D.I.Y. Small Table Top Ironing Board

My sewing room is so crowded! All of the necessary equipment doesn't even begin to fit conveniently into the size and configuration of my sewing space. As it's set up now, I have to walk around a table attached to one side of my sewing machine to get to the ironing board. It's usually not too much of a headache, and it does get me on my feet and out of my chair now and then.

Lately, though, I've been doing lots of paper piecing, and bouncing up to trot around the sewing table every few minutes is slowing everything down. I have a little cutting mat on the sewing table, but I really needed a small ironing board. So, I made one.

I started with an old wooden cutting board that was never used any more, but was taking up storage space in my kitchen.

 

I gathered the following items:

• One old cutting board. Any piece of wood of a convenient size will do. Mine is 12" x 16". 
• One piece of cotton batting about 3 inches wider and 3 inches longer that the top of the cutting board.
• One piece of cotton fabric about 3 inches wider and 3 inches longer than the batting.
• A roll of fabric fuse.
• An iron.  
• A stapler 

This is the procedure:

 1. Measure and cut the batting and the cotton fabric. Center the batting on the wrong side of the fabric.

 2. Fold the sides of the cotton over the batting and fuse in place with a hot iron to cover the edges of the batting.

4. Stand the cutting board on edge. With the batting facing the cutting board, pull one side of the fabric covered batting over the edge of the board and staple in place with a few staples. Flip the board to the opposite edge. Pull the batting snugly around and over this edge and staple.

My new paper piecing station is finished!