Hi sew-lulu,
If space really is a problem, look at your ironing board.
A fellow in our area makes pressing surfaces to fit over ironing boards.
I looked at it really closely and went home and made my own for about $35.00 in materials, tops. Most of them I had, but included the loss/use of them in the cost.
Measure the length of an extra folding ironing board, and the widest width.
1. Use an ironing board with individual feet, not those pipe across the floor T-shaped feet. They wabble.
2. Cut a 3/4 inch thick piece of plywood a foot or so longer than your ironing board is long. Cut that piece of plywood a foot or so wider than your ironing board is wide.
3. You will want a piece of batting big enough to fold under that plywood.
4. and 5. You will want two pieces of cotton woven, each big enough to fold under and cover the edge of the batting you are going to staple under the plywood.(muslin?)
6. Eight feet (8') of 1"x1" or 3/4"x3/4" lumber/board/stick. Old mop or broom handles are fine if you are good at drilling holes in round sticks. Me, I hate that stuff.
***Cut two pieces off of that lumber, each one about a foot long (12"). Cut the left-overs into two equal sized pieces. Sand all these cut edges real quick to get the burrs off. Drill holes equally spaced so you can use long wood screws to attach these to the bottom of your plywood when you are finished upholstering it. These will hold your pressing/cutting board on your ironing board and keep it from moving around when you apply pressure.
7. Throw that wood on the floor with the worst side up. fold-up your ironing board and lay it surface-down on that piece of plywood. Center it up the way you want so it will balance nice.
8. Take a marker or such and draw the outline of that ironing board on to the plywood.
9. Now throw that ironing board out of the way or set it up again to use as a work table to upholster your new pressing/cutting surface.
10. Grab a piece of cotton batting big enough to wrap under that plywood and true-it up to the right size rectangle. Staple/tack it in place to the underneath, nice and tight.
11. Grab one piece of muslin and do the same with it, but give yourself 2-4 inches extra length and width for folding, covering the edge of the batting, and tidying up edges when you pull the edges under and staple it to the plywood underside (the side you drew your ironing board outline on).
12. Now, take the second piece of fabric/muslin and cover the board again, giving you a double covered pressing surface. Staple that under and clean up the edges by folding or what-not. (You can use 7# heavy muslin or even 10# cotton canvas if you like.)
**I used two layers of fabric and stapled each layer on independently, putting the muslin on first. After the muslin was tightened and stapled, I then covered it with an interesting cotton woven fabric from the stash.
When the top layer gets too worn and dirty, pull the staples for just that layer and you will have the first layer of muslin still holding things together. That makes it easier to put on a new top layer.
13. The tricky part: put the two long pieces of stick lumber on the outside edges of the outline you drew on the underside of your plywood, evenly spaced and balanced. Screw them on, but don't tighten too tight till you try to slip this over your ironing board. If it slips over the original ironing surface of the ironing board OK, then go ahead and tighten them.
14. Screw the two short pieces of stick lumber on the ends of the outline you drew of your ironing board. Testing to see that it will slip over the ends of the original ironing board surface before you tighten them down good.
That should do it.
You now have a padded surface suitable for pressing, and it should be somewwhere in the area of 30" wide by 40-45" long. Enough that you can put a nice size cutting mat on one end and press on the other.
When you have guests, pull the pressing top off and throw it under the bed, chase that with the folded ironing board. Best of all your guests have an ironing board if they need!!
Here is a drawing of the construction idea.