How to Make a Large Ironing Board

Whether you find yourself fighting with your small ironing board often, or you are frequently ironing large items such as table cloths and curtains, sometimes a large ironing board can work better than any store bought board. Particularly useful to quilters and seamstresses, a large ironing board can give the room needed to spread large portions of fabric out without creating new fold lines. Luckily, you can make a large ironing board with little effort and little expense in less than an hour.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Muslin or other cotton fabric, 44 by 52 inches
• Flannel, 44 by 52 inches
• Cotton or wool felt, two pieces 40 by 48 inches
• Plywood, 1-inch thick, 36 by 44 inches
• Staple gun
• Fabric glue, optional

1. Lay your muslin or cotton fabric down on a flat surface with enough room to move around on all sides. Spread your flannel layer over the muslin, keeping it centered. Smooth out the flannel from the center outward to get rid of creases.

2. Align your two felt pieces with one another and center them over the flannel. Because the felt is smaller, there should be an even two inch gap along all four sides between the edge of the felt and the edge of the flannel and muslin.

3. Place the plywood piece over the felt. Center the plywood to leave an equal amount of fabric on all four sides.

4. Pull the flannel and muslin around the edge of the plywood to the back along the top edge first. Secure the fabrics and felt by stapling every two to three inches. Once the top is attached, bring the fabric from along the bottom to the back of the plywood. Pull the fabric slightly to create a small amount of tension and staple along the bottom portion to secure.

5. Bring one of the fabric sides around to the plywood back and secure in the same manner, followed by the opposite side. Remember to pull slightly on the opposite side to create tension. If the fabric is stapled loose onto the board then you will have creases and folds, which can grab the fabric you are trying to iron.

6. Fold the corners over to get them as flat as possible and add a few extra staples to secure. If desired, run fabric glue along the edge of the flannel and muslin to tack it down fully and let the glue have an hour or two to dry. Flip the board over and you are ready to iron.

Tips & Warnings

• While a patterned cotton material is suitable to make a more trendy looking board, make sure the fabric you use will keep its colors to itself when pressed against a hot, steam iron. To do this, simply test your fabric out by ironing it against white muslin on your hottest setting and highest level of steam. This should tell you if your shirts and pants are safe to be ironed with your patterned fabric.
• Be sure you use natural fibers for your board or you may end up melting your materials.

References

• Martha Stewart's oversized ironing board