I have a desk I am going to use as an ironing table when the room finally gets done, but I have looked all over the net for the metalic ironing board fabric in yard form but can't find it. Instead I think I am going to use Gingham so I have the squares to use for measuring/squaring. My issue is what to put under it for the best ironing results. I hate ironing so I would like it to be as painless as possible. should I use all cotton batting only, Wool blanket, Foil, Foam???? What do you use and why? Thanks

I am curious to see the answers for this. :?

I got this from Sharon Schamber's book, Piec-lique. I got a piece of 3/8 inch plywood, covered it with all cotton batting, fusible web and then a piece of fairly thin canvas. I put in on a folding table a friend found cast off somewhere and it works like a charm! I used to paint and I think I got that canvas at an artist's supply store. It is more firm than the regular ironing board and a better shape for making my art quilts. Also I don't have room for that long board in my studio and anyhow, the regular ironing board too high. This is right next to my machine in an "L" shape so I can just turn to the side and iron. When I'm not using the board I move it and use the table as a desk or I put the cutting mat there for a cutting table.

when i redid my sewing cave, dh set up an unfinished door, 30" wide and full length, across a dresser and other assorted cubbies, on top. i covered the door with old wool army blankets, washed and dried several times, wrapped around and stapled. lots of staples. then i covered the whole thing with heavyweight muslin. i can iron large pieces or small. i can put my largest cutting mat on it. i can cover it with all kinds of junk so i can't find anything.
but i wouldn't use muslin again. it stretches as i press with steam. i plan to recover it with....what? anything cotton will have the same result. i don't like those silver-coated fabrics. they don't let the steam through.

i must say, the door takes up nearly the whole cave, but i don't have far to go to use it LOL! and it's worth it's weight in gold.

I love the concept of the "Big Board," but wouldn't spend the $ on one. Nor do I really have room... So what I did was to get a 3/4" thick piece of wood from Lowe's (they will cut for you if needed, 1 cut free, I think 25 cents/cut after that), had it cut 2'x3'. I wanted to put it on top of a table I had purchased at Walmart, which was about 18" by 2', has X legs and is white plastic on top. Not big enough, but the next size is too big. I originally bought it as a work table, and had a portable Omni pressing mat on it, but didn't like the set up or size.

Next, I took a 2"x1" and cut it into lengths that are about 1/2 the length of each of the 4 sides of the board. Putting the board on the floor, wrong side up if there is one, I centered the table upside down over it and drew a line at the outside edge of the table top. I nailed the cut pieces of 2"x1" at about the center of each side and end. This allows you to put the new board on top of the table, giving more room, while keeping the larger top stable.

I laid a piece of muslin (I use Robert Kaufman's, which I buy on sale) that is about 2" bigger all around than the wood, on the floor. Over that I centered a layer of Warm & Natural cotton batting, then a layer of Insulbright, also made by the Warm Co (it reflects heat) and a a couple more layers of batting. The layers are such at this point that they are upside down from what they will be on top of the board, and except for the muslin, are about 1" bigger than wood on each side. Lay the board over the layers and center. Bring muslin up and stretch over the wood; use a staple gun to attach to board; you want it to be quite taut.

I LOVE it! It's portable, so I take it to retreats or sew-ins that our guild has. Works like a charm and gives me a lot of extra room for ... stuff ... while still leaving room for pressing blocks. Or if it's cleared off, a pretty decent sized pressing surface. I haven't had any problems with the muslin stretching, maybe b/c I stapled it very tautly?

And, okay, I'm pretty proud that I did it myself rather than adding to DH's already too long list of things to be done :wink:

i probably didn't use good enough quality muslin on top. i read somewhere that when you steam iron, the steam vapor should be able to go through the cloth and what's beneath it. that's why i don't want to use the silver stuff. i like my table top because it uses space that would have been there anyway (tops of dresser and cubbies) and does double duty. also, i chose to have it stick out into the center of the room so i could work on three sides. very tight but very efficient. and the whole thing is blocked up to the right height for me, so my back doesn't ache. :thumbup:

i have no windows, a too small room and no natural light. i work in sewer's hell, but it's the best WORKING LAYOUT i've ever had. and i've had my own room or space wherever we've been (i just miss those windows).

