Hey Everyone, welcome back to Cool Tool Thursday.

I can just see you all thinking to yourselves what does a box of Bounce have to do with an iron and ironing board let alone quilting. Let me tell you.

For any of you who do appliqué with fusible web or use fusible web for anything else , no matter how careful we are and use the parchment paper or Teflon sheet to cover the pieces there are still times when that sticky glue gets on the iron. This glue is not easy to remove and who wants to get out gooey cleaners to clean the iron. Well, no more gooey cleaners needed. All one needs for the job is a fabric softener sheet. Any brand will do, I just happen to have Bounce.

I have to say I was quite skeptical of this at first but then I saw it work with my very own eyes. I was up at Thimbles & Things in Orillia one day teaching and the iron was a bit of a mess with some goo and other black stuff on it. One of the ladies pulled out a fabric softener sheet from the drawer and proceeded to wipe it all over the hot iron and all the goo and black marks came off – it was just like magic. I was very impressed.

The key is that the iron has to be hot. I do not recommend wadding the fabric softener sheet up into a ball and rubbing it over the iron as there is a good chance of burning your fingers. Rather place the fabric softener sheet on the ironing board and then run the hot iron over the sheet several times until it is clean.

So no need to despair anymore when the iron gets dirty just pull out a fabric softener sheet and your iron should be good as new in no time.

If anyone has any other tips for cleaning your iron feel free to share in the comments section.

Happy Quilting!