Today I’m here to show you how to make a DIY Ironing Board. Is your sewing space small? Maybe too small for the standard 54″ board that we typically see. Or maybe you want to make better use of the space under the ironing board – after all those metal supports don’t provide very good storage! Or….maybe you just want to make your sewing space nicer with a custom ironing board. Or…maybe you’re like I was and worried that your small children will knock down your board. Whatever your reason – this DIY Ironing Board tutorial is for you.
My husband made this ironing board for me….and I still use it over 8 years later. If you sew frequently like I do then you really need one of these for ironing. Let me show you how it’s done.
DIY Ironing Board
Pressing or ironing is an essential step in sewing and I used to HATE it. With 2 toddlers in the house I couldn’t ever leave my board out without worrying about them knocking it down and getting clunked in the head with an iron. Not to mention that ironing boards are huge and my office really doesn’t have room for one. So….I came up with the DIY Ironing Board.
Ironing Board Tutorial
Amazing husband to the rescue! He built a simple shelving unit with a wood ironing surface (MDF) on top. It’s braced underneath the pressing board overhang and bolted into the wall to keep it from tipping. I have a simple iron holder mounted on the wall to keep my iron safely out of reach when not in use. I use the hooks meant for the ironing board for my spray bottle and cord and quite often I hang a pair of scissors there as well.
And no, I’m not left-handed but with the layout of my office this was the best way to fit it in (there’s a doorway on the other side and it’s kind of an odd wall). Luckily that hasn’t really bothered me much. Probably from my lack of ironing in the past…no chance to form much of a preference 🙂
If you’re building your own board, you can of course choose whatever dimensions you’d like. My station has shelves that are 17″ wide x 33″ tall x 12″ deep. The diy shelves were built with plywood and a hardwood face. Of course, if you don’t want to build your own shelf for this ironing board, you could also get a new shelf from IKEA or another furniture store re-finish one from around the house or a thrift store.
The ironing surface is 36″ long x 15″ wide. This is a perfect size for most of the pressing I do with children’s clothes and smaller fabric cuts. If you mostly work with larger pieces of fabric you may want a larger work space. The ironing surface was built out of MDL (medium density laminate) – it’s basically a particle board that has a white laminate on top.
After my husband cut it to length he drew his own pattern to get it into the shape of an ironing board. After cutting he used a router to finish along the edge of the top ironing board and make it smooth.
To support the underside of the board my husband ran some 1x lumber from the top of the shelf out to support the underside of the board (you can see these board supports in the pictures below). You can also see above that he used a decorative L Bracket between the board shelf unit and the top of the ironing board for support.
Once the DIY Ironing Board base was built I took over the rest of the project 🙂 I wrapped the entire ironing table in batting to give it the board a little cushion before I put the ironing board cover on.
I just stapled the batting in place on the underside of the board using a regular staple gun.
Next, I made a pretty cover for the Ironing Board using home decor fabric. I just laid my fabric over the ironing board and cut around it leaving a 3-4″ fabric overhang over the board edge. 
To prevent bulk in the corners I cut a little square out of the 2 back corners of the fabric. 
And then with right sides together I sewed up each corner of the fabric. 
Next, I serged my fabric edges and folded over 1/2″ to make a casing. You’ll notice there’s quite a few little tucks and gathers along the fabric corners and that’s fine. It will all be on the underside of the ironing board. 
Thread some 1/4″ elastic or elastic cording through the fabric casing and try it on the ironing board. Pull until it’s snug and secure your ends (I used cording so I just knotted). And it’s ready to go!
I hope you enjoyed our ironing board tutorial today! No more excuses for skipping the pressing now 🙂
Make a Portable Ironing Board
This isn’t the only tutorial we have around Peek-a-Boo Pages for an ironing board – Stephie B also gave us an excellent tutorial on making a portable ironing board from a TV tray – she call’s it the TV Tray Ironing Board. In this tutorial she takes an old wooden tv tray and covers the board with batting and fabric like we did today to make a portable ironing board. Make sure to go check it out:
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18 Responses
I love the idea. I am going to try to make it.
Love this! I was looking for a way to tuck a portable ironing board under a table. This is perfect! I am going to cover mine in a large check pattern so I can also have a visual measurement while working.
This is total genius
An idea for how it would work nicely for me: Since I do not have a separate sewing room (or much extra room at all), this would be nice to set up on casters (that lock). Then it can move from a closet or spare bedroom where it could be ‘stored’ to the room where I’m sewing!
I love that idea!
I’m going to go look for an old wooden ironing board at a thrift shop. Maybe I could mount the top of that onto a shelf unit. I don’t have a handy husband to make me a top.
Great idea! Thank you.
That’s a great idea!
You can do it!!! You dont need a man, just a jig saw! Watch some videos -you can do a lot with a jig saw and not cut off your fingers! Lol
Sexism works both ways.
Watch your mouth, woman.
This is great! Where did you get the iron holder hanging on the wall?
I got it on Amazon but I think most big box stores have them
WALMART
Love this! I have a table-top ironing board nearly that size, (mine is about 12 x 30 inches) but like the big ironing board, has to be set up and taken down because that table gets used for everything from dining and games to crafts, and sewing. I’m constantly having to move unfinished projects out of the way for another (different) use of the same table. I’d love to have my ironing station set up like yours. The rack on the wall and storage underneath would come in very handy. Now to convince hubby we need a bigger apartment with that extra room…
That is so smart! Pinning
Love this Amy! I’ve been looking into buying a tabletop ironing board and hadn’t even thought of making my own! Duh! Thanks for the inspiration…looks great!
I love it! I want one now. Those baskets would be a great UFO station to put projects you have cut and ready to sew!
Great idea! Love the little one, but I’m going to tear apart my big board to make a larger one with two storage units underneath, too. I will finally get a stable board.
I really like that you made the cover removable! I don’t know that ironing boards get that dirty, but it’d be nice to switch out for new fabric for a small and easy change. Of course if it does get dirty, taking it off to put it in the laundry would be a dream! I wish I did this for our homemade changing table when my girl was a baby. Now I think maybe I might do something like this with baby #2. Anyways, that’s not about ironing boards. I love your space and if I had a setup like yours, I’d probably press more too! Great idea!