Here's my thoughts...Decades ago my mother's opinion was that the best way to 'pad' an ironing board was simply put your new covers over the old and eventually you had a very soft surface. Honestly I couldn't tell you the last time I bought/made a new cover. That said, for quilting I find pros and cons both on soft and hard surfaces. I like a softer surface for setting seams during piecing. I like a harder surface when pressing yardage. Since I have a really small sewing room things need to do double duty. I have one of the collapsable cutting tables like they sell in Joanns. I have a regular bath towel that I fold in half and place that on the top of my cutting table and use that when pressing larger pieces. I fold either length-wise or width-wise depending on the size pieces I am pressing. Then I use the other half of the table for my cutting mat and cutting/layout needs. It works for me. The table originally came with a very thin piece of foam the size of the table and the silvery top (with grid markings). I would keep that on and place my mat on top of that until I got to the point of needing to sandwich and then everything comes off the top. The original foam did not last long at all and really did nothing to protect the top, hence moving to the towel configuration when I couldn't find thicker foam (or any for that matter) the size I needed.