Wonder if we could get it included in a future Olympic Games, far more useful than shot put 
www.thepetitmanoir.com
Happy Ironing
Thank you Sue, good to know the brand, but John Lewis is a bit far for me to go for a demo! I did my research this morning and it does look the best, but I can't find anyone here who sells it, certainly not online....soodyer wrote:I think our model is Elna Opal? Some of the bigger dept stores (John Lewis) will give you a demo of the machine.
However the Elna Alize is readily available, normally $400, but on sale everywhere for less than half price including shipping. Looking at Steam Fast, Simplicity, Conair, they are all in the $300 - $150 price range, so I don't think they are going to be any better, and the next step up is a Miele rotary iron at nearly $2,000. I'm paying $75-$100 a week for pressing, so I'll make a couple of calls just to check the local stores don't carry the opal, otherwise it's the alize for me I think.I'll get going on the laurel wreaths then shall I? Anyone fancy making the medals? Ohhhh, who can we get to hand them out? This could be FUN
www.thepetitmanoir.com
Ohhhh, who can we get to hand them out? This could be FUN www.thepetitmanoir.com
Sue, laundry costs doubled this year, so if it keeps on this way, I'll soon be able to afford to pay your air fare every week and still have change!
Well I phoned the main US Elna distributor and they will sell me the Opal direct, but it's $895 plus shipping compared to $299 for the Alize (which I know I can get online from a sewing supply place for $100 less than that). So the one you have is 4 times the price of the lower end model and there's nothing inbetween made by anybody that I can find. Here's the difference:-
Opal is made in Switzerland and comes with 5 yr warranty
Alize is made in Taiwan and comes with 1 yr warranty
(That says it all really)
Opal is 5" longer and 1" wider than Alize, so I would have to fold my sheets down to 20" instead of 25" and press 9" sections instead of 10" sections.
Opal comes with a sleeve board, Alize does not, so unless I change brand, it's not going to do regular shirts. I don't really care about that very much, although it would have been nice to have. If I change to an unknown brand that does have a sleeve board, I might end up with junk, so probably not worth the risk.
Opal has a built in water jet, Alize does not. She said a spray bottle was just as good.
That's it.
MOH is now telling me I don't have time to take this on, so holding my breath to find out the results of the ironing competition! I know I can't do this with a regular iron and board, but this sounds like a breeze once you get the hang of doing it in oven gloves ......... lol
Well I phoned the main US Elna distributor and they will sell me the Opal direct, but it's $895 plus shipping compared to $299 for the Alize (which I know I can get online from a sewing supply place for $100 less than that). So the one you have is 4 times the price of the lower end model and there's nothing inbetween made by anybody that I can find. Here's the difference:-
Opal is made in Switzerland and comes with 5 yr warranty
Alize is made in Taiwan and comes with 1 yr warranty
(That says it all really)
Opal is 5" longer and 1" wider than Alize, so I would have to fold my sheets down to 20" instead of 25" and press 9" sections instead of 10" sections.
Opal comes with a sleeve board, Alize does not, so unless I change brand, it's not going to do regular shirts. I don't really care about that very much, although it would have been nice to have. If I change to an unknown brand that does have a sleeve board, I might end up with junk, so probably not worth the risk.
Opal has a built in water jet, Alize does not. She said a spray bottle was just as good.
That's it.
MOH is now telling me I don't have time to take this on, so holding my breath to find out the results of the ironing competition! I know I can't do this with a regular iron and board, but this sounds like a breeze once you get the hang of doing it in oven gloves ......... lol
Last edited by A-two on Wed Aug 16, 2006 9:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.
OK, a late contender...
I don't have an ironing press... but I do have an iron attachment to a Polti steam cleaner... and it's brilliant. You can do sheets and duvets using the 'folding' method and you only have to iron one side of each bit, the steam does the rest.
It's also great for shirts and everything else. You can either steam or not steam. When you are doing fiddly things (or t shirts which sometimes develop creases - you know what I mean, as you iron one bit you iron a crease into another bit... for those sorts of things you can just steam them and hold the iron just off the surface of the item and it steams the creases out, you just shake it and voila!!
It's got a lot of steam pressure and probably better than most normal steam irons on the market. And the steam cleaner itself has lots of attachments for doing all sorts of things - carpets, furniture, cleaning grout between tiles, greasy worktops etc etc.
Hubby got the whole unit on a special offer for about £300 I think, the ironing bit is normally £80 extra but that bit came free on the special offer.
I'm not a big fan of ironing or cleaning but this gadget does make it bearable. I also sit down at my ironing board and catch up on Lost and Desparate housewives etc. ..And Sue, I have also burned my tummy ironing whilst ironing in my nicknocks.
