Oliso Pro Smart Iron GIVEAWAY & The Vintage Ironing Board Re-cover

I’d been coveting the Oliso Pro Smart Iron ever since I saw it demo’d at the Maker Faire in 2010. I was delighted to see it again at the Winter CHA Show. My partner-in-crime at the event was Suzy Bauter (aka: Suzy-Homemaker) and we both couldn’t wait to get our hands on one. Oliso provided me with my very own to try out and I’ve had it for a month now. Having used it quite often on several projects… I’m in love.

The hardest thing to get used to is leaving an iron down on the ironing board when in use, rather than lifting it upright while adjusting fabric on your board. Maybe your ironing board cover is like my old one, decorated with large, triangular-shaped scorch marks from trying your best to keep the iron hot and steaming while adjusting things on the board. The amazing technology of the Oliso Smart Irons allow them to remain in a down position and ready to use without damaging your project or cover. From the Oliso website: The Oliso® TG1600 Pro features Oliso’s patented iTouch® technology. Simply touch the handle and the iron lowers, ready to work. Take your hand off and the patented scorchguards lift the iron off the board preventing scorches, burns, and tipping. Less strain and 30% time savings are added benefits to this Smart Iron’s 1800 watts of power and horizontal or vertical bursts of steam. The TG1600 Pro features a 30-minute extended auto-shut off for sewers and quilters, a 12.7 oz side fill tank, a beadblast stainless steel soleplate, flat pressing surface, detailer tip, and a 12-foot cord for full range of motion.

This is the perfect iron for the textile professional or crafter and it’s just so fun to work with. My favorite features of this particular iron are the extra long 12-foot cord, the easy fill XL water tank, and of course the iTouch® technology- it’s space-age. The fact that the color of this iron coordinates with my yellow sewing nook, well, that’s just a bonus!

I keep my Oliso Pro Smart Iron in the studio, so naturally, I needed a cute vintage ironing board to use it on since my studio is filled with vintage & vintage-style furnishings. After shopping around a bit, I snagged one up for under $30. I stripped off the old covering and instead of creating a drawstring cover, I upholstered a new cover directly to the board. Upholstering the board avoids the gathering and puckering of fabric and batting along the edge of the board, not to mention, it’s faster and easier. The recommendation from Oliso is that the firmer or thinner your ironing board cover is, the better the scorch guard will work. So I lined my wood board with two thin layers of Warm & Natural Needled Cotton Batting cut from a roll at my local fabric store. I laid the board onto the batting, outlined the board, then trimmed 3-inches away from the outline.Using my electric staple gun, I stapled the batting edges nice and snug around the board’s underside.For the fabric cover, I chose Flora (red/circles) by Lauren + Jessi Jung for Moda, trimming to fit and stapling a folded edge all around the underside. I didn’t staple the batting and the fabric at the same time with the same staples so that should I want to only replace the fabric in the future I won’t pull up the batting. Folding the edge before stapling keeps the fabric from pulling loose along a raw edge.Here’s my sweet vintage ironing board, newly covered, and my awesome new Oliso Pro.I came across another vintage wooden ironing board priced just right and much wider, so of course, I covered that too, and it now hangs in my sewing nook.

THE OLISO PRO SMART IRON GIVEAWAY!

The generous folks at Oliso are giving a Oliso Pro Smart Iron to one lucky JSIM reader- a $199 Value!

TO ENTER: Leave a nice, relevant comment on this post. US residents only. One comment per person, please. (If you inadvertently leave two, please remove one to keep things fair.) Though not required, follow Oliso on Facebook to keep up with all things fun and fabricy and technilologicly cool!

ENTRY DEADLINE: Enter by Midnight, Saturday, May 11, 2013. The winner will be notified, announced and posted here on Mother’s Day!

CONGRATULATIONS to (-randomly chosen-) ENTRY NO. 227- maybaby (aka: Kristi Pohl). Thanks everyone for your awesome comment entries! As always, more fun giveaways to come.