Tartan, I love your freezer paper idea and will use it. I find myself washing my cover more often than it needs it, and fusibles don't wash out completely. Thanks for the tip.

Two thick cotton towels and a piece of striped cotton duck. It's been on the board for about 3 years. The condition is not perfect, but it's not terrible either.

I bought one at JAF and it has a (cloth) pocket for ironing accessories such as pressing cloths. Some day when I get semi caught up, I'd love to make one out of quilting fabric. At least that's been the plan for the last few decades. I wanted something I could easily get on and off for machine washing.

Mine is 24 x60, and has 'cleats' that keep it in place right over my regular ironing board... (in case I ever decide to iron any of my husband's shirts.) I used 3/4 inch furniture grade plywood, 2 layers cotton batting, a layer of the silver stuff and then 100% cotton home dec fabric. Stapled it on the back with heavy duty stapler...

Hubs gave me a piece of plywood that I covered with already quilted ironing cover fabric. Stapled to the board and it's heavy enough to stay in place on my regular ironing board. I often place it against my cutting table so my larger pieces of fabric don't brush the floor.

I covered my small portable ironing board with a very old terry towel. It has just a bit of cushioning but is thin enough to give a firm surface. It is wrapped and pinned underneath so that I can take it off to wash it. I find that between it and my ironing pad that I lay on my cutting table, I rarely get out the traditional ironing board anymore.

I used batting and canvas, stretched it as tight as we could and then spritzed with water several times to let the fabric shrink tight around the board. My big one has been in use for at least 8-10 years...isnt as pretty but not too bad. I also made one smaller for classes and travel. Sprayed adhesive spray on it thinking it was starch...duh! Made it somewhat of a mess but it still works fine. I made a muslin pillow case to cover it so it did not look so bad when I take it to class. When it gets yucky, I just wash it or sew another one. I also covered the board in a heavy duty plastic bag so the moisture from steam does not cause the wood to warp.

I just covered my old yucky looking cover with a shaped piece if heavy muslin. I can take that off and wash when I like. I use a square of freezer paper on my "most used" spot to keep it looking cleaner longer.
I don't want too much batting on that board. Just one layer of medium batt is enough. You want that board to be quite hard so that your seams press nice and crisp.

I made a small ironing board for taking to classes. About 12 X 18 inches of this board, a layer of batt and a cover of heavy muslin. I use that one a lot, right next to my sewing machine when doing lots of short seams that need to be pressed before they are sewn into something else.

Then I made the 3 X 6 inch one. I was making a table topper and didn't want to put binding on it. So I sewed it RST and turned it right side out through an opening. Then I thought those outside seams would be so much easier to get turned correctly if I could press those seams open first. I made that tiny ironing board, slipped it into the topper through the opening, moved it around as needed to press those seams open, then took it back out through the same hole. Worked fantastically. I'll keep that little ironing board in case I need it again.

I use heavyweight muslin from Walmart. When they have it, I usually purchase 5 yards at a time because I use it for lots of projects (I do prewash it because it is prone to shrinkage).

There's a thread over in the Main section that talks about wool ironing pads/mats. This gave me an idea! What if you used wool batting with heavy muslin (like an inexpensive drop cloth) over the top? You could staple it to the underside to keep it stable.

~ C