Reliable Digital Velocity v100, How Do I Love You!?!?!?

Last week I moaned about the demise of my Bernette ProGlide Plus iron, which had served me well for many years. It had been developing cracks in the plastic over time, but the final straw came when I dropped it.

SIGH

This happened when I was in the middle of making a Miyake coat, so I ran out and bought the only iron I could find without auto-shutoff, a cheapie Black and Decker.

Wow, what a piece of junk. I have heard sewists say that they were satisfied with their Black and Decker irons, but they must have been talking about an older, better-made model. I couldn't possibly fuse interfacing with this thing.

What else could I do? I ordered myself a Reliable Digital Velocity v100. It arrived on Wednesday, but I had a very busy work week and I didn't open the box until Saturday morning.

OMIGOSH.

This iron is AMAZING!!!

First, this iron is heavy, the way a good iron should be. It's not too heavy, but it's heavier even than my ProGlide. The iron does have an auto-shutoff feature, but you can disable it. This thing creates steam like there is NO tomorrow. Even on the coolest setting, it creates buckets of steam.

The negatives are very minor, but I should mention them. The manufacturer recommends using soft water. I had read that it required distilled water, so I'd purchased it even before the iron arrived, but if your tape water is soft, you can probably get away with using it. When the iron is creating steam, it hums. There is a button on the handle which toggles the "humming"/steam mode and my hand sometimes hits it accidentally. I'm still figuring this out.

I have been sewing on linen all weekend, using my new iron. I am loving it so much and having so much fun with this project, that I could barely tear myself away to even write this blog post. It may be another week or so before I can get this project finished, but had I known this iron would be such a joy to use, I might have dropped my ProGlide much sooner. ;)

Postscript: I did take that nasty B&D back to Target this morning. I got my $13.10 refunded and took it to JoAnn's where I spent it all on topstitching thread for my current project. A much better use of that money!

Dagnabit! Farewell, Bernette ProGlide Plus!!

I have been using my beloved Bernette ProGlide Plus for over 20 years. What a great iron. Much better than the Rowenta I had prior to that, which was more expensive but used to spit. (I had bought my Rowenta around 1984. Rowentas weren't made in China back then, so that can't be the excuse for its unsatisfactory performance.)

Today, I was working on my coat, pressing open the seam allowance between the lining and the wool outer shell. I had pressed almost half of the long seam when I set the iron down to readjust the seam on the tailoring board. I set it down on the narrow end of the ironing board. Or so I thought. In fact, I missed the board entirely. Oops. It landed on some plastic bags on the tile floor and I had to act quickly to avoid a real mess.

My reliable iron was broken. The sole plate was hanging away from the handle - the plastic anchoring it had split.

What did I do?

I did what any determined sewist would do. I jammed the sole plate back as best I could. It didn't work too well, but I had to finish pressing that seam! I did finish, but the coat got drenched for my trouble - the iron was leaking everywhere.

Harumph.

I got in the car and headed for the nearest brick and mortar that might have an iron that would suffice. Target. They had only one iron, out of many, that lacked auto-shutoff. I bought the $10 Black and Decker and brought it home, filled the reservoir, and fired it up.

It's awful. I had heard that these irons weren't too bad, but I guess I am spoiled. This one leaks. It doesn't get hot enough, and it's so lightweight that it's barely there. Every sewist knows that a heavy iron is an effective iron.

Eventually I want to get a Digital Velocity iron. It's in my wishlist at Amazon, but it's a pricey little number. Are there cheaper, but good, non-gravity-feed irons available that aren't ruined with an auto-shutoff feature?

Please let me know. :)