Just Me...

I use a Big Board made by a friend's hubby. Covered it with Insul-Brite then wide backing. Love it!

miholmes

I made a tutorial for making a pressing board. I just used a few layers of batting on wood. Been using it for months now and haven't had any issues.

This board makes it really easy to press yards of fabric. :)

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-62721-1.htm

Just my 2 cents.

Deborahlees

I made my ironing board for my sewing studio out of a used, no longer wanted kitchen utility cabinet. you know the kind that sits in the middle of the room for you to chop on. well the top has two fold up sides that give me a nice square table to iron on, and when not needed fold down, and the bonus is I have a drawer and 3 wire baskets to put 'stuff' in like a pressing cloth, a pair of scissors and I hang my start bottles on the wire baskets. on the wood top, I put a piece of heavy aluminum foil and then a piece of the ironing board cover with padding attached that I purchased from my local Joanns. cut to size and hemed. I love my little table that is also on wheels and moves around the room as needed. But the cover is from Joanns, sold by the yard....so you can get whatever size you need and has the padding already quilted on.

NJ Quilter

Here's my thoughts...Decades ago my mother's opinion was that the best way to 'pad' an ironing board was simply put your new covers over the old and eventually you had a very soft surface. Honestly I couldn't tell you the last time I bought/made a new cover. That said, for quilting I find pros and cons both on soft and hard surfaces. I like a softer surface for setting seams during piecing. I like a harder surface when pressing yardage. Since I have a really small sewing room things need to do double duty. I have one of the collapsable cutting tables like they sell in Joanns. I have a regular bath towel that I fold in half and place that on the top of my cutting table and use that when pressing larger pieces. I fold either length-wise or width-wise depending on the size pieces I am pressing. Then I use the other half of the table for my cutting mat and cutting/layout needs. It works for me. The table originally came with a very thin piece of foam the size of the table and the silvery top (with grid markings). I would keep that on and place my mat on top of that until I got to the point of needing to sandwich and then everything comes off the top. The original foam did not last long at all and really did nothing to protect the top, hence moving to the towel configuration when I couldn't find thicker foam (or any for that matter) the size I needed.

TonnieLoree

I love these multi-purpose things!

frarose

I bought the larger ironing board but have trouble finding new covers. The last one shrunk so bad I couldn't get it back on.

Grambi

I made a big board out of 48"X72" thick plywood. I made a frame on the bottom out of 1"X2" (I think) that just fit around the edges of my ironing board. I covered it with two layers of batting that wrapped over the edges and covered that with two layers of inexpensive muslin from Hobby Lobby. I used upholstery (sp?)tacks to secure it to the bottom of the board. I can iron backings on it easily and it is a great place to store "parts" of the project I'm working on. I love it!

sharoney

I've done this- it makes a great ironing surface- wish I had done it years ago.

LAQUITA

Okay, so I made my own LARGE ironng board. I took a piece of old counter top, pout some of the reflecting batting down on it, then covered it with the shiny teflon (like what is on regular ironing boards).I stapeled the teflon around to the back side of the counter top. I lay it on the kitchen counter top to use. (1) this makes it waist high, wasy to use when standing (2) is plenty wide for most of the width of fabric and (3) it was cheap and eay to make!

Works great!

amandasgramma

For the most part....I use an old small ironing board that's for travel. I cover it with warm and natural and muslin. I just made myself an ironing board out of plywood, warm and natural and some cheap cotton. I like it MUCH better. I HATE the ironing board I paid $70.00 for....it's big, clunky and has a funny hump in it that bugs me. As for the fabric -- just use cheap cotton.....that shiny silver stuff isn't worth it.