My DH has made me the most wonderful little ironing table. I am going to buy the fabric to make the cover tonight or tomorrow. My question is if any heat resistant fabric would work, or if it MUST be something specifically for ironing etc (like the silver fabric typicaly used on ironing boards). I see others have used muslin over wool blankets, and some have used warm & natural batting. But, I wondered if I could use fabric that is listed as heat resistant and intended for sun shades, etc? I kind of wanted some fun fabric to cover it. Thanks for the input.

I made myself a big ironing board. I covered it with the silver, teflon fabric that they sell at Joanns by the yard. Then I put a muslin cover over that.

I made a cutting/ironing table and covered it first with WalMart batting then with a cotton fabric that has stripes on it. I stapled the stripe material carefully so that the stripes are straight. And now when I need to iron something straight, I have lines on my table to follow.

good idea, the teflon under the topper

and I like the idea of the stripes to line things up!

I covered mine with cotton batting and then with canvas so it doubles as a wonderful pinning board as well.

I used one thin layer of cotton batting covered with cotton canvas, pulled it around very tightly and stapled to the other side. It makes a nice hard board pressing surface which I can pin into.

I took a class from a national quilt teacher and she told us that teflon stuff is for ironing clothes and to get rid of it.

I was wondering what you made the covers out of for ironing tables. When I get the addition going on the shop I was going to build an ironing table for the other wall behind where I have my sewing table set up.

What did he use for the table top itself? I was thinking about using an exterior grade 3/4" plywood but I was not sure.

I am glad this topic came up!

Billy

I work in a custom drapery workroom and all our cutting tables are made with hemosate (SP?) which is techically underlayment for floors. It works really good for pinning and you can even iron on it. We also have a few ironing tables that has this as the base and then batting over that with drapery lining (like muslin) pulled taunt over it. You can buy the hemosate (sp?) at Home Depot 4' X 6' sheets I believe for around $24.00. My husband is going to build me one in our basement.

HTH

Sara :-)

wonderful subject! I mentioned making one of the bigboards to my friend, she volunteered her husband to make it for me :lol: Wasn't that nice of her, her hubby is a sweetheart and he would do it for me I am sure, but my own hubby said he will do it :lol: :lol: I got the pattern from the internet www.quiltcampus.net It does suggest, 2 layers of cotton batter and to use a heavy cotton on top, my neighbor using a muslin on top. I will post a pic, when I have it complete, it may be awhile but that is what I have planned. :wink:

My husband made mine from a hollow core door. I have teflon on mine, but now may want to change it. Doesn't the muslin get dirty quick? Why is the teflon on good for clothes?

The teacher didn't say why the teflon covers were for clothes and not quilting. One thing she did say is you want a fairly hard surface for quilting.

Scissor Queen, do you collect scissors?

LOL, a few. I think I have around 80 pairs now.

I have about 150. I was collecting the Gingher designer ones, but they got so expensive. I have one pair of pinking shears that I think were one of the first made.

Sharon Schamber has a Youtube video that shows how to make the pressing surface she prefers. It would be easily adaptable to a large board. Here is a link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LGbXou_u4c

My neighbor's muslin covered she said you have to changed every once in awhile, it does get dirty over time, but I guess all of them would. She sews everyday, so it would depend how much you used it. She also did say, the surface needs to be firm!

I'm going to find a dresser that is the correct height(about 38 or 39") and have my husband make a top for it that i will cover for a pressing surface. That way i have storage underneath. ironing boards take up space with no storage options. Not my idea but from a quilting space organizer.

i always wanted to cover my pressing surface with a pretty coordinating fabric, but was afraid that the color would come off on my clothing when I ironed something. Plus my muslin cover that i'm using now gets dark and scorched looking-maybe from sizing? so i didnt want really pretty fabric to end up like that-plus muslin is cheaper.

Hi Grammatjr,

I made a nifty 30" x 48", or so, pressing topper to go over my regular ironing board. Used exterior grade 1/2 plywood with wood strips on the bottom to fit up against the sides of the Dollar Store ironing board I had been using.

To get to the point, I used a layer of regular cotton batting to cover the plywood. Then a layer of cheap muslin to cover the batting.

I topped it off with regular cotton fabric from the sewing shop. Yes, I decided it had to be FUN too! So, yep, I picked the gaudiest, loudest, bright yellow, pink, and fuschia flower print from the 1/2 off bin.

That regular cotton fabric has not turned, burned, or scorched in almost five years of pressing and applique.

I put the muslin directly over the batting first so I could change the top fabric as years go by without messing with the batting again.

