How to Make a Pressing Board

Time to freshen up my pressing board with a new cover. 

A pressing board is one of my favorite quilting tools - it has a firm surface for pressing crisp seams, is portable, and super easy to make. 

All that's needed to make a pressing board are a piece of wood, a few layers of cotton batting, a sturdy cotton fabric covering, a staple gun, and a bit of glue - let's get started!

Supplies:

• 3/4" thick plywood, approximately 15" x 20" or a size of your choice that's easy to handle
• 2-3 layers of 100% cotton batting - do not use cotton/poly. For thick cotton use 2 layers; thin, use 3. After many uses, the batting gets crushed.
• sturdy cotton fabric covering, such as canvas or pillow ticking a minimum of 5" larger than the board (ex: 20" x 25")
• 1/4" staples and staple gun
• cotton or poly batting for the bottom, slightly smaller than the board
• glue

Step 1:

Cut the 100% cotton batting to the size of the board plus enough to go up the board's sides without going over the back. This eliminates a build up of layers on the board's backside, and allows the board to lay flat. The first picture, after Step 3, shows these first two steps.

Step 2:

Center the 100% cotton batting on top of the cotton covering, then center the board on that.

Step 3:

Snugly pull the cotton covering to the back, and staple every 2" along the long edges, starting approximately 3" from the corners.

Step 4: 

Create angled folds at the corners, laying excess fabric along the edge of the board, 

tucking it into the crevice.

Fold the covering over to the board back, and staple the flap in place. 

Step 5:

Repeat Step 4 on the opposite corner, then snugly staple down the remainder of the flap. Repeat steps for the other side.

Step 6:

Cut a piece of cotton, cotton/poly, or poly batting slightly smaller than the size of the board. Place glue along the outside edges, and a wiggle or two down the center to attach batting to the backside.

Press firmly in place and let dry.

Not only does this make the back look nice, it also helps to keep the board from slipping.

Turn it over for a beautiful pressing surface!

And when the surface gets ugly or scorched, or the batting gets crushed and thin, just tear off the backing, remove the staples and start fresh with new batting and a new cover. 
Until then, wishing you crisp seams with the new pressing board!

Happy Quilting!

Midweek Makers #205

Welcome to the Midweek Makers linky party!

Good news - the t-shirt quilt was finished Friday, and picked up Saturday, well ahead of the Christmas deadline. Here's a very exciting picture of the back, laying on a sheet before quilting, with more to show after the holiday.

And just so I continue to stay out of trouble, here's a few more customer quilts from this week. 

This Santa from Nedjeljka, who just wanted the background done.

Helen's handsome Nutcracker, another wool applique wall hanging. She also made Merry Halloween.

This one uses silk thread for the stippling and monofilament for the detail, all on wool batting.

With another large quilt on the frame, and another quilt coming in on Thursday, I'll definitely stay out of trouble!

Did you see the cute handmade items shown at last week's Midweek Makers? I'll add those to the handmade Christmas gift theme from Monday.

From Ulrikes Smaating, a link to the pattern for this adorable goose,

                                  

a video on how to make these 3D hexie ornaments from Not Afraid of Color,

                                  

and these pocket tissue covers over at Marshas Spot.

                

Now it's your turn - what are you sewing this week?

• Please link directly to your specific post..
• Visit the other guests, and leave a comments.
• Use the Midweek Makers badge or link to www.QuiltFabrication.com in your post.

Have fun at the party!

Thanks for following!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

15 FREE Gifts to Make

The countdown to Christmas has begun, and today is a curated list of 15 FREE gift ideas for last minute sewing.

Starting off are the always treasured little gifts:

A Simple Sprocket Pincushion from Diary of a Quilter,

                                           

and a Pincushion with a Pocket for a pair of scissors from Polka Dot Chair.

                                               



Then there's Fabric Storage Baskets for all the little stuff, like these from Minki Kim,
                        

       

Re-usable Appliqued Gift Bag from Melly Sews,

                                                        
                                               

and a special Gift Card Holder from All People Quilt.

How about a few fun stuffed decorations, like this adorable Stick Reindeer from Skip to My Lou,

                              
                                               

a fun Christmas Gnome from Sew Can She,

                                     


Tilda the Reindeer from Crafts-Beautiful,

                                        


and the seasonal favorite Christmas Tree from The Sewing Directory.

                                         




Or maybe something soft and seasonal to rest your head on?

A Buffalo Plaid Pillow from Skip to My Lou,

                                     


or these Snowflake Pillows from Noodle-Head.

                           



Or maybe these adorable ornaments?

Sweet Tweets from All People Quilt,

Plump Partridges from Modest Maven,

or these simple ornaments from ThermoWeb,

                                

Last, but not least, these fun Elf Stockings from Easy Peasy Creative to put some of these gifts into!

                                

Have fun sewing and enjoy the holiday season!

Happy Quilting

Thank you for following!

A Wild Week!

This week, I feel like I'm running my own personal marathon, sometimes going at lightening speed like this cheetah.

Good thing my long lasting cold is almost gone, or I wouldn't have any energy for everyone's projects.

Notice I said everyone's projects. None of what I'm racing about for is my stuff, otherwise I'd have a bunch of blog posts ready to go, time to visit with all the Midweek Makers party-goers, some time for creative thinking, and just general quilting. But hey, to quilt for others is part of what I do!

Here's a run down since Midweek Makers early Wednesday. I spent all of that day focused on the t-shirt quilt, doing the final shirt trimming and piecing it all together. I really wanted to end the day with the top complete, and almost hit that goal. Just had top and bottom borders to put on Thursday morning. I'm sneaking in a picture of the back - not all that exciting, but at least you can see the piecing.

This measures 73" x 98", and how I wish I could show a picture of the front, cause it turned out awesome!

I was so hoping to get it quilted Thursday. Unfortunately, I only got as far as resizing and printing the panto for hand guided quilting, making the back, and getting it loaded on the frame. Guess the quilting part was asking too much.

But Thursday saw a good interruption to the plan - making up more kits for the Winter Feed wall hanging. 

I had just sold the last in-stock kit, and before it left the house, I wanted to make sure my folding and packaging looked the same. And given the kit's popularity last year, I made up 9 this round.

And last, but not least, this blog post. Such a sinking feeling when the day is drawing to a close, and I realize there is no post ready for tomorrow. But at least this post explains the craziness in my house right now, and it won't be much calmer next week with 2 small quilts, plus a large one, all for customers, to do. Hopefully, I can show pictures of those!

And, of course, don't even mention Christmas shopping and all the parties - hope you have a great weekend!

Thanks for following!