Saturday 20 October 2012

Practical Sewing

 My ironing board cover was looking rather disgusting. It didn’t help that one of my not-so-helpful children had pulled the string out that held it in place. So not only did my ironing board cover look terrible, it didn’t stay in place. Rather useless for an ironing board. It became one of those projects that I’d get to. Eventually.

We won’t discuss just how long it took to get around to this project. Especially when the new cover was made in less than a few hours and with less than a half yard of fabric.

Chevron ironing board cover

It really was easy! All I did was trace around my ironing board onto the fabric (Riley Blake Chevrons – hello pretty!) then used pinking shears to cut around the shape – adding an extra 2” to each side. I would probably add a bit more extra if I made this again just to give me a bit more fabric to work with.

I lined up my elastic on the outside and folded enough fabric over to cover the elastic and a little bit to sew along. I found a zipper foot was perfect for sewing –close- to the elastic without sewing over it. Really, I could have sewn the edge then threaded through the elastic, but hey, I’m lazy. It was way quicker to sew it in.

Underneath ironing board cover

Once it’s fitted (and elastic pulled tight to within an inch of its life), you can’t even see my rough pinked edges. They fold in tidily underneath. As for padding – I just used an old towel – folded in half and cut roughly (very roughly!) to the shape of my ironing board.

Tada! New ironing board cover!

Ironing board cover

I don’t know why I put off doing this. It was easy and really rather quick. And now I have a much prettier cover! Maybe it'll even encourage me to iron clothes, not just quilting projects. Maybe.

14 comments:

  1. Nice! Mine needs this SO badly as well!

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  2. I did mine this year, for some odd reason it made me feel good, I also covered the one my mom had as a child and hung it on the wall.. I love your fabric choice.

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  3. Very cute! It's such an uplift to upgrade an everyday object into something lovely:).

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  4. Much prettier than mine... That's for sure :)

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  5. I have been putting off making a new cover for my ironing board too. Since we are moving next week though the board will get binned instead! The chevrons look great.

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  6. Often it is the easy projects that take us the longest to get around to....Your ironing board looks great!

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  7. Agreed - it does look very fresh. I ironed a piece of red linen this morning and it melted onto my iron and then transferred to the ironing board cover - and so I think a new cover is in my future too!

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  8. I need to give my ironing board a new cover too...and I was going to use some chevrons as well! Great minds think alike LOL I love yours so I think I definately will use the chevrons!

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  9. Naah! Ironing clothes is over-rated, I'd stick to fabric. Clothes get ironed only in cases of urgency in my house! I'm so lazy, I have a reversible ironing board cover and I keep meaning to but I haven't got around to turning it over to use the other side. So much easier than making a whole new one but still I never quite get to it!

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  10. I redid mine about 6 months back. And inasked myself the same question! My answer however was I was to cheap (I have a full size board) to use almost 2 yards of my beautiful fabric! My answer was to use a sheet that had a hole in the middlenbut the sides were in great shape! LOL and to be honest it is crazy dirty again! Glad I didn't use the good stuff! But boy it sure looks pretty!

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  11. Gorgeous!
    Any chance you want to do my table top board too?????? I brought mine from an Op shop and the cover fell off in the car - I stuck it all in the must get round to pile - but just never do.

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  12. I want your ironing board cover!! I have wanted (needed) to make a new cover for my ironing board but it is a hard thing to make time for. My ironing board will take much more than a half yard. Someday....... Love those chevron stripes!

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  13. It looks GREAT Kristy! I'm the same way putting off simple project just to realize how easy it was to make it at the end. At least it's DONE! :)

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