How to Build a Pressing Board for Quilting and Sewing with Leah Day 

Great Tutorial! Mine came out great. I do wish you could add dimensions at the beginning, in the description or in a pinned comment. Here’s the dimensions I used: 3/4” plywood cut 14 x 14” square . Cotton Batting: 18 x 18“ square. Outer Canvas Cover Fabric: cut 22 x 22” square

Excellent presentation! Clear, concise description and directions, reasoning for choices was logical and given relative importance, which was helpful. And forgive me,but there was little to no extraneous chatter that can frankly so etimes be annoying when youre interested in the hows a d whys of a project and not how the week was so hectic for you and the recipe for stuffed peppers. You did an actual lesson, you see! I subscribed and look forward to more videos!! ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

I've made several small ones like this and my husband made me a 3' x 4' free standing ironing table for my height - one of my favorite quilting tools. I always put down a layer of aluminum foil on the wood beneath the batting to keep the steam/damp from the wood, plus it reflects heat for better pressing.

I have made many of these, I put drawer liners on the back of mine so that they don't slide.

This is the best tutorial on pressing boards that I have come across so far. Thanks for sharing!

Very easy to follow. Have made three of them so far.

I bought myself an air stapler/electric stapler just for this purpose. Thanks for this video, I’ve seen a ton of them but I like your idea of the cotton canvas on the outside. I will definitely get some. I haven’t made a board yet because I just wasn’t sold on the idea of using quilters cotton like so many people do.

Ordered my walking foot to follow along! Great topic thanks!!!

Thanks! Just what I needed, Leah.

Thanks so much for the great video! I made one today 36inch by 18inch in preparation to start the Building Blocks quilt pattern.

Thank you for this tutorial, I need to make a couple different sizes.

Thank you Leah for another helpful video, Hubbly-bubbly is off to the woodyard tomorrow bless him :)

I really like the quilt on the background. Looks like a great way to practice patterns.

Thanks for the instructions, Leah! After watching your video my hubby and I built a 24 x 48 pressing board to sit on top of a portable table I have. I love it and plan on making another smaller one!

I absolutely love this project! A valid reason to use power tools since I have an electric stapler. A similar concept to covering a dining room chair. I will be making at least one this week-end.😁

Thank you for this tutorial, Leah! I finally got around to making a pressing board, and your method is terrific! I've been using a small tabletop ironing board, and it just wasn't working for me, but this is ideal! Using it is going to make quilting and other projects so much easier.

I bought a wooden tv tray covered that with cotton batting and fabric. It is the perfect height for me and it doesnt take up precious room on my sewing table.

My hardware store usually has scrap wood pieces in a bargain bin for a cheaper prices I can’t wait to make this board.

I was just thinking yesterday as I was pressing some seams that I wished I had a firmer pressing surface and thought I would have to buy one of those boards. Wow! I can just make one. Best of all I think I already have all the materiels. Thank you

I made one today. My house was built in 1982 and when the builder cut out the holes for the sink; after he had put the cabinet top on the wood. He gave me one of the cut-outs for a cutting board that matched my cabinet top. . I’ve used it for years, but I have other ones to use. I had some canvas that I’d bought for something else but decided against that project, and I’d bought some cotton batting to that is for making microwaveable baked potatoes. The corners were rounded. I don’t like the finished corners that much, but it is pretty heavy canvas. I made it while tending to 2 grandkids. Thanks for the video.

One thing I did to my pressing board was take a fabric marker and draw straight lines at different measurements, and squares onto the fabric. It helps me to iron strips straight and iron blocks inside the squares without warping them. Also, the heat of the iron 'fixed' the marker and I have no bleed even with steam. Great video!

I have a homemade pressing board but need to change out the fabric.. I'm going to look for canvas. Thanks for a great tutorial 😊

I have a 4 foot by 2 foot board I made a while ago. I love it. I covered it with terrycloth and quilting cotton. It is getting time to recover it I may try the canvas this time.

I made my own ironing mat! Used heat reflective fabric, heavy felt by the yard and some cotton fabric on top. Stapled it to a 15x9" wood board in layers and covered the staples with some cute ribbon, hand sewn around the perimeter. I put the seams and staples on the sides so it would look nicer and wouldn't scratch table surfaces. Your video was so helpful!

