Space Saving Ironing Board Ideas and More...

Hi everyone! I moved a few things around in my sewing room and wanted to share a space saving idea for your ironing board and few little tips too!

An ironing board, in any size, ranks pretty high in my craft room...right up there with my sewing machine and a sharp pair of scissors. You can't sew or cut wrinkled fabric, you need to iron your seams open and the finished sewing project isn't truly finished without a good press!

Well, I found a new spot for my ironing board. It's on top of the bottom section of an old hutch.

Come on in and see and lots more too!!

Tool Time Tuesday...Ribbon Iron

Hi everyone! Sometimes the "tools" for Tool Time come from the craziest places. Today's tool is one of my hair gadgets. I saw this in a magazine a long time ago and wanted to share the idea with you.

My daughters have the super duper expensive hair straighteners, because they flatten their hair on a regular basis. I bought a cheap one a few years ago when I straightened my hair every now and then.  I just let it flip up naturally now...less work for me!!

So, this is where my unused hair straightener is now...on my glue gun table. Click HERE if you missed that post...lots of tips and tricks.

This straightener is great as a mini iron!!

Thrifty Thursday...Glue Gun Trick

Hi everyone! It's Thrifty Thursday today!! I have a little trick with a glue gun to replace rubber feet on the bottom of something...let me show you in pictures.

I have a small table top ironing board next to my machine. It was my mom's and it's old...

Tool Time Tuesday...Window Ironing Board

I know...Window Ironing Board? Well, it was going to say Cat Bed Ironing Board, but I didn't want to scare you away!!

The famous saying of "Necessity is the mother of invention", doesn't work for this post.

My new saying for this project..."laziness is the mother of invention" and here's my explanation.

I did a post the other day about raising the curtain rods on 3 large windows without changing the curtains. Click HERE to read that post. In short, I raised the curtain rods 4 inches and let the hem down on the curtains 4 inches.

By the time I re-screwed in all the hardware, ripped out all the hems for 6 panels and then hung them back up to check the measurements, I DID NOT want to take them down again to finish the hems.

That's when I saw this in the window, right next to the drapes...

Hallie's bird watching perch!!

I removed her quilt and it's my new portable window ironing board!!

I used Stitch Witchery to iron the hems back together and needed to steam out the original crease.

Instead of taking down all the drapery panels again (laziness), I used the cat perch right there to iron (mother of invention!!)

The perch has little parts that hook into the track of the window and then the brackets underneath just rest on the wall with little rubber pads for support. Totally portable to move from window to window.

Sorry this picture is so dark, but it was so bright out and I was taking the picture facing the window.

Portable window ironing board...

• perfect for any small ironing projects like quilt blocks (or full length lined drapes, Lol)
• great if your sewing machine is next to a window
• frees up floor space in a small sewing/ craft room
• great to use in your dining room or other room that you sew in and have to break your sewing things down each time. Just take it down and pop in a closet

or put the quilt back on it and give it back to the cat.

We've had this cat perch for a while, but I think it's from Walmart. You know my brain is ticking on how to make one with PVC pipes and brackets. This will be another Tool Time in the future!!

Happy Tuesday,
~Karen~

Tool Time Tuesday...Make Your Own Ironing Board

Happy Tuesday! Today's project is about how to make your own ironing board or ironing station and the "tool" of the day is a staple gun!!

Over the years, I've used a regular ironing board in my sewing room. They work great to adjust the height up and down, but the size of work surface is better for ironing clothing. I do like the feature of bringing the ironing board down low when I'm sewing at the sewing machine and need to press things quickly, but I do need a larger work surface. Larger areas are great for ironing larger pieces of fabric or quilt tops.

Here is my new ironing station!!

My friend Tabatha from work gave me this table. Hi Tabby! Thanks You!! I love the size...long, but narrow.

The first step to make an ironing board is to cover it with quilt batting. I used 2 layers of super thin batting. You can decide how thick you would want your own board.

Love my staple guns...I actually have 3 of them!!

For the batting, you just need to tack it down in a few places to start. Most of the stapling will be done when the fabric goes on.

Depending on your staple gun and the wood you are stapling into, some staples may not go in all the way.

Just tap them in with a hammer.

Just a few tacks here and there to hold it in place.

All covered.

Now for the fabric...I ironed my right on the table to start, because of the wrinkles from storing the fabric.

To make the fabric tight around the edges, I turned the table over to get good pressure on the staple gun. Staple all around and trim off excess fabric.

I stapled every 2 inches or so, pulling tight as I went along. I did have a pretty black and white fabric, but it had a specific directional pattern and it would drive me crazy if it were pulled more in one direction in the pattern. This smaller, all over print was better.

Pull corner fabric and staple the heck out of it!! LOL

All set and ready to go.

I have one of the rubber ironing pads.

Helps when you are ironing along and need to move fabric along, but just put the iron down for a second. Won't scortch the board.

This is long enough for 2 friends on a sewing day!! Tina, are you ready?

You can use any size table to make an ironing station fit your sewing room. Look for old tables in thrift stores, yard sales, from your family or maybe even in your own basement. You might have something that you don't know what to do with because you don't like the way it looks. Perfect...cover it up and make an ironing board out of it!!

Happy ironing,
~Karen~