Monday, October 10, 2016

Vintage Ironing Board Tribute...

This is my trusty vintage combo board and iron.  I have another trusty iron, much newer, but also a Sunbeam.  The Sunbeam pictured is a Made in USA model that still works just fine. I had never read the booklet of course, so when it didn't seem to steam correctly I bought another bottom line Sunbeam. THEN I read the booklet. Seems you can clean the steam holes by pushing the little steam setting lever or dial back and forth and guess what?! IT WORKS!!! So....I did that on my old iron and it works too. Then newer Sunbeam is not Made in USA, but works just fine. I love it - it's all white.   I decided to blog my board and irons because of the hype about expensive irons and boards. ALL boards seem too expensive now days. I have to admit I bought my sturdy metal legged, four legged board back in the era of about 1970. This board is a keeper - not wibbly and doesn't have any problems except a squeak that is my fault. I could clean it and oil it one of these days and get rid of that squeak I suppose.   The cover is one of the ones from Joann Fabrics with the measuring tape theme and it really works so well.  Handy for straightening up lines in ironing and in pinning together both garment pieces and quilt blocks. Helps in grain line placement as well. The legs of this board are nice thick metal and there are four of them.  I was inspired to blog about the board, boring as it may be, by a friend who also has a vintage board and who recently posted pics of her refurb of said board. You just cannot get this quality any more without spending a fabulous sum. It never occurred to me to take pictures of my ironing board before. You just never know. HAHA.  You can see in the last picture that I have left on an older cover I bought several years ago with its pad, and added the tape measure cover on over it for the depth of padding. Here is a link to my friend's review on Patternreview.com for her lovely new cover! She links to her picture tutorial on her own site, which is a lovely set of pictures and a really wonderful tutorial!

My blog is hardly that inspirational, but I do think our vintage equipment that still serves and does it well deserves to be highlighted a bit now and then! I will keep my board the Harvest Gold color it came with, as it is so indicative of the age of it's inception.

Don't we vintage ladies have Harvest Gold Tupperware as well? I know I do. As to quilting - I will get back to my Blue Quilt very soon and post a few pictures of the finished quilt top. I do need to purchase the backing and batting. I will, of course, be using Warm and Natural as usual and for this quilt flannel is the backing fabric I choose.I think flannel makes the best quilt backing there is. Warm and comfy and really good for winter as well.

9 comments:

glorm said...

No discussion of sewing or sewing notions and equipment is boring! My mother's board had 4 legs, something I haven't seen in decades. Mine are (yes, have two as neighbor gave hers to me saying that she never uses it) 3-legged and a bit wobbly so I make certain that my iron is in its holder when I'm shifting my fabric or garment.

Yes, there are better ironing boards than mine, but I adjusted and see no need to buy a newer one. I fully agree with you that notions of the past should be reviewed. (Is anything made in the USA any more? Geesh) Some items are better than in the past because they included a new idea which works well, so we need a mixture of the old and the new.

Thank you for the tribute.

catspec said...

Oh thank you Glorm......:) Yes, it came as a shock to me to calculate how long I have used this ironing board though!!! I should add a post to show the legs....although four, they are in sets of two that fold together but when set up it is very stable!

SewLibra said...

I love your snazzy harvest gold ironing board! I'm fond of my 1971 green and blue one, but it only has two legs so not as sturdy as yours. It's hanging in there though, after 45 years of use and abuse. Even though I oiled it, it still squeaks. That's ok, it's usually up anyway. Your white Sunbeam iron is pretty. I never see white ones in the stores, but they look good along side white sewing machines, don't they? Thanks for the mention in your blog. Blush, blush. :)

catspec said...

:) SewLibra!!! Thanks! Yes, yours is one snazzy board too! I love the colors on your board. The white iron is available in your neighborhood Rite Aide Store. I got mine there on sale for $15.99 just about a year ago now I think? Maybe less. Regular price is, I think, $24.99. I have no complaints! :)

Unknown said...

Boring?! No way! When my mama stopped ironing I asked her if I could *please* have her ironing board. She and daddy both laughed and she asked, "Why in the world do you want that old thing? You should go get yourself a new one." I explained to her that I had already been through two new ones and that they weren't worth a crap. Every time I use it I think of her smoothing out miles of window sheers and it makes me smile. I guess it has to be 65+ years old now and I imagine it will outlive me :-)

catspec said...

Thanks for your comment La Vonda!!!! So good to know the old is not neccesssarily discarded, eh? How special to have your Mother's board.

SewLibra said...

I recently went shopping and to lunch with a friend to celebrate our birthdays. Afterward we went to her house. As she was playing her keyboard for me, which is set up in her craft/sewing room, I couldn't help but fixate on the vintage ironing board right beside me. I had never seen one like it. The legs were heavy T-type tubes, about 6" around in shiny chrome. It was a beauty! My friend said, in an unimpressed manner, that it had been her husband's board "forever". I wanted to take it home with me but figured her hubby would win the fight. I don't know how hard it would have been to left the thing either, but darn I WANTED it!

catspec said...

SewLibra....what a swell sounding board! Wish you had grabbed a picture on your phone! HAHAHHAa....hahha....Thanks for sharing that. :)

SewLibra said...

I was thinking the same thing! Next time I'm there I will!