A Few of My Favorite Things... • Easy Breezy Designs

I think it’s time for you to meet my iron… another of my favorite things.

Everyone, this is my iron, well one like it…. it sounds like I’ve named it, but I haven’t. I have too much going on in my business to keep up with names of real people sometimes, much less inanimate objects. This iron is absolutely one of the best decisions I’ve made for an everyday tool since getting into applique!

Now, without getting into a real discussion on different techniques, I’ll let you know how my designs usually go through the shop. I do have a vinyl/fabric cutter to cut shapes out ahead of time, but I’ve pretty much quit using it for anything applique. My designs, fabrics, and sizes vary so much that it has been worth it to avoid all the set up time and just place fabric by hand. It’s nothing like when I did sports uniforms and had set number sizes and shapes to purchase or cut ahead of time. It just became worth it to use my little scissors I showed you before. Now, since I’m trimming individual pieces as I lay them out, I no longer need to use spray adhesive to hold my precuts in place and that’s a major plus… No glue fumes and no sticky clean up. I lay fabric, then do a trim, and then if needed I’ll press before stitching. It’s the pressing we’re going to focus on!

I used to have a little travel iron from Hobby Lobby or Michael’s. It was a small iron (maybe 3 or 4 inches long), with no settings. If it was plugged in, it was on. That made it a little inconvenient sometimes but it served its purpose for a while, which was strictly to press things that needed it while still in the hoop. Any real pressing was still done after garment clean up with the big iron, which I could only use in my biggest hoops for the mid-stitchout pressing… Until the day the big iron broke… I honestly don’t remember for sure, but I think it was dropped on the floor one too many times and finally started leaking everywhere. So, we went on the hunt for another large iron, and really didn’t find anything that great. We got a cheap one to make due, and kept using our little one. You know how it is.

Then one day, HSN had this great iron pop up in my iron searches, but it was not a price I wanted to pay. But I did. It was HSN, so if it was awful I knew I could return it. But it wasn’t! It is amazing! The Panasonic 360. This iron fits into all of my daily hoops from my 6″x6″ to my 8″x14″! It’s pointed on both ends so hoop corners are a breeze, and it works with my clamp hoops too! It’s cordless, has a travel case, a removable water chamber, and it shuts itself off. An extremely versatile, full sized iron that is BEYOND amazing! I’ve had it for almost three years, and don’t know how I ever got along without it. It even has a great replacement plan. My original purchase lasted several months then the heat settings quit working. They replaced it. Simple as can be. Honestly, if I’d been out of the replacement plan I think I would have bought another anyway. It’s so worth it.