The Search is Over

For most of my life, I have been searching for two things.  (Actually, I've been searching for a lot more than two things, but this blog is about sewing.)

1. marking tool that washes out 
2. iron without auto shut-off

I think I might have found my two holy grails.  

The Clover Pen Style Chaco Liner may just be the marking tool I've been looking for.  The yellow color shows up on both dark and light colored fabrics.  The powdered chalk stays on the surface of the fabric and brushes away easily. There are other chalk wheels available, but I like that this marker can be held like a pen. I found the other chalk markers are a little awkward to hold.  I know this tool isn't new, but I never tried it.  Now that I have, I love using it.

NB:  The timer pictured is not the heavy duty timer I actually use

The Chaco Pen is fun, but I was more excited about finding an iron without auto shut-off.  Like many sewers, I got annoyed when my iron shut off after eight minutes.  I spent lots of money on the Oliso Pro iron because it shut off after 30 minutes. That was a major fail.  It took several months before I would even consider another expensive iron.  Finally, I tried the Reliable Digital Velocity V100.  This iron has a feature that allows me to override the 8 minute auto shut-off.  Fingers crossed, so far it's been great.  The Oliso iron stayed on for 30 minutes.  The Reliable iron stays on forever, which could be a problem if a person tends to forget to unplug or turn off the iron (like me).  So I devised a system to override the override.  I keep the iron plugged in to a heavy duty timer.  When I start to sew, I set the timer for the amount of time I expect to sew and plug it into the outlet.  Then, I enable the iron's override feature.  If I forget to unplug the iron when I finish sewing, the timer will shut the iron off.  Of course, I'm trying to get into the habit of unplugging the iron, but this is a good back up plan.  I was cautioned that the 1800 watt iron may be too much for the timer to handle, but I contacted the timer manufacturer and was told the heavy duty timer could handle the iron.  Use this tip at your own risk.