I use a lot of starch.....and have quilting retreats with 8 other women who all use starch. I take a wet rag (just "normal" wet....not "soaking" wet) and wash the top of my ironing board. (and the windows and wall behind it ggg> Works great and lots easier than taking it off or replacing it so often.

The main reason why I don't use starch. I did years ago and iron gets nasty and so does ironing board. I feel I don't need starch.

Like masufa, I took mine to my utility sink, using liquid detergent soaped it up good and used a scrub brush gently here and there, rinsed it really well, used towels to "soak" up some of the moisture and let it air dry. Didn't hurt it at all and sure made it look 100% better.

Putting an old pillow case over it is also a good idea. Change it every so often..

I take mine off and soak in the kitchen sink with a little dish soap over night. In the morning I rinse the daylights out of it-hang it on a hanger to dry. This way it doesn't shrink or get twisted out of shape from the washing machine. Once its on the board again the wrinkles that are left are pressed out. Saves me time on always making a new one.

That is one of those "why didn't I think of that" times. Great idea. I will use this one.

I took a 24x24 board from the hardware store, wrapped it with a thick towel (beach size) and made pillowcase-style cover for it. When it gets too overstayed, I just slip off the cover and towel and wash it with the rest of the laundry.
I made sure the cover was a colorfast fabric (used some pretty leftover fabric), and that it fit snug. Makes a very nice area to press plus it is not too big that I can't slid it into a small space in my motor home, allowing me to have a nice pressing board while on the road.

great idea ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,am going to use it have two june tailor board that are old and would work great and get more use out of the boards :thumbup:

If you mean one of those portable ironing mats that have a foam rubber pad on the underside, I have the same problem exactly and sometimes wipe it off with a damp terry wash rag. The gunk loosens up more easily if it's still warm from the iron.

I wanted to mention that the bigger problem with using starch or even just steam on one of those pads is that if you're doing quite a bit of ironing it's not as heat proof as I once thought. I had it overlapping my biggest and best cutting mat on a table and found that it didn't protect my mat from getting a little damaged from heat. You most certainly would not want to use one of these pads on a good table. Still, I like the size and shape of it and the fact that I can roll it up to take with me. I put two layers of Insul-brite under it to increase the protection, and I no longer let it anywhere near my cutting mats.

I'm curious about people using spray starch on the little reversible mats. I have a mat like that in the most common size, which is about 13" square. I have tried it and find that it's too small and starch gets out beyond it and all over everything. The foam-backed mat is about 22" X 28".

I always just tossed mine, maybe i need to rethink this.