Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Oh yes, if you please'm!


Having at last got completely fed up with the ugly muslin cover that came with our ironing board, I decided yesterday that I would do something about it. I've hesitated at making a new cover, mostly because of how much fabric it seems to take. Even rooting through my scraps, I keep thinking, "Oh, that's enough to make such-and-such! I just can't use it for an ironing board cover!"

But at last, yesterday, I reached my limit. Brownish stains had disfigured the muslin beyond the point of "tolerable."



Some scraps of a cheery Tracy Porter print beckoned to me, so now we have whimsical vines and flowers covering our ironing board. *contented sigh* I just love easy, can't-go-wrong projects! It's so nice to have something pretty to look at while I iron -- and I now feel perfectly confident in declaring, with Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (who was always my favorite), that "yes, if you please'm! I'm an excellent clear starcher!"

11 comments:

  1. How lovely! This is a project I'm going to have to tackle soon as well. Could you share a bit on how you did it? Also...could you share a bit about your iron? If you recommend it that is!

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  2. Wow, that is such a pretty fabric! It's great that you can be motivated to get the ironing board out....even though ironing usually goes with it! LOL!

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  3. Lovely fabric! Those are some of my favorite colors. :-)

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  4. Pretty, pretty, pretty! I'm so inspired...

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  5. I would love to know a bit more about "how", too:-)I have a not too lovely plaid, stained cover(since we married!) and it needs some prettying.

    Lovely fabric.

    Lots of love,
    Sommer

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  6. Very cute fabric! Very bright and summery. :)

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  7. Thanks, ladies! I can't believe how much more I like ironing now ;)

    I'd be happy to share how I did it.

    I used the foam cover as a template, since the original cover was too stretched. Our cover was perpetually coming up at the sides, so I decided to make the new cover bigger -- six inches bigger! I cut out my fabric (no pattern, I just eyed it).

    Once I had it cut out, I serged the edge. To form a casing, I pressed under about 3/8" and sewed it down, leaving a small 1" opening on the side. I removed the cord from our old cover and threaded it through the casing using one of those big plastic needles -- but a big safety pin would work, too.

    Replacing the foam, I put the new cover on and pulled the string tight. Our old cover had a little plastic tab to keep the strings tight, so I re-used it!

    At this point, I had a problem -- the cover was definitely "flappy" around the edges, no matter how tight I pulled the cord. I think this came from making it so much bigger than the old one. To solve this problem, I pulled out some old springs that came with a vintage ironing board we had purchased -- they're about five inches long (unstretched), and have little hooks on each end that can pierce through fabric. Now our cover is tight and smooth!

    I would suggest using the foam covering your ironing board -- or even the ironing board itself, upside down! -- as a template for your cover. Decide how much you want the cover to overlap (I've looked at some tutorials -- now! -- and found the 2 1/2" is typical), and add a bit of extra fabric for the casing.

    Tilly, our iron is a Sunbeam Classic 3966. I like it fairly well, mainly because it has my three "must-have" features: a steam button, a water spray button, and a little tab over the water hole! It's nothing fancy, though.

    Yours in Christ,
    Shannon

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  8. Thats lovely. It would make me WANT to iron. LOL

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  9. Thanks so much for sharing!! Now to decide on fabric.... hmmm.... :-D

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  10. Shannon,

    Thanks for sharing! Your cover is so much prettier than ironing covers at the shops. I'm inspired to make one in the future! :)

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  11. Is it just me, or do I recognize the material? I don't really like our ironing board cover, but that is mainly because it doesn't stay put...

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I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thank you so much for stopping by!