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Sunday, December 7, 2008

HELP!!!

Hello to all my friends out in Blogland...hope you're having a great weekend, but I have a favor to ask...can you help me? Since last spring, I've been working on my green-and-white quilt in between other projects. I'm almost done with the triangle units, but within the past week when I went to press them I ran into a problem. I like to use starch...and normally use Best Press...but in an effort to save some money just bought the cheap stuff from the grocery store. It's been working fine, but then....
The squares on the top are what they are supposed to look like and the ones on the bottom are ruined with marks on the white, but no marks on the green. Has this ever happened to you? I stopped using the starch to see if that would get rid of the problem, but no such luck, so the starch must not be the problem. I tried turning the iron down from the cotton setting to the lowest setting, but that didn't work either, so I don't think it's a heat/burn issue. I also tried pressing on the opposite side than I normally do (thinking that maybe just one side of the iron had a problem)...still just the marks on the edges of the white fabric. I really like my iron and ironing board...well, up until now...and I don't really want to replace them, but I will if I have to. I just wish I new if it was the iron or the ironing board...I guess I could try pressing them on a mini board that I have...that would probably be a good idea. I've been afraid to iron any 'real' clothes for fear that this will ruin them, so they just go into the dryer on high heat to remove wrinkles...usually works okay.
Do you have any ideas or suggestions I can try? Any help or advice you can give me would be wonderful and I would love you forever!!! Thanks so much and have a wonderful day! =)

9 comments:

Carla said...

Almost looks like rust stains. Can't really see them that good. Try using and old pillowcase and see if it still happens. Then iron it again on a different surface. Clean your iron not just the plate but the inside. They make iron cleaner. Hope it works out for you.

Sherri said...

I know they have solutions to clean irons at stores like Bed, Bath & Beyond and such...maybe even at Walmart. You could try that. Or, once I had something similar happen and it was something on my iron. I scrubbed the soleplate with a sponge and then ironed and ironed on an old towel until the stain no longer appeared. Good luck...it's so frustrating when something like that happens!

sewtakeahike said...

Hi Anna, I had this exact thing happen to me on a custom camera case I made a while back and almost freaked (I was ironing the finished bag). I don't use starch and the fabric was looking burned. I took a hand towel and dipped it in a mix of all fabric bleach and water and blotted the materials and they came clean. Not sure why the darkened areas happened in the first place (if it was acutally burned from the iron this trick would not have helped) but I'm glad I was able to fix it! Hope this helps you. Maybe you could just kind of twirl the squares in the mix of all fab. bleach and water and see if it works?

rachel griffith said...

try ironing something old on the same surface.
then on a different surface.
just to see. {and to make sure you rule out the board & iron itself.}

i would suggest using one of those bleach pins. that way you can control what part of the fabric you touch.

Dawn said...

I have no idea or ideas...but some of the comments have been interesting. If you try some of the suggestions please post about it so we might get an answer to the problem. Good luck!

Elizabeth said...

I've had this happen several times. I think the dried starch on your ironing board cover builds up and gets a little burned. When you spray new on it dampens it and it comes off in your fabric. I THINK this is what it is. When I've had it happen it came out in the wash without a problem so hopefully it will do the same for you. Let us know how it goes.

I see you have a Christmas tree skirt in the process. I really want to see it! What pattern did you use? I need to make one for our living room tree.

Thimbleanna said...

Wow. What a dilemma. I wish I could help, but I've never had any luck getting those brown stains out. I've read the comment about the bleach and water though -- I hope I can remember it someday!

Unknown said...

Hi Anna! I got a wonderful parcel in the mail from you today, and had to say thank you - I can't wait to try out the apron pattern, and maybe use some of the charm pack in it? I don't know...

Anyhow, thank you so much.

As for the stain problem. I had a problem like this with my iron, and board. It was a build up on the cover of starch and other stuff like that. I washed the cover, cleaned the iron with an iron stick and it seems to have done the trick. I used a watered down bleach to soak my 'burned' fabrics and it came out just fine. I hope yours do too!

Kimberly Wright said...

Uhm, cutest blog ever!!! Love the HO HO HO.

How are you doing? Ready for Christmas? Would love to see you guys.