That sounds like a great idea. I don't have the room for it, but if I did thats what I want.

you can get he silver material at JoAnns by the yard. I cover my big board with it

I also made myself a big board. I used a 1/4 sheet of plywood that they cut for me at Lowes. I covered it with batting and the teflon fabric from JoAnns. I have since covered that with muslin. I glued a three sided frame of 1x1 molding on the bottom to make it fit snuggly on my kitchen island top. It makes a great ironing surface and is just the right height. I purchased the kitchen island at one of those unfinished furniture places. It has a large shallow drawer and two shelves underneath and is on wheels. It acts as storage, cutting and ironing surface.
One major drawback is the extra width. I have some serious health problems and am not getting any younger. I have discovered that the extra width is wonderful for ironing or cutting but allows me to over reach. My back is not happy.

I too had a homemade 'add on' to my real ironing board....plywood w/a long trim piece..lay the real iron board upside down to where the top and sides are...draw a line (marking the edges)cut trim piece and nail it to that spot...flip plywood over, I added my warm and natural batting staple gunned it on the underside of the plywood...then put a cute country gingham and stapled it too. The wood board sits snug on my real ironing board and won't slide around..if I ruin the top fabric...easily replaced. So, if you have a table, then just put your cotton batting in a couple of layers, add what fabric you want on top (a thicker muslin or 2 layers of thinner would be great)..if you can staple to the underside of the table, then that is exactly what I'd do:)You will love it! Skeat

here is my "big board" I think I have posted before

One thing I've learned about ironing and quilt blocks. Have a solid hard surface to press the piecing. A soft spongy surface will distort the cut fabric. One layer of cotton batting next to a hard surface with a piece of cotton canvas or muslin is the best for pressing cut or sewn fabric. Cotton canvas will shrink so wet it and let it dry in place on the board and it will become drum tight. I found one of the old pressed wood table top ironing boards (heavy thing) and had DH cut off the tapered end. I covered it the way Sharon Schamber describes and have it sitting on a wooded tv tray next to my sewing machine. It makes a big difference using the hard surface then the soft one on my regular ironing board.

I bought ironing board fabric at Hacock Fabrics.

Joanns has some:

http://www.joann.com/joann/search/se...questid=773395

peaceandjoy, when i made my big board i pulled that muslin soooo tight my nails almost came out of my fingers. actually, my husband and i pulled with clamps and stapled as we went. i think the answer lies in better muslin. and i think two layers. i have a small, hard pressing board for blocks that has a handle and i hang that up when not in use. that one is about 20 x 20. i use the big one for garment pressing and whole top pressing. and piling junk on.
i'm now on the hunt for another dresser that's 30" across and has good drawers. in my town, people put out furniture they don't want the day before trash pick-up, so 'cruisers' can 'find' what they need. sooner or later i will have a dresser for free, scrub it, paint it, and fill it with more something or other. that way, i can replace some of the smaller cubbies and have more usable storage space. if you paint everything white, it takes up less space, right?

butterflywing, I agree with you on the silvery ironing material. In the ongoing discussion of steam or dry irons, I'm a steamer, and I want that steam to penetrate so that any block that is thinking about not obeying WILL :twisted: ! I don't remember where I read about using Isulbright for an ironing board, but it seemed to make sense. While it has the ?(whatever metalic) woven through it, it is mostly like a cotton batting. I thought it would be the best of both worlds. So far, so good. I will say, though, that I don't love the curtains I lined with it - too stiff... But they do block the cold - and later the sun - from my westward facing window, so they are effective even if they don't drape nicely.

The Robert Kaufman muslin I get at Joann's w/ a coupon. It's really, really nice. I hadn't tried it until last fall and was surprised they had it. Not as inexpensive as their regular muslin, but a much nicer quality.

Is your "cave" in the basement? I joke about DH's cave, which is actually our living room. It has one large window, but b/c of the porch overhang, it is very dark. Suits him well, I guess, for tv watching! I've taken over the family room for my sewing, but no place to call my own. It's very open, so everyone sees my "creative work space." Fabrics are stored in nooks and crannies wherever I can find/make them, which is a problem in that I can't see them and it's so frustrating to try to find a particular piece I know I have that I often give up. I'm hoping to get some shelving put in the family room, but DH is reluctant to make changes. It'd be so nice to have all in one area.

