The setup with the ironing pad on top of a shelf (see in background) wasn't working well for pressing rows of blocks so I realized that I would have to get my ironing board out more frequently than I hoped. So, I decided to make one of the little ironing tables that I've seen on-line, made from a wooden TV table.
I picked up the wood TV tray at Bed, Bath & Beyond using a 20% off coupon so it was reasonable... less than $15 inc tax. Having read a number of blog posts on this project, I chose the "TV Tray Pressing Table (link)," one of Elizabeth Hartman's projects. I liked that the table is holding up well after three years of use.
The hardest part of the project was getting the plastic shrink wrap off the table because the table top was wrapped before the strips were screwed down... so the plastic ran underneath the wood strips. (I used a very old seam ripper to cut close to the wood strips... and it worked pretty well... however, I couldn't get all the wrapping but... who's going to see it???)
Despite having several pieces of home dec-weight fabrics to chose from, I went with plain duck/canvas to keep it simple in this small, visually-busy room. There are four layers of Warm & Natural/White batting underneath the canvas. Ms Hartman did not recommend using Insul-Bright for this project and so I didn't... although others have posted about using it.
The 3/4" thick, solid wood table top required me to lean on the stapler while stapling. I also had to use a hammer to finish sinking the staples into the wood.
Although some bloggers had their hubbies staple the fabric to the table using those fancy air gun stapler things, I had no problem using the heavy duty Dritz staple gun that I purchased at Michael's (with a 40% off coupon).
After trimming excess fabric on the bottom, I steam-ironed the canvas on top, which got out faint fold marks. Now I'm ready to go.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
In other news, two friends are going through chemo and I am working on crochet cloche hats using cotton yarn for them... the cotton yarn is so soft and smooth. One cloche went out in the mail last week and the second is almost finished.
I added a lime green crochet "ribbon" to go around the hat and under the button after I took this photo to add a little more color... lime green is one of the swirls on the button.
These days, I have more projects than time even though I'm retired. Who'd a-thunk it?
Nice job on the ironing table. Maybe someday I will actually get one made. :)
ReplyDeleteVery pretty hat--how sweet of you to make those for your friends.
Love the small ironing table.....good job! The hat is lovely and the button it so cute!
ReplyDeleteI believe you about retirement! I've been retired a little over a year. I was so excited to retire so I could have all this time to quilt. Where has that time gone? I was gone every day from home for 8 hours, so technically speaking I should be able to quilt for 8 hours. I'd be happy with 5 or even 4. Is this the "new" math from the core curriculum model? I live in California and I'm happy to be done with core curriculum!
ReplyDeleteSuch a good idea, I watched E.H. on Free Craftsy day. Couple of weeks ago I bought one of the small folding ironing boards at Bed and Bath, but it isn't stable enough and I fear it will collapsewhile pressing . Think I will return and get table. I lost my sewing room when a son moved back in with me and I now sew in my bedroom. Thank you for sharing.. Just getting back into quilting after a long hiatus. Good to touch base with you again.
ReplyDelete