broken iron

so tonight i figured I would tackle some of the ironing of work shirts and throw in ironing some of the lovely dyed silk from this weekend.  I cut half yard pieces of the ends of the yellow, orange, peach, pink, lilac, and green. I got my silk soaked in best press and then dried in the dryer and I get to the last piece and I keep having all these problems with the fabric sticking to the iron and the wrinkles arn't steam out properly.   I struggle through it and go to unplug the iron and it is barely hot.  damn it the iron broke.  now what do I do tonight.  the bebekins is asleep and hubby is off somewhere playing with friends.  I can't finish ironing the clothes cause well the iron isn't getting hot.  I can't work on baby girls dress cause it needs the interfacing fused to the silk for the bodice.  can't work on my submission for AAQ contest cause well  I need to get my freezer paper hexagons to stick to the silk with the iron.  I can't work on the rose fairies cause I am working on the long seams and like to press them open before adding the next piece.   I guess I can work on something else*sighs*

Since I can't work on my project I might as well write the post on ironing freshly dyed silk.  when you dye silk you are subjecting it to heat and being wadded up and wrung out and squished. you end up with something that looks like it will have permanent wrinkles. while the silk setting on the iron is a low heat with no steam.  this is good for a finished garment.  the dyeing process is pretty good at setting in wrinkles.  so here is the easiest way to get them out.  last wash to get the rest of the dye out use a cream rinse for hair on the silk.  this helps soften the fibers.  dry the silk on tumble dry in the dryer.  this will help release alot of the wrinkles, but alas there will be the stubborn ones.  I would recommend the next step even if you are using a heavier silk then the 5 mm habotai I am using (think shear almost gauzy).  I soaked the fabric in best press and put it in the tumble dryer for about 10 minutes.  this stiffens the fabric some so that you can iron it with out distorting it.  Habotai in particular is very easy to distort when ironing it, even the heavy habotai.  something like a dupioni or a noil not as easy to distort.   If the fabric is the stiffness you desire,  you will just use steam on your fabric to get the wrinkles to release and get a beautifully smooth press.  if you want it stiffer you will spray it down with more best press and press it smooth. don't be afraid of using a really hot iron, a hot iron makes this easier to press silk, so does steam and damp silk.

I am using the 5mm habotai on a couple project cause I want the shear effect of the fabric and the way when you have several layer the light plays with it.   when I use the pink on a backing of a quilt I am going to use several layers cause it is a thin fabric and the several layers should give me the intensity of color play and the strength.