Don't have a picture, it would be a hoot if you did get to see it.

Sound do-able?

your right about the dresser, my neighbor has that and it is cool. All that extra storage would be great. I will have to give this some thought.

I purchased the cover and pad that the Big Board company had.

The board is made from 1/2 inch very good plywood - the "padding" seems to be about 1/8 inch "feltish" polyester batting - and the "cover" is a duck or twill or canvas type cotton with elastic cording around it -

The cover is skimpy - it is washable, but has to be put back on when it is still fairly damp so I can stretch it to fit. I also have three strips of elastic pinned to the edges and going underneath the board to keep the cover it taut.

Being able to wash the cover is fairly important to me - gets rid of most of the water marks and scorch marks. (I use a roller to get most of the stuff off the cover, but every so often I think it needs to be freshened up)

Check out Sharon Schamber's web site. She has directions for a great board. My DH made me an 18 x 18 square and a 54x30 to fit over my old ironing board frame. LOVE THEM! He followed Sharon's instructions

I can't find this online!! I'm going to have to check out Home Depot next time I get out - hopefully on Sunday.. that sounds like just what I need - can you iron directly on to it?? That reminds me of that $200 cutting/ironing board I was drooling over at the quilt show lol.

I do want to make a new ironing board that's for sure. I really don't like my regular ironing board - especially since I can't get a new cover for it and now the top is all loose because I had to cut the cord to get it off when I got the new cover and then the new cover was huge compared to the board and didn't fit... yeah, I am planning on pulling out the sheet garters to keep that on place now. Funny. That dinky bit of foam is now in the right spot and the cover won't stay on :lol:

A friend of mine's husband has wood working tools... I'm going to ask him if he could round the corners off of a board for me next week so that I can make a new cutting board.. hmmmm.... Maybe I can get him to do it tonight so we can have a new ironing board for tomorrow's big sew in...
hmmmm....

Three days in a row of sewing wahoo!! (today is day 2)

I like the Sharon Schamber video really well except for using the OSB board. OSB does not hold up to moisture very well at all. I recommend the exterior plywood. You could also use some primer on the board that holds up to moisture and mildew. That should help prevent any problems down the road. Just give it time to dry completely.

I like the way she used cotton canvas for the top. It comes in colors and patterns in the Home Decor section at JA's if one wants a little 'bling' on their ironong board.

Thanks for the tips.

I have my big board on top of my ironing board. I have an antique ironing board for clothes. At the end of my big board I have two dressers. One holds the steam iron machine and the other is another small ironing surface. (Remember I teach out of my home). Now I want the dresser under my big board. What a great idea for extra storage. I have my HandiQuilter on top of two dressers. Look out hubby, we hunting for a new size specific dresser!

I'm going to Home Depot this afternoon - uh, in a few minutes lol - and I'm going to be checking out their oops cut bin to see if there is something perfect for me... if not I'm going to have to have something cut I suppose. I know I have particle plywood board up in the attic that was ear marked for laying down flooring but maybe hubby will let me have a bit of that. I'd love it if I could make my big board tomorrow during my sewing day - that would be awesome... Hmmm. I think I'll just take a piece and go for it. He won't know it's missing!! My friend said her hubby would be okay to volunteer to curve off the corners... I wonder if we can get him to do it tomorrow morning lol.

The name (after looking it up) is homasote. Weird, but Home Depot's website doesn't list it, but they sell it in the stores because I did see it there. Lowe's website has it online, but they don't sell it in the stores, because I checked there first. LOL
We iron directly on it all the time before every seam we sew in. For BIG drapery panels we have a girl just iron those. She has a table top made out of the homasote but it is covered with batting and a muslin like fabric pulled very taunt over it. HTH!!

Sara

Sweet! Thank you so much for the info! I like that you can iron directly on to it. That is great to know - and A LOT cheaper than that one I saw at the quilt show although that one was also a cutting mat but I'm okay with the cutting mat that I have....

I'm planning on getting out right after dinner. Hubby wanted to mow the yard. Seems like all the other times he wants to mow it is raining or just finished raining.. and tomorrow it's suppose to be colder again... so I get to go after dinner instead of before. It's all good.

I am so excited I can barely contain myself - all over an ironing board go figure!

My hubby also made me one, 20"x48"...wonderful.

I bought the insulate in a package at Joann's.....and spray glued it onto 1/4" plywood board. I then glued "warm & natural" batting on top.

I then made a draw-string muslin cover and pulled tight......

wonderful pressing and sooooo much room.

MJ in NJ