The London Lounge

In the quest for the best in home appliances I thought it might be best to ask this question here. What is the best steam iron available? Its an essential item for looking crisp and finished, for shirts and also touching up a jacket or trousers from time to time.

I'm sick to my teeth of cheap items that last a year at most before blowing fuses or leaking water everywhere.

cathach wrote:I'm sick to my teeth of cheap items that last a year at most before blowing fuses or leaking water everywhere.

I hear you.
For a steam iron, I think a good compromise between a home appliance and an industrial one is the IRONMAVEN 490 Made in Italy (acciaio da stiro). It was not my idea, but we bought one for the whole house (not only shirts and trouser touch ups). The ironing lady (only comes on Wednesdays) loves it because is easy to use and has the feature of giving you a constant stream of steam. Sorry if I sound like an infomercial.

Hectorm, thanks for your own insights. From a bit of poking around on the internet I've found a site that sells Italian-made mainly irons to the tailoring/laundry trade as well as to the public: http://www.norrissteam.co.uk/

The Norris steam Iron looks very good. The Sussman 220 is a good iron.
I like the Norris. Always use a press cloth. Always. A good piece of drill or double selicia.

Cathach, this discussion comes just at the right time for my first post as a new member, as well as to share my two cents of experience:

After too many years of anger and frustration with 'regular' steam irons of various makes and models, I earlier this year decided to jump up a notch and give Tefal's top-of-the-line steam generator a try. Although the ironing quality, the visible result, was so much better than anticipated, really a big step-up into the ranks you see from professionals, the product quality (and many consumer reviews support this) after only a few weeks was lousy at best and dangerous to the fabrics at worst - steam pressure won't be maintained properly, temparature control won't work and go way up, ugly substances leak out, etc...

I have got rid of this piece of - well, plastic, esentially. Am looking forward eagerly to tomorrow's delivery of Lelit's PG027 semi-professional steam generator (http://www.lelit.com/web_eng/gamma_sche ... .asp?id=16) - this is supposedly the most as-professional-as-you-can-get toy that my house fuse is capable of taking, and should end the search for me ("exit iron"? ), I can't Really see another potential step-up available.

If there's interest I'd surely be happy to report my findings on this lovely piece of rock-solid Italian technology.

Bertel,

Please do. I believe firmly in the words of William Morris, "have nothing in your home that you do not believe to be beautiful or know to be useful". I think part of the efforts of this forum should be to highlight the best made products of all kinds and the wealth of durable solidly and beautifully made articles still available in Europe and the USA.

Thank you for your interest cathach - I'll try my best:

My new Lelit PG027 steam generator got delivered today. Here's how my new Italian toy looks like - a bit cold and arrogant I might say:




I had to instantly unpack and thoroughly try it. First impression: Whereas the Tefal steam generator from the method it uses, i.e. high-pressure steam going through the fabric instead of just surface steam when using a 'standard' steam iron, was a massive improvement for me, this Lelit beast now is trying to seduce me with pure refinement and perfection.

Where the Tefal was basically plastic all over the place, this beautiful Italian machine comes in chrome and steel, robust and machined off the solid, yet shiny and elegant at the same time, minimalistic in features and gadgets while seemingly made for eternity in each of it's well-considered parts. There is some kind of, how can I say that, beautiful low-tech appeal to it, no flashlights and dashboards and multi-hybrid-surface technology, just plain elaborate craftsmanship as it seems (at least to a layman like me).

How does it perform? Well, where the Tefal was easily floating here and there and very well infusing and smoothing things, the Lelit handle even when cold is stubborn, wants to glide in only one direction, towards its pointed sharp tip. Just have a look at the soleplates:




While the Tefal has all bells and whistles and more wholes than a golf course, the Lelit is alarmingly puristic at first - yet the results are quite stunning:

Firstly, I have to confess that I know nothing at all about the skillful craft of ironing a shirt. This became strikingly and painfully clear today. To become a qualified and examined ironer or presser in Europe some 30-50 years ago, you needed to go through an apprenticeship of up to 2 years (a lady told me last year). Today I was given a slight glimpse into why that might be: this iron is a precise tool in your hands - I started out almost tearing off buttons and tearing open cornered seams with the sharp iron tip, yet managed to completely remove the slightest creases in the tiniest corners with the same tip, I managed to iron a bend into a straight pattern line just beacuse of pulling to hard while careful draping and ironing led to perfectly and naturally straight lines elsewhere, I hammered flat rich and rough fabrics to a height of 1.5 atoms while others which I carefully touched fell completely flat yet remained their delicate structure and pattern - there's a lot for me to learn I guess...

But I look forward to that so much: While the Tefal allowed me to easily and effortlessly get all kinds of fabrics and shirtings decently flat by kind of autonomously working on its own, the Lelit is a tool, an instrument that reliably and faithfully does exactly what you tell it to do, in good and bad sense. That's what I was looking and hoping for, and I am very excited because that's exactly what it seems to be designed for and to be doing. It'll definitely take some, or a lot of time, to master this craft and this instrument, but I have hope that I can finally achieve results with this piece that cleaners and anyone else I tried couldn't deliver. We'll see...

What did you say cathach, "beautiful" and "useful", and especially "the wealth of durable solidly and beautifully made articles"? I feel this could be one of those.

But I've got to go now, I need to clean a dozen shirts or so, so that I have something that desperately needs pressing

Pray Bertel, tell us where you purchased that iron from, and at what cost?

I use a Laurastar and it's good enough for me. One pass and the creases are gone.

Watch this video for ironing techniques. If there's better, please let me know --http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK6iQj-I_0w

marburyvmadison wrote:Pray Bertel, tell us where you purchased that iron from, and at what cost?

