Happy Days Quilting

A blog about Applique and Quilting

Tuesday 22 March 2011

New cover for my homemade ironing board!


This is one of the most useful gadgets that I have and I made it myself!


Its my mini ironing board that I use to shape my applique flowers and leaves etc, its also useful when I'm piecing blocks.
It is 14 inches square (but can be made any size) and I needed to give it a fresh cover as it had scorch marks on it and was starting to look a bit grubby.
To make one for yourself  (go on you know you want to!)


You need a small thin piece of wood (mine is about 1cm thick )


Cover it with wadding, I used a spray baste to hold it in place  (if you don't have any, just carefully align it on the material, then lay the wood on top



 Lay it batting side down onto the material




Fold the material over itself, so you don't have raw edges, then fold over the wood and staple it down at the centres




On the corners, to avoid a build up of material , cut away a small piece


If you are very thrifty you can save this bit of material for your scraps collection




Fold down 



Then tuck in the corner and fold over




 Make a neat corner, spend ages on this bit and strive for perfection





Pop in a staple to hold




Carry on all the way round, making sure the material in taut and flat (Don't go flabby on me)




Use a hammer to finish burying the staples into the wood and fabric, check for any sharp edges that could scratch your work table
If you need to, you could glue a piece of batting or fabric over the staples.




This is my finished board, ready for action



 

I used a spring loaded stapler and a hammer (I can't accept any liability if you are a fool with a tool no compensation will be paid)

Happy quilting!

Patricia

4 comments:

pcflamingo said...

Genius! I'm off to rummage around in my garage and see if I have some bit of wood I can use to create one.

Josie said...

Wow! I have got to make me one of these. It's nothing short of inspired! I'm off to raid Mad Mac's workshop for tools.
Thanks for the tutorial.

thatchristine.blogspot.com said...

We are full time RVer's so I don't carry an ironing board. I used the same technique and made one 18 x 36. It sits on my counter when needed and slides under the sofa when not in use. At home (in storage as home was sold) I have a 24 x 48 that sits on top of my ironing board. It makes fabric pressing a breeze.

Cambridge Appliance Repairs said...

Thank you foor sharing this