I have a teeny tiny iron board and I am trying to just go over my whole quilt before I get it ready to be shipped out. i can not get it flat like i would like it to be. I am not sure what the heck to do. I need a bigger friggin table... any suggestion on what to do?

If you have a kitchen or dinningroom table, you can place a sheet on it and us that
Just becareful if it is a wood table, maybe double up on those sheets

It is wood. Ok I will try that. It is just so frustrating when it doesnt work how you want it to! lol Thank you for the tip. I dont know why I didnt think of that!

A layer of batting or terrycloth towels under the sheet would also help protect your table.

You can also buy the teflon fabric (shiny silver ironing board covering fabric) and lay it on the table, shiny side up. This will reflect the heat away from your table.

lay it out on a bed and press it there.

You could ruin you table! try the bed

I would use the bed too...Or get a length of insulbright :D:D:D

My table is 48 x 65 without the leaves and I have a heat protection pad for it. It's the best ironing board ever. If you plan to quilt a good bit, you might look into a pad for your table.

My appologies for jumping in on your conversation, but I'm suddenly confused with your comments on ironing your quilts.

I was told that you never iron a quilt, but obviously this isn't the case. Could I ask if the quilt looks better after ironing... any pros and cons. Do they 'fluff' back up at all?

Thank you
Joanne

this is a really good idea

if you use a low-loft batting, and want to make the quilt look "new", pressing will help a lot - especially if you use spray starch. they'll usually puff up again as soon as you start using them, or after the next wash.

whether or not a pressed quilt looks "better" is purely a matter of opinion. i like them both ways.

i can tell you, from personal experience, that leaving it "puffed" will hide lots of gafarbles and crooked lines. :lol:

lay it on a sheet on the floor over your carpet. you can even safety pin it down to keep it square :)
(I also have a mini board)

I may be wrong but I thought she meant her TOP, because I know she was looking for someone to longarm it for her. If I pressed my quilt after it was quilted it would have lots of wrinkles because I get the old fashioned look after mine are washed. Just thought of something, I have that "old fashioned" look myself! :cry:

Long arm quilters usually want you to press the top so that they don't quilt in any wrinkles. I throw a blanket over my cutting table and iron there. I do remove the cutting mats though so they don't warp.

Thanks so much... I'm still not quite sure if I will iron my quilts, I might try it on something small first, but it's worth knowing for a future date. :thumbup:

Since you are shipping the quilt, just make sure that your seams are pressed. If you press your seams as you go, you should only have a few where you have to wrestle with the whole quilt.

I won't speak for all the LAers here, but for me, when a quilt is shipped to me, I will take the time to iron out any packaging creases.

I have an old quilt I use as a table pad for ironing.

I press with Best Press as I piece.
My long arm lady says that the set up on her machine will pull/stretch the wrinkles (if any) out of the quilt before she starts her machine.

My quilts don't look like they need pressing....perhaps the Best Press helps.....Di in TX

I got a piece of plywood the size I wanted. I had my husband attach strips of wood to the back size so it would fit on my ironing board and not slip off. I then took cotton batting and covered the board. I found a tightly woven fabric from the discount bins at the fabric store and covered the whole thing. With my husbands help, we stapled the batting and cloth to the back of the board. Now when I want to use it I just put it on top of my ironing board and go to work. I can stand it on end when I am not using it as an ironing board and pin blocks to it as a layout help. It is not expensive and easy to use.

I would add, if you use the bed, make sure you don't have one of those mattress covers that is a fiber product... :oops: know from experience how fast they melt!
I agree with ironing a quilt but I only use the weight of the iron on un-batted stuff...I go over the seams with just the point of the iron and steam, after they're batted, so I don't flatten out the pouffiness.

I also made a board from a piece of wood that Home Depot cut for me. I first stapled a large plastic garbage bag (out door leaf kind is large enough). I did this to keep the steam and moisture from getting into the wood because it will warp if there is not a barrier to keep the steam out. Be careful ironing on your table. I bought one of these ironing pads and used it on top of a sewing cabinet that I was not currently using. Several months later, I needed to use the machine and I took the pad off and the top of the cabinet was ruined...yep learned the hard way. Even the professional boards are not that good. I have laid my home made board on a plastic topped table, counter top and even a bed and I have never had issues with the steam or heat going through. Hope this helps.

I have a large ironing pad that I use on my dining room table. On occasion I have placed a quilt on a bed. I always iron the quilt top carefully on my larger ironing board, but only small portions of a quilted quilt, on areas that were creased from being rolled on the quilt frame. A quick spritz and 10 minutes in the dryer on fluff air, usually takes care of minor wrinkles. Good luck!

I iron my quilts every step of making them. Its not often they ever need ironing, everything been ironed already.

simple quilter

My husband made me a wood cover for my ironing board. He used quarter round and outlined the original board, then attached it to the wood board. Now I can slip it on or off. I made a square cover and used batting for padding.
You can also buy these but they are expensive.