A Silk Purse Out of a Sow's Ear...

I found this old work table on one of my thrift store runs about a year ago. I paid a whole whopping dollar (yes $1) for it and they guy at the thrift store even delivered it for me at no extra charge! Please ignore the mess around the table!

It has been sitting in my garage waiting for me to prime and paint it. I am in the process of converting part of our living room into my studio and wanted to see how it would fit, so we moved it into the house last weekend. But the thought of keeping it in its current condition - "woodgrain" laminated top, and ugly 70's gold pealing paint (until the weather warms up enough to spray paint it) was depressing.

So, armed with aluminum foil, batting, fabric, ric rac, ball fringe, Velcro and a staple gun, I went to work transforming my "new" work table...

I designed the whole table to be an ironing surface to tackle those large projects or quick seam pressing while sewing, and a cutting and sewing table. The first thing I did was cover the laminate with aluminum foil . This prevents the laminate from melting and helps to reflect the heat back to the underside of the item being pressed/ironed...

Next, I covered the foil with 2 layers of cotton batting...


Some cute white and red polka dot fabric was put on top. I tried out the ironing function of the table to get all the wrinkles out - by the way it works great! It was the easiest ironing I have ever done!

I stapled the fabric and batting to the underside of the top.


Then trimmed the extra fabric and batting and tucked it between the edge of the top and the table.

It gave a nice finished edge...


I sewed up a cute skirt with some coordinating red and white and aqua and white polka dot fabrics, and the black ball fringe and ric rac I was gifted with the other day...

I Velcroed the skirt to the table.


And here you go, the finished table...

I have a custom Lucite quilting table on order, along with a transparent custom cutting mat to fit the entire left side of the table (so I don't accidentally cut my ironing pad but can still see my pretty polka dots).

I am thrilled with how it turned out!