A Pressing Matter

Today we’re discussing one of the unsung heroes of quilting…the iron.

I am more than aware sewists of all types use irons of all types.  There are lace irons and steam irons.  There are gravity fed irons and large, complex ironing systems. What I wasn’t prepared for is how uncoupled today’s young adults (read some Millennials forward to today’s Generation) are from them.  And heaven knows I was unprepared for the fact my daughter, who grew up with me sewing and having an ironing board and iron at the ready in my dining room, didn’t even own an iron – something which came to light when she asked to come over and press the grand darlings school uniforms. 

“Why iron when you have a dryer?” she asked.

Because the uniforms were cotton.  They needed steam and starch or sizing to look respectable.  Anyway, that all led to an interesting conversation about the chemistry of ironing, the fact a dryer didn’t always do a good job, and an Amazon order for a steam iron to be delivered the next day (thank goodness for Prime). 

I share this little story because I think most of us really don’t give a second thought about our irons.  As long as they heat up and do their job, we’re okay with them. We don’t consider color or contents or any of the other characteristics we may pay closer attention to with other quilting tools.  We plug them in, they sit there until we pick them up to press a seam, and then turn them off when we’re through.  It’s when they don’t heat up correctly that we frown and begin looking for a replacement.  So with that in mind, what I want to do with this blog is share some of the history of the iron, what makes a good iron, and how much money should we plan on spending for an iron.  I’ll leave ironing/pressing techniques for another day and another blog.

A clothes iron is also called a flatiron, smoothing iron, dry iron, and steam iron.  The name used depends on what country you’re in.  However, no matter where you’re at, it’s a small appliance used to press clothes to remove wrinkles and unwanted creases.  Domestic irons (the kind most of us use in our studios) generally range in operating temperature from 250 degrees to 360 degrees (Fahrenheit).  It’s named for the metal (iron) of which the device is historically made and the use of it is generally called ironing.  We quilters press (move the iron in an up and down motion) instead of iron (move the iron in a back-and-forth motion) because normally we’re not ridding the fabric of wrinkles.  We’re pushing the seam allowances in one direction or open.  Ironing a quilt block instead of pressing it could distort the bias and that’s why we generally press and not iron.  Historically, ironing was the final step in laundering clothes.

Ironing or pressing works by loosening the ties between the long chains of molecules which exist in polymer fiber materials.  With the heat and the weight of the ironing plate, the fibers are stretched, and the fabric maintains the new shape when cool.  Some materials, such as cotton, require the use of water to loosen the intermolecular bonds. 

We will discuss irons and water a bit later.  While steam seems like such a simple thing, when it comes to your iron, opinions are all over the map.

The Hot and Heavy History of the Iron

Before the introduction of electricity into everyday household use, irons were heated by combustion, either in a fire or with some kind of internal arrangement.  An electric “flatiron” was invented by American Henry Seely White and patented on June 6, 1882.  It weighed almost 15 pounds and took a long time to heat.  The UK Electricity Association is reported to have said an electric iron with a carbon arch appeared in France in 1880, but this claim is considered to be pretty doubtful.  Two of the oldest sorts of iron were either containers filled with a burning substance or solid lumps of metal which could be heated directly. 

Metal pans filled with hot coals were used for smoothing fabrics in China by the 1^st century BC.  A later design consisted of an iron box which could be filled with hot coal and had to be aerated by attaching bellows to it.  In the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, there were irons which were heated by kerosene, ethanol, whale oil, natural gas, carbide gas (acetylene, as with carbide lamps) and even gasoline.  If the natural gas and carbide gas sound a bit dangerous, remember some houses during this time were equipped with a system of pipes for distributing the natural or carbide gas to different rooms in order to operate appliances and lights.  And despite the risk of fire, liquid-fuel irons were sold in US rural areas up through World War II.

In Kerala in India, burning coconut shells were used instead of charcoal in irons, as they have a similar heating capacity.  This method is still in use as a backup device, since power outages are frequent in that area.  Other box irons had heated metal inserts instead of hot coals.  From the 17^th century, sadirons  or sad irons (from the Middle English “sad”, meaning “solid”, used in the English through the 1800’s) began to be used.  They were thick slabs of cast iron, triangular, and with a handle, heated in a fire or on a stove.  These were also called flat irons. 

In the industrialized world, these designs have been replaced by the electric iron we’re used to.  This iron uses resistive heating from an electric current. The hot plate (the sole plate) is made of aluminum or stainless steel polished to be as smooth as possible.  Sometimes it’s coated with a low-friction heat-resistant plastic to reduce friction below that of the metal plate.  The heating element is controlled by a thermostat which switches the current on and off to maintain the selected temperature.  Early electric irons were considered too dangerous to be successful.  Those irons  had no easy way to control their temperature and the first thermostatically controlled electric iron didn’t appear until the 1920’s.  The first commercially available electric steam iron was introduced in 1926 by a New York drying and cleaning company, Eldec, but it wasn’t a commercial success. 

The patent for an electric steam iron and dampener was issued to Max Skolnik of Chicago in 1934.  In 1938, Skolnik granted the Steam-O-Matic Corporation of New York the exclusive right to manufacture steam-electric irons. 

This was the first steam iron to achieve any degree of popularity, and led the way to more widespread use of the electric steam iron during the 1940’s and 1950’s. 

