Hi Quilters, yesterday I built myself something I've been wanting for a long, long time. I work with a lot of fabric. Sometimes yards and yards at one time. And I like my fabrics pressed. As a matter of fact, I use a lot of starch when I'm working with the fabrics the way I like to work them. So, I have been struggling for years. I've made my own pressing pads over the years. I've used this commercial type pad. You can see that's pretty well used. Always wishing that I had the space for a really big board. And, in fact, you don't need a lot of space. This can get shoved into a closet it just like my cheap table. What you do need, though, is some way to support it. Now, I've got this setup on kitchen cabinet that I scrounged out of an apartment remodel. But you can do it in your own kitchen, if you've got space enough on the countertop. My pressing board is 24 inches by 48 inches. And because most fabrics come off of the bolt at 42 to 44 inches, I can open the fabric all the way from selvage to selvage, and press the whole thing on my pressing board. I did it last night and I was in heaven. So let me show you what I used to do mine, okay? This is a piece of oriented strand board. At the hardware stores it's called O.S.B. Oriented Strand Board. This is the smooth side. I put the rough side up. That's the side that has the batting and the fabric on it. That's the side that I use for my pressing. A staple gun, any kind of staple gun, you can get these at the hardware store. My electric one. I love to do reupholstery, So I bought that little toy. These manual ones, the big deal for me is I really don't have a lot of strength for, you know, really pushing these staples down. So I put my hand down here, as I'm making the stable go in. And that makes it sink all the way into the wood. And I do it with both of them, the electric or the manual.
making the stable go in. And that makes it sink all the way into the wood. And I do it with both of them, the electric or the manual. You'll need some staples. You're going to need 100 percent cotton batting. Now this is really important. Anything with any polyester in it, you may melt it with your hot iron. So you can't have it. You've got to have a 100 cotton. I like Wam & Natural or Warm & White
and I like it in two layers on my pressing pad. You can go with it however you like. And then muslin to cover the whole thing with. Now, I just use one layer, but on some of my pressing pads I've used two.
And then muslin to cover the whole thing with. Now, I just use one layer, but on some of my pressing pads I've used two. It's up to you. So, the very last thing you're going to need, well you don't need it, but I do, is ... I love this gripper stuff. So, this board, this smooth side, on my counter top, it would slide. My smaller one did anyway. So I got in the habit of using this gripper pad. I put it under everything. I put it under my sewing machines, I put it under my cutting mats. Nothing slides. This stuff you find in the dishes section. They sell it as as a shelf liner, for your kitchen cupboards. I don't use it there, I use it everywhere else. So, here's my pressing pad. Let me show you. See how it stabled here? When you are making this, anytime you stretch fabric, you always want to go opposite to opposite. See I brought this - just like wrapping a Christmas present. You bring this around to the back. Stable it down. And then tug, just a little bit, so that its tight on the front. Okay, and then stable it. One here. One here. And then go here. And then stretch, and go this side. And then do your corners. Fold them in just like you're wrapping a Christmas present. See how that's doubled up over here? So, let's flip her over. There we go. Now 24 inches is, it sticks out off the end of my counter top. But this half inch piece of oriented strand board is heavy. It's pretty heavy. It does not, you know, if I push down on it, t's not gonna fall off of my countertop. If you don't have a counter top to do this with, you can do it with just a couple of ironing boards. Not one, but be sure to use two. I don't like how wobbly one ironing board is. I pick up cheap ironing boards at the second hand stores all the time, for just a couple of dollars. And again, they fold up, go right in a closet. This will too. It will stand up in your closet if you want it to. It's a little heavy, though, to be pulling out every day and putting back. So, you might want to keep that in mind. I just, just, love this. So I've got two layers of batting, one layer on mine, of muslin. And here's a piece of fabric, selvage to selvage, And it fits just perfectly. I can iron it all the way across. If I choose to pre-wash my fabric and I need to press it, and starch it, have it ready for my next quilting project, this is perfect. Thank you so very much for watching. If you found this useful would you please share it with a friend of yours? Here's my email. Please contact me if there's anything that I can do to help you with your sewing, or your quilting. If you want to know more about me, or my quilting book, come on by my website. It's got some really useful information, some good links, and my blog.