This summer, I have been working (occasionally) on making the most epic shower curtain of all times for my kids’ bathroom. It was a huge project and was taking forever since every time I sat down to work on it, my kiddos needed something. It was like I was trying to use the phone (and I know other moms know what I’m talking about).
When I finally got to the point of needing to iron the 90-inch wide project, I realized how much I hated to iron wide width fabric. It’s the same with drapes, quilts, bedding – anything that’s wider than my ironing board. I’d always have to iron one section, pull the other section onto the board, iron it, and tug down to the next part. By the time I was finished, I was sweating from all of the pulling and tugging.
But no more!
Right before I got started, the old gears in my head reminded me that I actually had two ironing boards (and two irons). I use one (the blue one) for our clothing and the other (the ruled one) for craft and decorating projects. Why? Well, I’ve learned the hard way that things like iron-on stabilizer can smear onto an ironing board cover and iron and end up ruining the next thing you press. Instead of taking that risk with my clothing, I only use my craft board for ironing anything that could smear. I think every crafter/decorator should have two irons and ironing boards.
I butted the two long ends of the ironing boards together and adjusted their heights so that they were level. Then, I laid my project across the top of them.
BAM! I was able to press the whole width of the fabric at one time. It made the process go twice as quickly and kept the project from getting wrinkled due to the pulling and tugging. Why can’t my genius be used for big things like curing cancer and ending hunger?
I’m proud to say that I got the entire project finished last night, and I’m eager to get it hung up in the bathroom. You better believe that there will soon be a post with more details! Until then, grab yourself another ironing board the next time you are at the store, and get ready to have your mind blown.
What a great idea! This IS genius! I like to use the ironing board to pin things out on too and faced the same irritation with limited length. Problem solved!
This definitely falls under the “why didn’t I think of that?” category! And you may not have cured cancer of ended hunger, but you just saved a lot of mamas A LOT of frustration, which means they’re less likely to strangle their families. See? All good!
Oh my goodness…I can’t believe someone hasn’t thought of this before….you are one smart cookie! Thank you for this awsome idea!
Way to go! Thanks for sharing.
I knew it, you are a genius! 😉
Where did you purchase the ironing board cover with the measuring diagram on it? I want one!
Pure genius, as previously posted, why didn’t I think of that. Thanks so much for sharing.
I’m a quilter and I’m always working with super wide things. I am too old to get down on the floor to baste I have a bad leg that hurts when I bend it the wrong way–so I bought 2 sheets of super thin laminate board at Home Depot—they are 2 ft wide by 8 ft long. It is the kind of stuff you see on the back of book cases.
I lay them over my dining room table–and depending on what I am doing–i can overlap them and make them even longer, or lay them side by side and make them wide.
I am pressing a lot I drape a blanket under whatever I am pressing.
For basting a quilt–I layer my back, batting and top, then slide to the middle–baste across, slide a little baste another row-it is pretty easy to keep things smoothed if you do it in an orderly way–and no crawling on the floor.