Remember when I wrote about my old school irons; flat pressing American Beauty iron and my sadirons?
Well… it seems some of my fellow sewists (private adults only garment sewing forum) are making the conversion also. Here’s one of the excited posts…
Just heated it up and it! Definite must for some old school technique and works amazing as a clapper because of the weight, it’ll put a death crease in a garment if that’s what you need lol. If you have been using this iron for anything other than its intended, I would suggest whipping it out and adding it to your sewing arsenal. My lil bro did good
The lady had asked about a sadiron she received for Christmas. Here’s her initial post…
Hey Guys!! I was just gifted this really unique and awesome SAD Iron from like 1891 or some crazy year by my dear little brother. I was wondering if it was still a valuable item for pressing in creating garments in place of say a tailors clapper. The Iron weighs in at at least seven lbs and is very compact so at the least I can use as an AMAZING pattern weight. But I was thinking of heating this bad boy up on the stove olden day styles and pressing some collars and seams with it. Thoughts? Anyone else use this antuque item in modern times?
and naturally I swooped on in gushing about my sadirons.
My response on the forum…
Yes you can. I have two that I heat on our wood stove and press my fabric or item of clothing. I also use them as clappers. One weighs 5 Pounds (made in early 1800s) and the other weighs 20 (made in the late 1700s.) Just make sure you use a pressing cloth too. I made a few cloths and now use them whenever I press a seam or iron clothes. I also have a vintage dry pressing iron, it was made before 1920, that I adore. It weighs 16 pounds.
I have two; one was made in the 1700s and the other in the 1800s.and somehow I slipped in my love for my American Beauty flat pressing iron. It was made in before the 1920s.
It seems, I was the only one using them for it’s purpose. I gushed about sadirons and how amazing they are as a tailors clapper and it peaked a few others interest as well. There was a bit of back and forth as other posters popped in asking me questions, naturally I was more than happy to answer them. There were a few others that had some, but many were using them as doorstops! Oh the horror!
Sadiron replaces my wooden clapper
The sadiron beats your traditional wooden clapper (hands down) when you want the perfect crease and it’s become my ‘clapper’ of choice since it does a much better job than the wooden clapper that I’d purchased. Funny thing is, I had purchased that wooden clapper just a few months before. In hindsight, I would have held off on that purchase, but at least I have something to compare the sadiron too and can say, that I much prefer the sadiron as my clapper of choice.
I posted the above video about Rory Duffy (bespoke tailor) before and I’m doing that again. Around the 1:00 mark, Rory gives a great explanation on why he uses a heavy pressing iron and a non-heated iron in place of a clapper. Check it out. I’m fascinated with Rory, he uses a lot of simple tools in couture sewing. You know what? Fancy equipment won’t mean anything if you can’t master the basics.
In other news… knitting!
Not too much sewing going on, but I have been knitting and have made a super duper long tube for my dreadlocks. I might add an inch or two to the tube, but it’s pretty much done. I just need to finish it with a super stretchy bind off.
The above stretchy bind off is new to me, but I’m willing to give it a try to see how I like it.