Portable Ironing Board

Since I knew the New York Beauty Quilt Along was starting very soon I dreaded having to get up after every strip to iron. My husband always teases me that I need to have "time management", so I decided I needed something right next to me to iron. So I set out to our local craft store over the weekend. Have you seen how much money they want for a small portable ironing board? Seriously I looked and the cheapest I found was $27 and it had to be less than a 12x12. I couldn't justify spending that much money on something that I knew I had all the tools to do at home.

So off to work I went the other night.I found a piece of board in the garage that I swiped asked if I could have. Couldn't tell you what kind of board it is but I knew it was thick enough to get the stapler through without going all the way through to the other side. It looks big in this picture but it is actually 12x30 inches. I debated on having my husband trim it down for me but decided against it.

 I knew I had fleece, Insul-Bright, and canvas fabric that I had bought at a local thirft store in my stash of stuff.  I also read to use batting but since I had all this extra remnant of fleece I decided to use that instead. I layered my fleece, Insul-Bright, and then the canvas in that particular order. I made sure everything fit nice with at least enough extra to wrap around the board to staple.

After I put the fleece on I noticed that I really didn't need any extra fabric on the ends and it would cause more of a problem with bulk when I went to finish it up so I cut it down to the exact length of the board.

I continued on my merry way with the Insul-Bright (also cutting off the very end) and then the canvas. When it came time to staple the final fabric I just pulled it and stapled it. Nothing to neat about this since no one will ever be looking at the bottom of it.

For the ends I just folded it almost like a package and brought the ends up and over. Staple and done!

 Here's my new Portable Ironing Board in my messy little corner of my sewing table.

Could have cleaned up don't you think? Wow! Anyways I've since moved this to the right of my sewing table so there is no overhang. My sewing area is shaped like an L and since I'm right handed having it at this end would not have benefited me. I used my new board yesterday afternoon and have to tell you I got so much accomplished in such little time. No getting up, taking off the readers, picking up the readers at the ironing station because I forgot to take them off, etc., etc. Why didn't I think of this before? I love it!

Have a Great Day!