Hey Everyone, welcome back to Cool Tool Thursday.
My iron has never been such a mess. I am always so careful to use pressing cloths and Teflon sheets for applique and other fusible products to keep all that nasty glue and gunk off my iron. Well, I was making a memory quilt last week and I didn’t use a pressing sheet to apply the fusible interfacing.
The results of not using a pressing sheet look like this.
What a mess!!
Not good to say the least. Never again will I skip using the pressing sheet.
Now to get it clean. To begin I had to go out and purchase some iron cleaner which I did at my LQS, Thimbles & Things in Orillia, Ontario.
There were 2 cleaners to choose from and I chose Iron-Off Hot Iron Cleaner from Dritz as Sue assured me that this cleaner would get my iron clean.
Tube of Dritz iron-off hot iron cleaner
The other cleaner was a new product and was 3 times the price of the Dritz cleaner. From the picture it looked like it used a white foam like the Mr Clean magic eraser to clean the iron. I bought a Mr Clean magic eraser as well – it didn’t do a thing to clean the iron. I have used it with great success on many other things at the cottage but no success with the iron.
I was really hoping not to have to use the smelly stuff. I headed outside to my front porch and plugged in the iron after gathering my tools. The tube of iron-off, old towels and some Q-tips.
The instructions which by the way are found on the back of the packaging recommend squeezing the cleaner onto the towel.
Cleaner on towel and instructions
Then running the iron over the cleaner in a circular motion. This worked slightly but not a huge effect. Along with not smelling so nice it also smokes – definitely do this operation in a well ventilated area – preferably outdoors.
Run iron over cleaner
If the first time didn’t get it clean the instructions say to use a second application. It definitely was not clean. For the second application I squirted the cleaner right onto the iron as Sue recommended when I bought the product.
Cleaner applied directly to iron
Putting the cleaner directly on the iron surface worked much better but I still had to do many more applications and scrape with a Pampered Chef Teflon scraper from my kitchen. Yes, I had done a really good number on my iron.
I think I used almost the full tube of iron-off and half a box of Q-tips but it worked – thank goodness as I didn’t want to buy a new iron. Good as new – well not quite but almost.
Good as new
After putting a couple containers of water through on steam to make sure I cleaned out all the cleaner the iron is ready to go.
I actually didn’t think my iron would ever be clean again so I am impressed that this product did the job. So if you ever need to clean your iron the Dritz Iron-Off Hot Surface Cleaner works like a charm.
Happy Quilting!
I have an old TFal UltraGlide. Yours is obviously newer – do you love it? Every iron I research has reviews saying that it leaks (as does mine-so I don’t use water anymore).
When I had to use iron cleaner, I put it on the cloth, then with the iron upright I rubbed the cloth in circles on the bottom plate – don’t know if that would have made a difference.
Michele, my iron rarely leaks and I love it – it is a nice weight and is nice and hot. The steam function works great as well when needed. I did try just rubbing the cloth on the iron but that didn’t work as well and since the iron was hot I didn’t want to burn my fingers. Happy Quilting
I always use vinegar on a Teflon pot scrubber, works like a charm, cheap too! Occasionally, I need to add a little baking soda for the tough spots, but normally the vinegar alone gets the job done.
I usually start cleaning by using an alcohol wipe…I keep the expired ones for that purpose.
I’ve found it too does a good job…