There's a new piece of equipment in the studio, and we've been finding excuses to use it all week. The Laurastar Smart U is an ironing system: an iron, a steam generator, and an active board that can either suck fabric down or blow air up through it. We've only had it for a short while, so this isn't a full review yet.
As we were preparing this blog post, Ama from the Core Fabrics team came in to iron something, and she noted the suction function was especially useful for slippery lightweight fabrics. I'm sure we'll have more revelations like this as we get to try all the functions, but in the meantime, here are three things that genuinely impressed us so far.
1. Pressing Finished Garments
We started with the least glamorous test possible: a very wrinkly shirt. The board has two modes that turned out to be the secret sauce here. With suction on, the shirt gets pulled flat and held in place, so nothing shifts while you work. Switch to air, and the board inflates the garment on a little cloud, which makes it easy to press out creases without flattening everything else or leaving new ones behind.
The result was better than any of the steamers we have in the studio, and we have a few. If you've ever wrestled a shirt around a regular ironing board, sleeve by sleeve, you'll understand why we were a little giddy.
2. Fusing Interfacing
Next up was interfacing, which is where a good pressing setup really earns its keep. We tried a few different combinations of fabric and interfacing, and the strong, steady steam did a great job of getting a solid bond.
But the suction was the real star. It holds your fabric and interfacing flat and exactly where you put them, which made the biggest difference with lightweight interfacings and lighter fabrics- the ones that love to slide, bubble, or shift out of alignment the second you bring an iron near them. No more fusing something slightly crooked and discovering it later (we've all been there).
3. Vertical Steaming Gathers and Pleats
This one was the most exciting by far. We pulled a sample of a very shifty, delicate fabric out of our scrap bin (okay, basically our trash can) to try the vertical steam function. It's from a pattern we're currently working on, so consider this a small spoiler alert...
The sample has gathers and pleats, and instead of pressing them flat the way an iron would, the vertical steam fluffed them up and gave them more dimension. You can see in the photo how much fuller and softer they look. For drapey fabrics and details you want to keep lofty, this is a total game-changer for us.
A Small Detail We Love: The Board Cover
One thing we didn't expect to get excited about is the ironing board cover itself, which has guide lines printed on it. They're really handy as a reference when you're pressing hems, folding up seam allowances, or anything else where you want a consistent measurement without reaching for a ruler every few seconds.
What's Next?
We're only just getting started with the Smart U, and we're looking forward to putting it through its paces on more projects, fabrics, and techniques. Is there something you'd like to see us test? Let us know in the comments!