Yay! Thank you so much Leah! I made this board twice so far, the first time I didn’t have 100% cotton, so one is with 80/20, I will let you know how that holds up. I just got my hundred percent cotton and made my second one I followed along with your video thank you so much

Another idea for the bottom of the board would be those little feet that you can just hammer into the bottom. Cheap and would probably give you a nice grip to the underside. I don’t know exactly what they are called but they have a rubbery finish on them

I have a 72" resin table that serves as my pressing, cutting, and folding surface (as that room is also my laundry room). I had a piece of plywood cut to fit the whole table and used Warm & Natural and canvas for the (full table) pressing surface. I did the additional step of spritzing it all down with water as a last step...shrunk the canvas just a tad to make sure it was snug. I keep a large cutting mat on one side but can easily take it off to give me a huge area, or add more smaller cutting mats to have a huge cutting surface.

Thanks. I thought that I missed this video. I do have a small one that was with my Viking machine. It does have the marks and cutting board on the other side. I will have to make one of these.

My husband made one for me and I use it all the time. Very handy and worth making.

Awesome diy. New subbie here. Christina

A couple years ago, my husband @daileywoodworks was making Wahoo boards for customers. There was a mistake board so I stole it and covered it in two layers of thin batting and had him make 4 small feet for it. It’s been my pressing board ever since! It’s badly in need of recovering. It’s about 2’x2’. I’ve been thinking I need a tiny one for beside my machine but also thinking about a much bigger one. Currently, my husband is building me a craft room in the garage so we can have 3 actual bedrooms again. One thing that will eventually be a part of it is a huge table about 5x5 (it will also fold away) for pressing, basting, etc. I think I am going to make a much bigger one for that table!

If you can attach half-round wood molding to 1 or 2 of the edges of the bare board you could use those padded edges to press small curves (face masks?) and darts. Or start with a board with already rounded edges such as a thick kitchen cutting board. Or, just glue two 1/2" or 3/4" boards together and then sand the edges to a half-round shape. Depending on your needs, the additional complexity may be worth it if you have the right tools.

Hmmmm, I may do my whole layout table like that lol. It's a big solid dining table I got from a thrift store.

agreed. a large pressing area to press long seams makes a huge difference. we used a canvas with pattern that has straight lines. turned it wrong side up to help from distracting my eye. It's big enough to press a strip set or tube and it has made a dramatic difference. You are right in saying a pressing board is one of the most important tools in a sewing room. Also, we used insulbright and batting. This reflects the heat and helps iron on both sides at once. I press multiple pieces so I can leave the previous block on the pressing surface to cool down and "remember" how I want it to behave. That little tip has also made a huge difference in pressing. Ironing and pressing is now not a chore but a pleasure

I live by mine, and I have one next to my sewing machine, it is invaluable. I made it ehenifurst started quilting. I thought at first, there's no "give', but that's what makes it perfect when piecing stuff!

Thank you, Leah, for ALL of your very meticulous videos! What do you find as max fabric layers for cutting accurate 2 1/2 squares? I have done only two table runners and one lap quilt. My next quilt is requiring hundreds of squares! I’m actually in a panic, but want to do this.

That looks great. Would a stripped canvas work also.

Can the fabric be regular cotton fabric or does it have to be Canvas?

Do you wash your canvas before making your board? I used duck cloth on my first board. Have some canvas to re-cover it because it REALLY needs it! Thanks for all your tutorials, Leah.

Leah, would duck cloth (canvas) be ok to use? Thank you for the video tutorial.

Random question..if and when you do aplique or on your back label, do you do quilting over it? I'm torn but then the back if the quilt doesn't look good to be when it's uneven Idk. I have a lot to learn Lol!

Great demo. Where can I get the canvas?

How would wool do as the top fabric? Just curious since wool holds heat real good.

Love the way you explained everything and the materials you used. Will cotton quilting batting work?

Hi Leah, is there any reason not to use a pretty colored print instead of white or natural on this pressing board?

Is the 3/4 inch plywood the only thickness you can use?

do you use just the single layer of batting?

When you recover the board each year, how do you easily remove the staples?

Do you think a colored cotton canvas cover would bleed?

where can I find this canvas material?

Recycle old mattress pads or worn out quilts.

Is 100% cotton duck canvas okay to use for this project?

I notice some really interesting irons that seem to automatically rise off the mat in quilting videos, could you give more information on them?

Does it have to be 100 percent cotton or is 80/20 ok? That’s all I have.

why did you use aluminum foil on the pressing board

Do NOT use green-treated plywood. If you are remotely tempted to use green-treated plywood because that is the scraps you may have, don't use it. I had leftover half-inch regular, untreated plywood that I cut to the size I wanted and rounded the corners, and just laminated/glued the 2 pieces together to make my pressing board. Yes, it is thicker and heavier, definitely overkill for strength, but I did not want to buy three-quarter inch plywood just for this project, and I found that half-inch alone is not quite thick enough. You could even laminate/glue 3 pieces of quarter-inch plywood together or a combination of half-inch plus quarter-inch plywood if those are the scraps you have.