Sunday, September 7, 2008

new ironing board!

Almost anyone who sews wishes at some point in time that he or she had a bigger ironing board. Or one that isn't tapered.

I wished for a bigger ironing board too. Except I went the next step and made my own. :D

Step 1: find a suitable table. I got this one at Ikea. I got this one because it was counter height (which is the height I normally set my ironing board to), it was 72 inches long - good for ironing pretty much any width of cloth, and it included some storage space (drawer, shelving).
table


 Step 2: Gather your supplies for the top. I bought 2 boxes of this kind of velcro (and it isn't cheap!) - it has adhesive on the back of one side and on the back of the soft side there's nothing so you can sew it to something. 
velcro

batting

The batting is the kind used to make oven mitts. I doubled up on this for the table just to be on the safe side.

The cloth I used was some stuff off the clearance rack at Jo-Anns - some calico they were trying to get rid of so it was only $1/yard. :)

Step 3: Sew velcro to the cloth. Sew the layers of batting next to the velcro you just sewed on. Sew the other strip of velcro on, but remember that the fabric will stretch so don't just measure the width of your table and go from there. My cloth stretched a 1/2 inch.

Step 4: Attach sticky velcro to the table and put pad on!

table

13 comments:

Pretty Things said...

That is flipping inspired! I always have trouble ironing tablecloths on my regular board. GREAT idea.

Yes. said...

crafting is superior to derby. this is down right impressive.

Alissa said...

genius!

Anonymous said...

OH.MY.GAWD! LOVE! i just found you from ikea hacker, and i bet you can guess what i'm going to be doing this weekend!

Maureen said...

wicked awesome brilliant !!!!

Moose said...

OMG!!!

Anonymous said...

what can i say--AWESOME, SMART, CUTE, DOESN'T LOOK ANYTHING LIKE AN IRONING BOARD BUT IT IS, I LOVE IT!!!!!!!

Lisa said...

I love this idea! What a creative solution!

Esther said...

I Love this!!! It beats my plan: I iron outside on my cast aluminum deck table, covered with a towel, or a ironing board cloth from target (made to lay out on tables). I live in Texas so this is possible most year round, and anymore, who really irons that often?

Made for Tingles said...

Found you via Ikea Hacker - awesome idea - i'm starting to think about how I want to set up my craft room (well i've come to an agreement with my husband to get half of the room and he can use the other half for video games) and this is perfect. I do patch work quilting and any quilter knows that they are constantly ironing and sewing one after the other. I also find it a pain to put up and take down the ironing board all the time cos it takes up so much space. This way the table has three purposes - ironing board, storage and room divider! I might try it with the Expedit book cases.

Lynnea B said...

I love this. As a crazy crafter I a seem to always need my ironing board set up and ready to use. I could make this and leave it up in my family room and no one would be the wiser. I feel a trip to IKEA is in order!

Anonymous said...

May I add a comment that if u visit thrift stores and can find an old army wool blanket for near nothing it will work ten times better than the batting. It will help pull the steam away at the bottom and it's easy to remove and wash and use over and over again. I have used one now on my table for 15 yrs. Never no mites, smells, rust or anything.

ETowns said...

I am so excited about this ironing board. I had to backtrack through a couple of repins on Pinterest to find the link to your site, and I am in love. I have a batting/cloth that I use for ironing on my wood table when the ironing board is not big enough, and that is what I am going to use where you use the batting. I have been using it for years. I love when someone takes the next step to remedy a simple problem with an in your face solution.