.

My first paying job (@ age 15) was ironing the dresses, shirts and pants of the elderly residents of the nursing home that my mother worked at. I think I was paid a dime per item!!

I use a travel iron for pressing my seams. Its a Black & Decker and it has to be at least 15 years old. I found it in the closet about a year ago so it didn't have many hours on it. The heat is fantastic and it does a great job. I dread the day it goes out on me. I do need a bigger, better iron for pressing seams once I get past the quilt blocks.

I think I've tried just about every kind of iron including the Rowenta. They ALL leaked after a while. THEN I found the Rowenta steam generator - pricey but LOVED it. Lasted approx. 10 years. Tried to replace it with a regular steam iron - missed my huge bursts of steam so I bought another Rowenta steam generator. LOVE it. Of course you can't take it with you as the reservoir has to sit on a table near where you're ironing but that's OK. Never leaks cause there's nothing in the iron itself. Pull the trigger & I have all the steam I want.

I have a 5 or 6 year old LauraStar Steam Generator and have had really good luck with it. I had a Rowenta and a couple Bernina irons and none of them lasted like the steam generators that I've had. I like that it has a wide range of temps that you can steam at and I also love the huge bursts of steam. Since I do wearables and clothing, good steam is a must have. If you are just pressing quilt squares this probably wouldn't be as important to you. However, you can steam drapes without taking them off the rods. I swear you could steam the wallpaper off the walls with this thing. :D

I have a proctor Silex iron that I bought in 1985. It just started to not get as hot as it used to yesterday. I made the comment that I might have to finally replace it. It to is a steam iron, but I've never had it to leak. Wish I could find another one that would last that long.