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!"
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!
ReplyDeleteWow, 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!
ReplyDeleteLovely fabric! Those are some of my favorite colors. :-)
ReplyDeletePretty, pretty, pretty! I'm so inspired...
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteLovely fabric.
Lots of love,
Sommer
Very cute fabric! Very bright and summery. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, ladies! I can't believe how much more I like ironing now ;)
ReplyDeleteI'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
Thats lovely. It would make me WANT to iron. LOL
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing!! Now to decide on fabric.... hmmm.... :-D
ReplyDeleteShannon,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! Your cover is so much prettier than ironing covers at the shops. I'm inspired to make one in the future! :)
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...
ReplyDelete