After listening to me kvetch about how annoying it is to iron 44 inch wide fabric on a regular ironing board (because of the tapering end), my husband made me an ironing board top. It's so awesome and big, I love it!

How we made it:

- we bought a piece of wood from Lowes that was 72" long, and 20" wide (found it in the plank section). You could use plywood, but the cost was pretty much the same either way. We had someone at Lowes cut our piece down to 62".

- we also bought some small pieces of wood (1x4's would work, or some other small pieces of wood) to use as the holder blocks (see my 2nd picture to see what I mean)

- we laid the ironing board upside down on top of the wood, and marked out where the holder blocks would go. We then affixed the holder blocks to the big board with our drill and wood screws (tip: it's a good idea to use a countersink so that your screws aren't sticking out of the top of the board).

- next we put down some aluminum foil on top of the wood as the first layer, as we saw it suggested in some instructions for doing this kind of thing. It supposedly helps to keep the heat from getting down to the wood and warping it.

- then we put two layers of cotton batting, and some cotton fabric down, and affixed it with heavy duty staples.

And that was it, easy peasy. And now I have a luxuriously big ironing board :) Altogether, we spent around $50 for the materials -- I looked around and premade ironing board tops of this kind are over $100. I've very happy with it...it's amazing how small things like this can be the most exciting :)

Neato!! Wonder if I can get my hubby to do this.

That looks like a dream to use! Congratulations!

That is going to come in real handy! Now that I've seen how it's done I need one too. :)

That is what I had my hubby do for me with my new sewing center. A standard ironing board is just way to small for us quilters!
Hugs
April

I had made one about 2 years ago - it was so heavy to lift off! I took it apart and drilled some 2" diameter holes in it, then covered again. Took quite a bit of the weight off. I used a new sheet (on sale) for the top cover. Love it! Did not know about the aluminum foil trick. Next time it needs to be recovered I'll put that on first.

Woo Hoo!!! That is awesome :D:D:D
I bet that wood was a little lighter than particle board would be, too.

I have been trying to get my DH to do this....but so far no luck!! Maybe if I make him his favorite cake???? LOL

Showed my dh the pic and he said - "yeah that is exactly what I'm gonna do" - ummmm I'm still waiting

Hi there, A lady in our group sells these for $30.00 i can get some information for shipping if anyone is interested, let me know where you are we are in Buffalo NY