 of the year when we're all kind of starting to think about some deep cleaning and really getting into like all the nooks and crannies around our homes and our cars and everywhere else. And our sewing rooms really are not immune to that. So today I'm going to be walking you through exactly how to clean your iron inside and out as well. And it might seem like a daunting or overwhelming process, but it's really super super simple. And I am only using items that can be found around the home household items. You can purchase like iron cleaner, but those chemicals can be super super harsh and can actually cause more harm than good on your iron. And we really we all know how important an iron is in a sewing room. So we want to make sure that it works really well to the peak of its ability for its entire life. So let me show you what you need and then we will jump into the tutorial. Okay, we need baking soda, table salt, vinegar, and water. I think all of this stuff if you bought it all brand new might cost you $5. Then you need two like these are hand towels that I have white ones. They are going to get a little grimy and dirty. So don't use anything that's very meaningful to you. And you need your iron, obviously. I have an Aliso pro and the last two little things are a toothpick and a Q tip. And that's really going to help us get into the nitty gritty of the iron and get it all clean. So let's jump in to the tutorial and I'll show you just how I clean my iron. All right, you guys, first things first, we are going to clean the bottom of the sole plate. You can see I've got a lot of grimy nasty stuff on here. The iron is completely turned off and completely cooled. Obviously, I wouldn't be able to put my hand on it like this. So make sure that it's unplugged turned off and that you have emptied out whatever water was in your water reservoir, which for me, just as simple as opening this guy up and dumping it out. So super simple. All right, now you're going to need the cleaning mixture for the sole plate. And that is just some good old table salt mixed with a little bit of vinegar. And then to rinse it after we've scrubbed it clean, I've just got some regular water and a couple of little white bath hand towels to help with this process. So take one towel, dip it in your salt mixture, making sure to get some salt on the towel, and then just start scrubbing in a circular motion like so. All right, so if your iron is extra grimy, like mine clearly is, then we are going to want to create another mixture with baking soda. So just sprinkle a little bit of baking soda into your dish. And then again, with the vinegar, it's going to bubble a little bit, not too much vinegar. You want it to be kind of like a paste. Fun science. Okay, then you want to take your, you know, bath hand towel or kitchen rag, whatever you've got, and dip it into your mixture. Again, it should be kind of like a paste. That's what we're going for here. And then again, with the circular motions on your iron. Okay, so now we want to wipe all that away. Grab your water again, like so, and get not the dirty towel, but a clean one. And again, dip it into just plain water and wipe away this paste that has formed from the baking soda. So I'm going to have to give this a couple of passes because I neglected it for so long. But you can start to see how that's really kind of cleaning up. So let me make some more, do this all over again, and then I'll let you know the final, final step for cleaning out your iron. So take a Q tip, put it in some vinegar and water. If there's a little bit of baking soda left over from your last step, that's fine. And you're going to take the Q tip and put it in all of the little holes because you're trying to clean out all the grime that's there. If you find one that's being a little bit stubborn and won't open up for you, then you can take a cute, what's it called? A toothpick and come in with your toothpick and carefully scoop out all of the sediment. Even if some of the cleaning solution from before the baking soda got in there, you want to come in and clean all of that out. So take some time to do this. All right. And when you're done, all of your holes should be hollow looking, like there shouldn't be any white or any other sediment in them. You should be able to see, can you see how these all look good? And then this one still has a little bit of something in it. So just keep working it until you get everything out. Awesome. There we go. A nice clean sole plate for my iron. So happy. All right. And once you've got your sole plate clean, the next thing we're going to do is start to clean it from the inside. So you are going to want to crank this puppy up as hot as it will possibly go and turn the steam feature all the way also as high as it will go. Then I've got a mixture of half a cup of water and half a cup of distilled vinegar. And after the iron has preheated for like five minutes, we are going to pour this mixture into the water reservoir and then steam like crazy. All right. You can see that the green light on my iron is completely solid now. So the iron is preheated. I am going to pour in this vinegar and water mixture and it's just a cup of water. So it shouldn't go past your max fill line. Now we need to let the water warm up as well. So let's give that a couple of minutes. All right. You will know when your iron is the water is preheated because your iron will start to like try and release some of the steam. So we're going to help it out a little bit and we're going to hold down the steam button for at least 20 seconds, holding it down so that all of that steam can completely start pouring out of the iron. And maybe you can see it on camera, but it is just like a constant steady stream of steam. Like I said, for 20 seconds at least, then release the button and do it again. And you're going to want to do this at least six times. You're not going to go through all of your water. We're going to end up pouring a lot of this out, but you want to do this steam process at least six times. All right. We have sufficiently steamed. I want to say probably half the water came out and it's still kind of steaming a little bit. So I am going to turn the iron off completely and let it cool completely before I dump out the water reservoir, because this water will be hot. So it'll continue to steam for a little bit, which is fine. All right. So now I've got a perfectly clean iron. I feel like she is just so, so happy. I am going to fill it up with some water and let it steam one more time just to get any of the vinegar that might be left in there. And after that, I am completely done. All right. So now we have a perfectly clean iron. I feel like she is thanking me and she is just very happy and comfortable and just feels so rejuvenated. But this process, like I said, does not take very long. You should probably be doing it once a month and especially if you're working on a project and you have your interfacing upside down and you accidentally press the glue, you want to, you know, clean your iron immediately after that. You want to clean your iron after you use a fabric like denim or something that might bleed or rub off onto the sole plate. And anytime you're just doing anything with a super synthetic type of product like pleather and, you know, faux suede and all of that kind of stuff, your iron could probably use a good cleaning after that as well. But yeah, just a monthly maintenance thing if you're just using cottons or regular fabrics and don't have any accidents and you should be good to go. So hopefully you guys found this helpful and that you are all running into your sewing rooms right now or I guess probably your kitchens first to grab the supplies and then to your sewing room to get your iron all nice and spick and span. But that is going to do it for me today. Thank you all so much for watching. I will see you very soon. Bye.