This week I was ironing fabric by the masses. I have a lot of sewing to do as graduation season approaches. A lot of girls need their grad dresses. But I quickly found myself frustrated by the small size of my oversized ironing board. I never can get enough raw fabric on the board to save myself any amount of real time. I also can't find an ironing pad large enough.
So I deciding to make my own ironing board. I took a large piece of plywood and layered wool on one side to create a 1-inch pad. I covered the entire thing in a solid cotton fabric that was large enough to stretched over the wool and around to the underside of the board. I secured the cotton with hook-and-loop tape. This would allow me to remove the cotton and wash it if necessary.
Finally, I took the board and positioned it on two large construction sawhorses. I could have used anything, but I had two sawhorses that weren't being used for anything. I didn't attach the board to the sawhorses, simply because I wanted to be able to take it down and store it when I wasn't using it.
Now I have a large ironing board that accomodates most of my fabrics and really any pattern piece. Problem solved. Crisis averted. Ironing large pieces of uncut fabric is no longer a cause of frustration while I'm working. And it didn't cost me anything, because I had all these things around the house somewhere.