This is probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever made. And so dang handy! I don’t feel bad leaving it in my living room because it looks adorable. And it doubles as a table for my daughter to play tea party with her dolly’s.

TUTORIAL: TV Tray Ironing Board

Supplies:

Inexpensive Wooden Tray Table (Target or Walmart)
Natural-Fiber Batting: 4 pieces, about 1-1/2″ larger than the top of your TV table.  I used scraps of Warm & White and Warm & Natural.
Home-Dec Weight Cotton Fabric: 1 piece, about 3″ larger than the top of your TV table. You can use a regular cotton fabric, but you might want to double-it-up or put some lining fabric under it. Or just be ok with the possibility of it wearing out quicker!

Insul-Bright Insulated Batting: 1 piece, about 3″ larger than the top of your TV table.
Staple Gun
Pinking Shears or Pinking Blade in Rotary Cutter (optional)
Tack Hammer (optional)

Step One:

Press fabric and lay it, wrong side up, on a table.  First lay your insulated batting fabric, shiny-side down on your fabric. Then center your stack of batting pieces on top of the Insul-Bright.

Step Two:

Center your tray table, upside-down, on top of the batting and fabric stack.  I recommend keeping the legs open – it makes it a LOT easier.

 Step Three:

To reduce the bulk in the corners, cut all your batting in a square almost up to the edge of your table in all four corners.

Step Four:

Starting on one long side, fold your fabric up to the edge of the table (this will tuck the cut edges under and help prevent fraying. You could also trim your fabric with pinking shears if you wanted). Pull the folded fabric to the underside of the table and staple it in place.  If you find it’s difficult to simultaneously hold and staple the fabric, ask a friend to do one while you do the other. Also, if you don’t have enough fabric to fold the fabric under that much you can just kind of roll the cut-edge under before you staple it.

Repeat the same steps on the opposite edge, being sure to pull super tight.

Step Five:

On the corners, tuck and fold the fabric under towards the short side of the table that hasn’t been stapled yet. Put a staple in the edge to secure that fold (it will be hidden).

Repeat on all four corners.

Step Six:

Roll and staple the fabric on the short sides, just as you did on the long.

Step Six:

Now that all sides are secured go back around and fill in the gaps with more staples. That fabric isn’t going anywhere!

And there you have it. Your finished masterpiece!

I love that you can totally make it your own by using fun fabrics or painting the legs. What a great gift for your quilting friends! Or one for every room in your house. Whatever floats your boat !

And look how nicely it folds up!

The idea for this fun project came from the blog Oh, Fransson! and the wonderful craftster AQ Employee, Diane.

How To Make a TV Tray Ironing Board

17 thoughts on “How To Make a TV Tray Ironing Board

  • June 23, 2012 at 9:27 am
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    What a brilliantly simple idea! Can’t wait to make one for my rather crowded sewing room.

  • December 8, 2012 at 6:05 pm
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    Was so excited to find this post. Have made 2 for gifts and one for myself. Today
    have shared with another quilt friend. Thank you for the detailed pictures and instructions.

  • December 16, 2012 at 10:22 am
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    This is the coolest thing ever!!! I’ve been wondering what to get my stepmother for Christmas and she would love a couple of these. Thanks for a great idea!

  • December 20, 2012 at 4:18 pm
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    Thanks for a great idea, just finished making one for my sewing room,

  • April 16, 2013 at 6:15 pm
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    I followed your directions to the letter, and this turned out great. I can leave it set up without taking up much room or it is a snap to take down and store. Thanks so much for posting.

  • April 22, 2013 at 8:03 am
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    Very excited to find this! I will be making one for my daughter’s dorm room!! 🙂 thanks for posting!

  • May 21, 2013 at 5:03 pm
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    If you drill holes through the middle about every 2 to 4 inches the board doesn’t warp it allows the heat and steam to be released

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  • March 31, 2014 at 8:19 pm
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    LOVE LOVE this!! my sewing room is a spare bedroom, so space is very limited….and my large ironing board is now OUT OF THERE! I appreciate the post about drilling holes to release steam/heat and might suggest making the top fabric removable using a casing underneath as I use starch when ironing and then it could be washed periodically …great idea!! 🙂

  • October 19, 2014 at 7:45 pm
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    I love , love this!! Thank you!!

  • November 6, 2014 at 5:51 am
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    Make sure you use a color fast fabric also! I had one and the color ran onto my fabric while using the steam setting.

  • September 21, 2015 at 9:19 am
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    Thanks for the great tutorial. I found this via a link from ‘Diary of a Quilter’ project . Using your combine advice I’ve created my own TV Tray pressing board and I’m really pleased with the result. It takes up much less space than my ironing board and it looks really stylish. Thanks for sharing.

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  • December 26, 2015 at 11:26 am
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    Being slightly disabled, I need to sit when doing my sewing so I am going to cut the legs down so I can sit while I iron. Love this idea.

  • February 27, 2016 at 5:21 am
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    Simply Brilliant

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