I don't have an ironing press... but I do have an iron attachment to a Polti steam cleaner... and it's brilliant. You can do sheets and duvets using the 'folding' method and you only have to iron one side of each bit, the steam does the rest.
It's also great for shirts and everything else. You can either steam or not steam. When you are doing fiddly things (or t shirts which sometimes develop creases - you know what I mean, as you iron one bit you iron a crease into another bit... for those sorts of things you can just steam them and hold the iron just off the surface of the item and it steams the creases out, you just shake it and voila!!
It's got a lot of steam pressure and probably better than most normal steam irons on the market. And the steam cleaner itself has lots of attachments for doing all sorts of things - carpets, furniture, cleaning grout between tiles, greasy worktops etc etc.
Hubby got the whole unit on a special offer for about £300 I think, the ironing bit is normally £80 extra but that bit came free on the special offer.
I'm not a big fan of ironing or cleaning but this gadget does make it bearable. I also sit down at my ironing board and catch up on Lost and Desparate housewives etc. ..And Sue, I have also burned my tummy ironing whilst ironing in my nicknocks.
Nightowl
Forever going one step forwards and two
backwards......
Forever going one step forwards and two
backwards......
Got distracted from ironing this morning (doesn't take much!)
...but did the 2 singles and 1 double (all fitted) this afternoon and it took me just over 20 minutes...including folding. The press is so good I was able to iron the sheets folded...does that count as cheating?
Ju/Knightowl..over to you!
...but did the 2 singles and 1 double (all fitted) this afternoon and it took me just over 20 minutes...including folding. The press is so good I was able to iron the sheets folded...does that count as cheating?
Ju/Knightowl..over to you!
I know even by looking at the times that I am going to be the fastest... but I have a horrible suspicion that this is because I don't have the same attention to quality that the rest of you have... I can honestly say I would never spend 9 mins ironing a duvet cover....
About 3 mins tops, any more than that and it just will have to stay creased... but I do hasten to add that this is my own personal ironing, not for my rental house and I don't really care if my own duvet cover or that of my kids is not ironed properly. I just give it a quick once over and that's it.
But for the purposes of the exercise, I may just try ironing one of my fiddly linen ones properly and see how long it really takes to do it properly with my Polti. Watch this space, but you might be watching for a while cos I have just opened a bottle of wine....
About 3 mins tops, any more than that and it just will have to stay creased... but I do hasten to add that this is my own personal ironing, not for my rental house and I don't really care if my own duvet cover or that of my kids is not ironed properly. I just give it a quick once over and that's it.
But for the purposes of the exercise, I may just try ironing one of my fiddly linen ones properly and see how long it really takes to do it properly with my Polti. Watch this space, but you might be watching for a while cos I have just opened a bottle of wine....
Nightowl
Forever going one step forwards and two
backwards......
Forever going one step forwards and two
backwards......
ironing your own bedding, now that is a laugh!!! That is for my paying customers only.
Mam used to iron everything including my nylon knickers (it was the 70's). A couple of times she had the iron too hot and didn't notice they kinda melted a bit. I'd only realise when I'd put them on and they'd sandpaper my bum!!
I think I could do a double quilt, pillowcases and the sheet in 9 mins. I'll test tomorrow as I've left all of my ironing until then.
Re burning your stomach on the iron, I'm glad I'm not alone on that one. One of the other daftest things I've done, (absentmindedly) was to start washing my face, wonder why the world had gone very blurry and realised I still had my glasses on. D'oh!!
Mam used to iron everything including my nylon knickers (it was the 70's). A couple of times she had the iron too hot and didn't notice they kinda melted a bit. I'd only realise when I'd put them on and they'd sandpaper my bum!!
I think I could do a double quilt, pillowcases and the sheet in 9 mins. I'll test tomorrow as I've left all of my ironing until then.
Re burning your stomach on the iron, I'm glad I'm not alone on that one. One of the other daftest things I've done, (absentmindedly) was to start washing my face, wonder why the world had gone very blurry and realised I still had my glasses on. D'oh!!
-
Hells Bells
- Posts: 13173
- Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 8:42 am
- Location: French Alps
- Contact:
So does this mean that I could do 5 beds in 2.5 to 3 hours? My lot would be 5 duvet covers, 10 sheets and 20 pillow cases, for 3 queen beds and 2 twins. If so, that would be amazing. Interested to hear how long it takes Sue, as she's a wiz at it I'm sure.
Last edited by A-two on Thu Aug 17, 2006 9:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