With all this technology funneled into a working steam iron, you’d think the only reason people wanted one was to remove wrinkles from their clothing.  And while this was certainly true, there were two other reasons:

1.  To remove all the moisture from clothing and linens so they would not mildew.
2. To kill any lice.  Ew.

Modern Irons

Modern irons have come a long way from the heavy ones introduced in the twenties and thirties.  Most of them have at least some of the following features:

• A design that allows the iron to be set down, usually standing on its end, without the hot soleplate touching anything and damaging it.
• A thermostat ensuring a constant temperature.
• A temperature control dial allowing the user to select the operating temperatures – usually marked with types of cloth such as silk, linen, cotton, etc.,– instead of temperatures.
• An electrical cord with heat-resistant silicone rubber insulation.
• Injection of steam through the fabric during the ironing process.  Steam is produced by water in a reservoir inside the iron.  This reservoir usually has an indicator showing the amount of water in it, and the iron constantly sends steam through the hot part of the iron into the fabric.  It may also give a burst of steam when a button is pressed. Sometimes there is even a dial which controls the amount of steam emitted as a constant stream and has an anti-drip system. 
• Cord control at the point where the cord attaches to the iron.  Usually there is some sort of spring to hold the cord out of the way while ironing and setting the iron down.  This actually prevents fires.
• Some irons have a retractable cord.
• Some irons have a non-stick coating along the sole plate to help the iron glide across the fabric.
• Some irons have anti-burn control.  If the iron is left flat for tool long, the iron shuts off to prevent scorching and fires.
• Another irritating feature some irons have is automatic cut off.  If the iron is left undisturbed for several minutes, the iron will automatically cut off.  Some irons even have 3-way automatic shut-off.  This feature will be discussed later in the blog because it’s one of the most disliked modern features for many quilters.
• There are cordless irons.  And they are wonderful.
• Many are self-cleaning, anti-scale, and have vertical steam.

Okay, that’s a lot of information about irons.  Probably more than you wanted to know.  But I always think it’s interesting to see how our sewing tools developed and a little history about the inventors, if I can find it.  Now I want to move into the nitty gritty of this blog – what to look for in a good iron, how much money to spend, what are the best irons so far in 2024, how to take care of your iron, and….do you put water in your iron or not, and if you do, what kind do you use?

Obviously, this will be a two-part blog.

What to Look for

I am pre-supposing one issue with this part of my blog:  You are not like me.

I am notoriously hard on irons.  They get bumped off my pressing station, dropped in the floor, carried and toted from yonder and back, tossed in the back of my Tahoe and are generally disrespected in so many ways.  For this reason alone, I do not purchase expensive irons.  As a matter of fact, the first characteristic I look for is price.  What is the cheapest iron in the store or on-line?  That’s the one which will be thrown in my shopping cart. It may last me a year or a day, but at least I won’t have the nagging thought I spent hundreds of dollars on an iron which met an untimely demise. 

Now with me keeping in mind you’re much more responsible than I am, let’s talk about what the average person – not the iron-destroyer from North Carolina – should look for in an iron.  These characteristics are supplied from Consumer Reports, Martha Stewart, and several quilt books.

On average, irons range in price from $15 to $150.   There are more expensive ironing systems, but for this blog, I only want to deal with the types of irons which rest on the end of our ironing board.  What is truly interesting is that price itself doesn’t always indicate performance.  According to Consumer Reports, the best irons ranged around the $50 mark.

The basic features you should pay the most attention to are these:

 Steam – Both steam and water in any iron can be enough to set some quilters off.  They don’t like steam because it can stretch the bias.  Water left in the reservoir can shorten the life of the iron (or does it?).  However, there are two reasons why steam should be given careful consideration.  First, you may not always be ironing quilt-related items.  You may actually need to iron a cotton shirt or skirt or other apparel.  With these, steam is the most effective way to get rid of the wrinkles and creases.  Second, you don’t have to fill the water reservoir when you use the iron in your quilt studio.  Most irons work just fine without it.  So, you may want to purchase an iron with an adequate steam rating just in case…on the spur of the moment…you have to iron some piece of clothing instead of just tossing it in the dryer with a wet cloth to get the wrinkles out. 

Soleplates – Choose from stainless steel, anodized aluminum, and nonstick.  The best gliders are often stainless steel or ceramic.  Consumer Reports tested the nonstick soleplate and found they did not glide as well as the others.

Controls – Iron controls run the gamut from dials, slides, and digital controls.  Make sure the controls are easy to see and adjust and that fabric settings are clearly marked.

Comfort – This is pretty important for quilters because we handle our irons a lot…and the average quilter is in his or her mid-sixties.  This means just perhaps some of us are experiencing some arthritis in our fingers, arms, and hands.  So, the weight of the iron, the feel of the handle in our palm, and the ease of which it glides across fabric is pretty important.  If you purchase an iron in a brick-and-mortar store, take the time to pick it up.  Imagine lifting it up and down several times during a quilting session.  Pay attention to how it makes your hand feel.  If you buy your iron online, try to get one you’ve used before and really like.  If that’s not possible, be sure to read the reviews to get both the good and bad about the product.  Even an iron which is excellent at ironing may feel awkward or heavy in your hand, and that’s not good. 

Other features to consider are automatic shut-offs, burst of steam or surge, retractable cord, self-cleaning system, adjustable steam, anti-drip, transparent water reservoir, and vertical steam (which is great for curtains).

Next week we’ll look at the top three irons on the market according to Wirecutter and handle the hot topic of should you or shouldn’t you use water in your iron, if so what kind is best, and does it make any difference at all if you let water remain in the resevoir. Lots of conflicting thoughts about those topics, believe it or not. And prepare yourself for some basic chemistry…

From my Studio to Yours…

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Felix