Week of spring jitters
16 to 22 march 2020
Spring cleaning time:
Spring is approaching, so we get the urge to air the house, vacuum the whole house,
wash the windows and clean up the sewingroom!
Cleaning the iron:
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| Iron cleaner |
I always start spring cleaning with the sole of the iron.
There, adhesive residues and more rubbish accumulate
on the sole, what causes roughness and then it no longer
irones and presses well.
So then I take the ironcleaner and an old towel.
Fold the towel to fit your ironingboard, put it on and
it will catch the mess of the ironcleaner. If you want
to make sure it doesn't leak trough, put a plastic bag
underneath.
The iron is warm and then I place it on the towel
on it's side. You can also place it on it's back but mine
has a steampipe there so it falls over when I do that...
Rub the sole with the iron cleaner until it melts,
occasionally wipe it on the towel and continue
until all the mess has disappeared. The towel goes in the trash...
My iron is a pressing iron with holes at the tip of the sole so it is fairly easy to
keep the holes from filling with cleaner. Press the steam button and steam well
to make sure that no iron cleaner is left in the holes because it can cause stains ...
Please do that with the door of the window open because it certainly does not
smell nice!
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| The iron before cleaning |
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| After cleaning it looks much better! |
Sewing machines:
Then it is time for the sewing machine, overlocker, coverlock etc.
Brush away dirt and grime in the area where the bobbin rests and anywhere else
you can reach with the brush, then dust of the rest of the machine.
Replace the needle if you haven't done that for a while and put a little
sewing machine oil at the right points (the moving parts) and your machines
are ready for spring again!
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| Sewingmachine Oil |
Your other tools:
Clean your scissors and rulers with a little white spirit, empty your chalk sharpener
and rinse it under the tap.
Clean your tables and empty the bins.
Skirt meter / skirt marker:
Chalk powder that is in a skirt marker wants to clump under the influence of moisture
and then it doesn't make a good line on your skirt anymore.
So check it whilst doing the spring cleaning!
If it no longer works, throw away the chalk powder and blow the tube and nozzle
clean with the bellows without chalkpowder. Put in new powder and it's ready
for another year.
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| Tailors Chalk powder in different colours |
Tip:
If you want a slightly darker color for the white clothes of summer, mix the white
with a little blue powder, so you get a light blue powder that's a bit easier to
remove from of the clothes as a blue chalk-line.
Yellow and red are also possible, but in general blue is easier to remove...
And while you are holding the chalk powder, top up your chalk wheel chaco liner...
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| Chaco liner chalk dispenser with refill chalk |
Last job:
Clean up the scraps of fabric and interliner, tapes, snaps and whatever else you
left on your table.
And while you put it all back where it belongs, check if you need to replenish
your stock and make a shopping list with the things that you are almost out of!
Supplement your vilene interlining stock this week and get a free bag of tailors chalk powder white and an iron cleaner with your order.
This week is 16 march to 22 march 2020, order on one of these days and we will include it when packing your order...
Here you will find all our interlinings and more: Shop interlining at Beauty VoF
