DIY Ironing Board Ideas

I recently decided to upgrade my ironing station from two towels placed on top of my new DIY work station to something fancier. I went from this:

I recently decided to upgrade my ironing station from two towels placed on top of my new DIY work station to something fancier.

DIY work station.

To this:

Fancy, right?

Fancy, right?

Fancy, right? Before I made my own ironing station I did a little research. Here’s what I learned.

Be Creative

Images from left to right: BH&G, Hometalk, Crazy Mary Revista, Sew We Quilt.

Images from left to right: BH&G, Hometalk, Crazy Mary Revista, Sew We Quilt.

Images from left to right: BH&G, Hometalk, Crazy Mary Revista, Sew We Quilt

The sky is really the limit when planning where you want to iron. Do you want to be able to iron a lot of fabric at a time? Go big. Do you want to save space? Go between the studs or hang from the wall. Almost anything with a flat top can be converted into an ironing board.

Thing Long Term

Images from left to right: Flaming Toes, Stitchery Dickery Dock, A Diamond in the Stuff, A Crafty Fox.

Images from left to right: Flaming Toes, Stitchery Dickery Dock, A Diamond in the Stuff, A Crafty Fox.

Images from left to right: Flaming Toes, Stitchery Dickery Dock, A Diamond in the Stuff, A Crafty Fox

Will you want your ironing board to always be on display? Consider the fabric you choose and if it coordinates or clashes with the space you’ll be ironing in.

Consider the fabric you choose and if it coordinates or clashes with the space you’ll be ironing in.

Consider the fabric you choose and if it coordinates or clashes with the space you’ll be ironing in.

I made my cover removable. It snaps firmly into place on my work station, but I can slip it off in a moment if I want the whole space.

Be Resourceful

Want to save money? You can line your ironing board cover with many things. Try using old wool blankets, receiving blankets, towels, or the innards of your former ironing board covers. Layers of batting work as well. If you want to use Insul-Bright, make sure to include a layer of batting to absorb extra moisture.

Go Vintage

Images from left to right: Simply Pallets, Recyclart.org, The Rustic Pig.

Images from left to right: Simply Pallets, Recyclart.org, The Rustic Pig.

Images from left to right: Simply Pallets, Recyclart.org, The Rustic Pig

If you are retiring a vintage ironing board for a newer one, don’t let the old board go to waste.
Use it as a wine station, to store your thread, or for holiday decorations.

Have Fun!

Have you ever made a DIY ironing station? Tell us about it!

Have you ever made a DIY ironing station? Tell us about it!

Have you ever made a DIY ironing station? Tell us about it!

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Charlotte Kaufman is a writer and sewist in Mammoth Lakes, California. She specializes in marine and home interiors and continues to fall more and more in love with quilting. You can follow her at charlottekaufman.com.

Spicing It Up! DIY Skirt Alteration

Sometimes, there are things in life that are pretty fantastic, but a bit of extra effort could make them even more so. That mentality can lead to furthering an education or moving to a different city…

This skirt belongs to one of the nieces & the sparkly glam is enough to make me jealous!

This skirt belongs to one of the nieces & the sparkly glam is enough to make me jealous!

Or adding fabrics. What looks remarkable in and of itself can take on a whole new level of beauty with a bit of thought or creativity. Example? This skirt. It belongs to one of the nieces, and the sparkly prettiness is enough to make me jealous that I don’t have a skirt like this one. What I do have though is material from my own clothing that zipper-made holes ruined, and the color scheme was kind of perfect to go along with the niece’s pretty, sparkly skirt.

Well, there was no sense in throwing away usable material that could be a sewing project, right? This might or might not have been my logic before diving into said project.

So, let’s break this down, shall we?

Let’s begin! Step-by-Step

The mission: Use the zippered-up material on the already wonderful and sparkly skirt.

The process: Simple, but effective!

Step 1: Cut the zippered-up material into usable pieces. To do this, I first cut away the zipper territory, then cut along the clothing’s seam. That seam was easier to follow than an imagined line, so there was less chance of me getting waaaaay off in my cutting. The results weren’t small enough to use at this point, but they were flat enough to help me gauge what I needed to do for the future.

Cut off the underlining black fabric from my ripper-ruined clothing.

Cut off the underlining black fabric from my ripper-ruined clothing.

Step 2: Cut off the underlining black fabric from my ripper-ruined clothing. This way, it was completely separate from the pattern I wanted to use, and it was handy for an underlining detail for the skirt. Win/win, right?

Step 3: Pin the underlining material to the skirt using straight pins. Luckily, it didn’t matter (since I didn’t think about it) if the line from my sewing matched to any line in the skirt because the floral pattern would cover it anyway. I just needed to make sure I stayed in the vicinity of the skirt’s already-present hem in order to not go so off-base with my sewing that the end result looked crooked.

Step 4: Hem the underlining fabric and make sure it came together when it needed to overlap at the end of its line. Again, it’s a good thing no one is supposed to see this piece of material because the section I used needed an extra piece sewn on to make it all the way around. That random addition might stick out, but who knows if I don’t tell them, right? Hey! You live and learn! I also made sure to cut away extra bits of material after I’d sewn so that there wasn’t excess falling well below the hem I’d created.

Step 5: Move on to the patterned fabric! After I looked over my options with the material I had, I decided on the piece that was at the bottom of the underlining black material so I could make use of the manufactured hem of the fabric. In addition, the material would already be set up for equal enough proportions since it began and ended in generally the same way from start to finish. All I needed to do was follow the same lines of the material to get a decent look for the skirt.

It's time to straight pin the skirt!

It’s time to straight pin the skirt!

Step 6: Once I’d selected the fabric I would use, it was time to straight pin it to the skirt! I kept it loose enough that the skirt didn’t bunch (if you pin it too tightly, you might end up with a pinched look you don’t care for) and made sure the fabric was being sewn above the underlining material. I also considered, this round, where my seam would be since A) I actually remembered, and B) it mattered since people would be able to see it. While the seam isn’t in exact line with the skirt’s side seam, at least it didn’t randomly show up in the front or something!

Almost there…

The final step of the process!

The final step of the process!

Step 7: Sew along the general area of those straight pins, and to piece together the floral fabric itself at the right moment when the sides would overlap. I did, however, have to make sure that the edges at the very bottom of that overlap would even out by adding a small hem. Since the overall hem was already there from the original clothing’s design though, that would be the final step of the process!

And, there you go! A pretty, sparkly skirt that has been upgraded into a pretty, sparkly skirt with matching material as an accessory!

What do you think?