By Donna di Natale

Donna di Natale

Ironing is not my favorite chore, so my husband finds it ironic that I’m so interested in collecting irons and learning about their history.

While I don’t care for ironing, I love to quilt, and quilting involves a lot of pressing. My new modern steam iron makes that task a dream, but pressing hasn’t always been so easy.

The process of ironing fabric to make it smooth or pleated has been around for centuries. As early as 400 B.C., the Greeks were ironing their linen robes with a goffering iron, a round bar much like a rolling pin. The Romans, Chinese and Vikings all had various instruments for smoothing cloth. By the 1300s, the English had developed the flatiron, an apt name for flat iron bars with a metal handle. The flatirons were heated in a fire, covered with a piece of cloth, and then the fabric to be pressed was pulled between two bars. If you had multiple flatirons, you could heat some while pressing with others.

It wasn’t until the 15th century that a box-shaped iron was invented. The box iron, or slug iron, was hollow. Hot coals, bricks or slugs (heated metal inserts) were placed in the box, and then a handle was attached. Because the iron didn’t need to be constantly reheated, this was a time-saving device and hung around for several hundred years.

By the early 19th century, the development of cast iron products had changed life in so many ways. The cast iron stove, for example, and the sadiron, which is still found in antique shops. Sadirons are solid cast iron, weigh about 10 to 15 pounds and are shaped somewhat like a small football. Early sadirons had cast metal handles on top.

In 1870, Mary Potts, an American, made improvements to the sadiron that made it heat more evenly. She also patented in 1871 a wooden handle that attached to the iron with a spring clip. Of course, these irons tended to rust, because that is what iron does, and perhaps they were responsible for many of the rust-colored stains found in quilts from this period.

In the mid-1800s, the gas iron was invented. Early gas irons were heated on a miniature gas stove. The real change came around the turn of the century, when a small gas tank and burner were attached to a metal iron. Naphtha or alcohol fueled the burner. When the burner was lit, the iron heated up. These irons were much lighter and didn’t cool until they were turned off or ran out of fuel. The one shown here was made by the Coleman Co. sometime between 1926 and 1948. These irons are easy to find and are still in use where there is no electricity.

The electric iron was invented in the 1800s and was widely available in the early 1900s. Of course, these were only handy if your home happened to have electricity.

In 1920, thermostats were added to electric irons, making it possible to press most any fabric without scorching. Fabrics still had to be dampened with a water sprinkler to really get the wrinkles out.

This lead to the invention of the steam iron around 1926. Again, a small tank was attached to the iron, but this time the tank contained water instead of fuel. Small holes were punched in the bottom of the iron plate. As the water heated, steam came through the holes and moistened the fabric while you ironed. Soon the water tank was contained within the iron, and the so-called modern iron had arrived.

Irons were no longer made of iron. They were chrome plated, enameled metal or cast aluminum. They were pointed on one end and squared off on the other so they would stand up. Irons became an item of beauty as well as utility. Their streamlined shape was well adapted to the artistic tastes of the 1940s and ’50s. Conveniences such as a steam or dry switch, nonrusting alloy sole plates, rotating cords, automatic shut-off and cordless models followed.

As quilters, we know the right tool for the job is important. The right iron is certainly one of these tools. If you are a steamer like I am, you look for the most holes in the soleplate. You want a pointy tip for opening or turning seams. The iron needs to be fairly lightweight but heavy enough to press multiple layers of seams. It needs to be leak-proof so as not to stain the fabric.

Looking back at what early quilters had to work with, we have come a long way from a rusty 15 pound chunk of iron.

Donna di Natale is an author and editor for Kansas City Star Quilts. She writes every Wednesday.