Grrrrrrrr...

I am not happy!  The Reliable (ha!) V100 iron I purchased in July of 2011 has died an ignominious death at only 16 months of age.  The heating element went kaput.  This happened on Friday morning after my 20 year old serger forgot how to be tense.  I messed with it for over an hour trying to get the tension reset.  I guess there is a burr on a looper or something.  I took it in to B-Sew Inn for servicing and problem detection and brought home a Babylock Eclipse sx to use while I wait for the old one to be fixed.  So I start sewing away and go to use the iron and I'm wondering why it's taking so long to heat up.  I finally figured out it had given up the ghost.  Sigh.  Friday was not a good day for me.  I am now using my backup; a Rowenta that has a leaky tank.  So I have heat but no steam.

Sooooo, anyone have a good iron to suggest that may last more than a mere 16 months?

Later!

Embroidered Pieces...

I've completed the embroidery on 2 large pieces of fabric; one of which is shown is the picture.  For this pattern, I'm using PerfectFuse LIGHT as my interfacing which also shows in the picture.

I don't remember if I've mentioned it, but I've been looking around the Internet for a steam press for block fusing.  I finally found what I was looking for at a price I felt I could afford without saying ouch!  LOL.  I put this new toy tool to use this weekend to fuse these large pieces.  Wow!  I love this thing!  I really like my Reliable Iron so I started looking at Reliables other products.  I found they produce 2 steam presses; the Empressa S330 and the S550.  The difference between the two is size.  The S330 is 25"X10" and the S550 is 34"X11".  I started looking around on Ebay and found a company that sells factory reconditioned 550's with a one year warranty (same as a brand new 550) for half the MSRP.  Yes...half the price!!!   So I purchased the S550.  It's a great machine.  Love it, love it, love it.  LOL.

Here's a pic of my new baby!

And this shows how large the pressing surface is.

Pretty cool, eh?   I have constructed both pocket welts and cut out the front pieces from the embroidered fabric I created.  Now I'm off to sew.  

More later!