TV Tray Ironing Board

When I went to the Utah Valley Quilt Guild Retreat back in November, I saw a few of these TV tray ironing boards. What a clever idea for travel--they fold flat for transport, and don't take up much space in your quilting area. But they are nice and firm and make a good ironing surface when piecing.

I made three this week. One for Trish, whose birthday is this week, and one for Audrey (a late Christmas gift) and one for me (just because). I learned a few things along the way.

I loosely followed a tutorial found here.
I made a few changes:
1. They suggest using home decor fabric that is thicker and more durable. Probably a good idea. I chose regular fabric that I liked. Then I put a layer of muslin underneath. Maybe not as durable, but sure cute!
2. I cut the top fabric 5 inches larger than the TV tray instead of 3 inches. For example, my TV tray was 15" X 19". I cut the fabric 20" X 24".
3. I only used 2 layers of batting and one layer of Insul-Brite. That was plenty.
4. Instead of trimming the batting at right angles at the corners, I trimmed them diagonally. (Took three trays to figure that out.)

My husband manned the staple gun, and did an immaculate job of it. That fabric is not coming off anytime soon.