What luck that you can repurpose furniture from curbside! When we were first married, we lived near a college apartment complex. Many of the students just put everything outside when they were done for the year, it was unbelievable what they were throwing away. Someone on another thread had a picture of a glass front cabinet she got from a friend's garage. She is now using it for fabric storage and it is gorgeous. Here's hoping you find something as lovely, or something that is sturdy that you can decorate yourself, that will work well for you.

yes, i do work in a basement and the room is not really small. it is about.....mmmm.....12 x 13. but is does not have 3 walls. one side is up against the stair so that's only a triangular wall and where the stairs end there is no wall at all. one wall opens into the laundry area with a double folding door that wont stay closed (warped), so i don't have that full wall either. one wall has a wall-hung gas heater. toasty, but i can't put anything too close. and the last wall runs back into the stair opening at the bottom of the stairs. i have collected, over the years, a factory blind stitcher attached to a bulky table, a janome 8000 on an antique sewing base with an new dh-made top ,a viking #1 on an antique base with a dh-made top, (that's 3 machines), the big board sticking out in the middle of the room, and chairs for every machine. every possible wall and door space is used, including under the board. the room is very crowded. since this is a ranch with a full sized basement, there is a larger space under the lr, kitch and dr, where there is a tv and lounge chair where my dh sometimes keeps me company, a fishing rod and reel repair and build area, a book, magazine and music collection, AND my quilter and 10" frame. past the laundry area my dh has his shop and there is a pantry for canned goods and kitchen appliances tht are seldom used (it was here when we bought this house). the last owners also built a cedar closet, almost as large as my sewing room, in the basement. we store luggage, outgrown baby clothes (there will never be grandkids), all my threads, my mother's knitted afghans, etc, in there. so you can see, i'm very close in that room with no ALLOWABLE space to go. very excellent ceiling light, but no windows. it does feel like a cave. considering what a lot of you have to deal with - or without - i count myself very lucky. it was one reason we chose this house when we moved down in size after the kids left.

tell me about insulbright. is it totally silvery? or mostly cotton with some silver in it?

Wow, you're making great use of your space. Our basement is full of DH's "stuff." Now that I'm thinking about it, if I could get him to clear part of it out... it'd be nice and cool down there... But dark, too.

Here's a link to Warm & Co's blurb about Insul-bright http://www.warmcompany.com/ibpage.html. I bought mine from Joann's, by the yard, but the only pic I could find of it was in a pkg; at least you can kind of see what it looks like http://www.hsn.com/insul-bright-whit...67553_xp.aspx. It's actually some kind of poly w/ "reflective metalized poly film" - guess that's why you have to use it w/ at least one layer of cotton batting.

Hope that helps, and that you get to spend some time in your space today!

thanks for the links. i couldn't get the second one to work at all, but i got the first by typing in by hand. it's hard to visualize, but i'll look for it at joann's. do they sell it by the yard? my board is 30" by door height.

Joann's has it by the yard, it's the same width as a bolt of fabric - so 44 or 45 inches. It is near the interfacings and fusibles at Joann's here. Sorry, I don't remember price at all - I never buy at Joann's w/out a coupon!

if it works it almost doesn't matter about the price. it's better than having to change it again. what a nuisance! how does it work? as a top layer or a mid layer or where?

I use it as a top layer

Working top to bottom, mine is muslin, Warm & Natural, Insul-Bright, two more layers of Warm & Natural. It works really well for me, and at the retreat I went to last month several others who tried it liked it too.

peaceandjoy, so yours is three layers down from the top?

lindar, yours is the top layer?

Yes, mine is the 3rd layer down. It is a poly material, and I want to be able to press using the hottest setting on the iron. The instructions for using it say to use it w/ a layer of cotton batting.

thank you both for this info. i have a 40% coupon for joann that's good now.
if they have it, i'll definitely get it. if they don't have it, i'll wait for my 50% to go into effect and go to the super joann's (a distance away).

For the ironing board cover I would use a product by Bo-Nash which is a silver Luminex material. It reflects 300% more heat than regular cotton covers :) Called IronSlide 2000. Available on line at www.bonash.com.

I would use cotton batting.

Oh Linda I Love Your board and I think I will have John make me one like it.......... :thumbup:

Linda, did you make yours and where did you get the totes to slide out............