DIY Pressing/Cutting station. ~ Tutorial~

My First Tutorial!

You know what they say, necessity is the mother of all inventions.  Which was true this time also. I needed a bigger table for my cutting mat.  My previous cutting area was on top of a ironing board I had made a few years back. 

Old pressing cutting station.

As you can see, it was not very large ( it is the blue diamond fabric). So I decided to make a bigger one.

What it started out as. 

The 6 drawer dresser I re-purposed was my hubby's when he was a kid. I think then it went through his first marriage, then I turned it into a changing table when Chunk a Butt was born. As seen here. 






Well Chunk no longer needed it, then it went into his sister's room for a year or so. Then we decided that it was too big in Her room. Which meant it ended up in the studio.  I am tall so when I placed my Ironing board on top of the dresser it was not high enough.  I used Mr. Wolf's muscle and raised the dresser up on cinder blocks ( I know, I know, I am a redneck). Cinder Blocks by the way are the BOMB! They can be used for so many different things, but that is a different post.

I do not have a picture of a complete before. Sorry. Take my word that the pressing/cutting station was too high..and imagine me going grrrrr! 

Drawers where removed. 

So with out further delay, I present my tutorial on making your own pressing cutting station! ( please excuse the mess, studio is currently in the middle of a remodel lol)

First I removed all the drawers. 

Support added.

 Then I added supports blocks on the back using screws. I tried the nails and hammer, yea, I like power tools better. :-D

Added "extensions". 

Next, I added the extensions to make the dresser top bigger. There are more L brackets under the wood that you can not see. 

Sanding.


I then took some left over
paint and painted the
whole thing. 

Then the whole thing was brought outside and sanded.

Dry brush painted.

Drawers getting painted

 I sanded a little to give it a more aged look. 

 100% cotton batting is stapled to the top. 

 Then a layer of Insul-Bright. Shinny side up. This is what makes it a "pressing " station. 

 Final step is to cover all the layers with pretty fabric. You can not see it but there are tiny roses all over this. 

 Finished project. The color is suppose to be some shade of lavender ( or so Mr. Wolf says), I call it bubble gum pink. Any time I want to iron all I have to do is remove my cutting mat.  I may also make a skirt for this at some point in the future. Ya know to hide the cinder blocks.
I hope you enjoyed my very first tutorial.  Now it is off to bed for me!