So... my FIL has a scrap piece of plywood, 22 X 48 just perfect for my sewing table pressing board. I'm so excited! I use an old mattress pad for the padding, an old sheet for the cover, my DH's staple gun to put it all together and turn it over and .... Wallah! The staples are too long because it's 1/4 inch plywood. It pokes through the cover on the top. I pulled them all out and will have to think on this one a while.

Bummer!! Shorter staples are easy to find. Try and hardware store.

You're still going to have to use another kind of padding(insulbrite) because I'd think that the way it's set up now it would scorch! I'm not for sure, but just thinking about this. Maybe that would give you some extra thickness and the staples wouldn't poke thru or get smaller size staples. Let us know what you end up doing.

I put aliminum foil next to my wood then the covering. Works like a charm.
Would thumb tacks be long enough until you find other staples? We have a staple gun that uses the shorter staples and that worked out fine. I will have to pull them when I need to wash the cover but we have more staples.

What a great idea! The foil would return the heat to where I want it to go! Thanks! Will have to make another trip into town for shorter staples!

Maybe you could put a thin strip of wood (or cardboard or something like a picture frame) on the back covering the fabric edges then staple it down.

I made my table top ironing board out of a panel I got a Lowes. Big probem -- the panel is composed of a bunch of strips glued together and whenever I iron a bunch of fabric, the heat causes the board to warp into a curve or an arch!! I can still iron on it, but I have to iron with the curve. Anyone have this kind of problem with plywood?

I had just an old mattress pad and fabric on my ironing board before and I did get scorching. I never thought it was because of that though. But maybe it was. I have insulbright and quilting cotton on it now.

Oh also, 1/4" might warp pretty quickly. You may want to not use steam too much on it.

I'm not sure but you might need a different staple gun for the shorter staples. Don't believe its very expensive. good luck!