Lelit are located in Italy. They sell the PG027 direct through their online shop for EUR 510 plus p&p. Their German reseller/distributor offered it for EUR 659 (!!) including p&p, then after my aghast question if they were serious dropped down to EUR 510 too. Yet at that time I had already decided to buy it in a small and incredibly nice and caring shop in Bergamo for EUR 440.

marburyvmadison wrote:Watch this video for ironing techniques. If there's better, please let me know --http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK6iQj-I_0w

Will be pleased to do so later this evening and come back wit my .5 cents.

marburyvmadison wrote:Watch this video for ironing techniques. If there's better, please let me know --http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK6iQj-I_0w

Ah, Mr Francomb - sure I know that one! Nothing wrong with that. I just prefer a steam generator to his steam iron plus sprayer, and take quite a bit more time for the sake of perfectionism, plus I use a sleeve ironing board.

Bertel wrote: While the Tefal allowed me to easily and effortlessly get all kinds of fabrics and shirtings decently flat by kind of autonomously working on its own, the Lelit is a tool, an instrument that reliably and faithfully does exactly what you tell it to do, in good and bad sense. That's what I was looking and hoping for, and I am very excited because that's exactly what it seems to be designed for and to be doing. It'll definitely take some, or a lot of time, to master this craft and this instrument, but I have hope that I can finally achieve results with this piece that cleaners and anyone else I tried couldn't deliver. We'll see...

Bertel,

I think Alexander Kabbaz gave an insight into the level of skill associated with traditional shirt-making when he says (on his site) that the presser of cloth and finished shirts is the entry level position in the shirtmakers workshop, and as you say that is something that takes two years to master.

I went for a Polti ironing system which has an iron almost the same as your Lelit, with a cork handle. As you say yourself there is nothing like the right tool for the job. Now I'd have to say I look forward to ironing my own shirts!

How about garment steamers? They are said to be gentler on the fabric. At least, according to the steamer manufacturers.

You want to be very careful with a garment steamer on tailored wool clothing if you don't know what you're doing. Especially with bespoke items, much shaping will be built into the garments by intentional shrinking and stretching of the cloth by the tailor with an iron. Application of steam to these areas can undo much of this careful work and cause the garment panels to relax and flatten, leaving you with a less three-dimensional shape and a poorer fit. And even on straight seams like trouser inseams, the tailor uses a heavy iron to press the seam open and flat; steaming that seam will likely "blow" it--cause it to pillow up from the join on either side rather than staying flat. If there is not much shaping around that seam, this can be remedied by patient pressing with a good iron and press cloth after the steaming, but you need to be prepared to do that and know how. Most tailors don't use steamers but will "sponge and press"--moistening small areas of cloth with a damp pad to relax wrinkles and then pressing with a dry iron through a press cloth. Here are two good articles by tailor and garment "engineer" Jefery Diduch explaining how tailors "work" shape into garments with the iron, how steamers risk damage, and how to properly iron tailored clothing:

Ironwork, or why I hate steamers

The vital importance of pressing

Thank you, interesting article.

And now from the steamers' perspective:
http://www.jiffysteamer.com/steamIron/

Perhaps they meant it for shirts? I mean you are much more often iron/steam your shits than your suits.

(From the Jiffy steamer site) The fibers in sample "A" are in near perfect condition due to the gentle nature of steam. However, the fibers in sample "B" are clearly distorted. You can easily recognize the damaged fibers caused by just one application of the iron's hot sole plate.

Unlike ironing, steam actually relaxes the fibers rather than crushing them.

This is a deceptive "test." No tailor (or any knowledgeable owner) would press wool directly with the sole plate of an iron--especially a dry one. Using a press cloth would prevent the fiber scaling and flattening shown in the photomicrographs. When the wool is "sponged" (dampened with a damp pad) prior to pressing, it is in fact moisture (steam) that is relaxing the fibers and then allowing them to dry while being held in the desired plane. That's why ironing removes wrinkles. But sponging allows much greater control over where the moisture is applied. It's very difficult to pinpoint the steam from a garment steamer. This is why most tailors advise against using them on tailored garments, and caution against hanging suits in a steamy bathroom to relax wrinkles--the intentional shaping will be relaxed along with the wrinkles. Just hanging a suit for a few days will allow many wrinkles to "hang out." There's enough "memory" in the wool fibers that under the influence of gravity and normal humidity they will seek to revert to the last shape they were pressed in (and have taken with time as you wear them).

If proper pressing were that hard on the wool, every bespoke suit would be ruined when you got it.

People like steamers because they see them as time-savers. I do occasionally use a steamer very selectively, and as carefully as I can, to spot-relax stubborn creases in wool trousers--I don't steam the entire garment. I always support the cloth in its original shape during steam application. And this is always only a preliminary step to pressing the entire garment with a press-cloth, making sure any "blown" seams are properly set down. Most people don't use steamers this way.

As you suggest, a good use for a garment steamer is to smooth out things like cotton piqué polo shirts, which shouldn't need ironing. I hang the washed and air-dried shirt (on a hanger) on a hook and put the steamer head inside facing out and up, and move it in vertical rows down the front and then the back. The porous cloth relaxes but doesn't hold too much moisture. I wouldn't do this myself on a woven cotton shirt, since damp cotton takes the direct heat of an iron well, unlike wool, and I like my shirts well-pressed. A "steamered" shirt has a less crisp look and it would be nearly impossible with a steamer to deal effectively with things like collars, cuffs, and sleeve plackets. Maybe for a casual summer shirt, or to touch up a pressed shirt body after a short wearing . . . .