Portable Ironing Mat

I’m working on a bigger project that will involve a lot of ironing. My ironing board simply isn’t big enough and it would be a pain to keep moving everything around. So I decided to make an ironing mat, which turns my table into a big ironing board. This will make any project that involves ironing much easier and I've already gotten a lot of use out of it.

They key to this project is to use a layer of heat reflecting batting, which is made for potholders and such. Then you need some insulation layers and outer layers. These should all be cotton, because other fabrics may not be able to handle the heat.

What you’ll need:

- 0,75 m heat reflecting batting

- 1,5 m cotton batting (or use old towels like I did)

- 1,5 m cotton fabric for the top and bottom (0,75 m each)

- 5 m bias tape

- Matching thread

- Sewing machine

- Fabric scissors

- Sewing clips or pins

I started by cutting the bands off the towels, so that they are able to lie flat. I sewed the towels together to get as big of a size for my ironing pad as I could, and then I cut the towels into two identical rectangles.

They ended up being 64 by 140 cm. I cut the other layers to this size as well.

Now I took my time to put all the layers together, making sure there were no wrinkles. I started with the bottom layer of cotton fabric, then the towel, the heat reflecting batting with the silver side up, another towel and then the final layer of cotton fabric.

I added some pins around the edge to make sure nothing would shift and sewed all the way around to attach the layers together. I also added a few lines of stitching across the surface to keep everything in place permanently.

Some of the layers had stretched, so I cut closely around the stitching to make all the edges line up.

To finish the edge I'm using bias tape. To apply it, fold one side open, line it up with the edge and stitch it down on top of the fold.

When you get to a corner, stop sewing about 0,5 cm from the edge.Cut your threads and fold the bias tape to the side, making a 45 degree angle at the corner. Then fold the bias tape back over itself, lining it up with the next side. Start sewing again at the edge. This creates a nice mitered corner.

When you come all the way around, fold the beginning of the bias tape over and keep sewing until you passed it.

Then you can fold the bias tape to the front. At the corners, continue folding one edge straight inwards until the end. When you now continue with the next side, you will get a nice mitered corner again.

I'm sewing the remainder of my bias tape into a strap by folding in the ends and stitching it closed. I then folded it in half and slid it underneath the bias tape in the middle of one of the short sides.

Sew the binding tape in place by stitching close to its inner edge all the way around.

I added some extra stitching around the straps to make the connection stronger.

And there you have it. A portable ironing mat that turns a table into a big ironing board. This will come in handy for me and I hope it will help you too.