So Easy Ironing Board Cover Tutorial

So many projects… so little time!  Today I’ve several projects swimming around my brain, and scattered across my dining room.  I chose to focus on revamping my ironing board, just because it’s one I could finish today.

My black and white striped cover is about 10 years old and stained.  That plus the fact that it’s cushioned with polyurethane foam (which is quite unhealthy, but rather common in upholstery, mattresses, etc.) has had a cover remake on my mind for some time.  I’ve seen tutorials with a nice drawstring casing, but my old cover was just stapled to the board.  Sounds good to me! Here’s what to do, if you want to remake your ironing board cover the easy way.

Tutorial

Materials:  Old ironing board with wooden board center.  1/2 yard new cover fabric (for a tabletop sized board).  1 bath towel.  Tightly woven selvedge or twill tape.   Scissors.  Staple gun.  Assistant.  Hammer (optional).

1.  Cut off the old cover and trash it along with the nasty foam.  For new padding, use one large bath towel, folded in half.

2.  Lay the doubled towel out on a table and upend the now-naked ironing board on top.  Next, cut around your board, leaving just enough towel to bend over the side of the board, completely covering the edge.  For me, that was about 3/4″ from the side of the ironing board (I had to trim it down a bit more after the picture below).  You want your sides cushioned so that the edge of the board doesn’t eventually cut into your cover fabric.  Set aside.

3.  Lay out your new cover fabric face down.  Again, upend your board and cut around it.   But, this time leave a good 2 1/2″ of extra fabric around the board, so you have plenty to wrap over the towel and in towards the center of the board.  Now remove the board.  Lay the doubled towel in the center of your cover fabric and return the upended board.

4.  Call that assistant!  One person should pull the new cover fabric tightly over the side and in on the back of the board.  While holding that still, place your tightly woven selvedge or twill tape over the edge of your fabric.  Your assistant (in my case, hubby) should use the staple gun to staple through the twill tape and the new cover fabric at the same time.  The selvedge/twill tape will help prevent the staples from ripping your cover.  And, yes, it looks a little nicer too, for all those times that you’re showing off the underside of your ironing board.

5.  Continue pulling and stapling around the board.  If your staples stick up a bit from the board, you can use a hammer to bang them flush, if desired. Trim off any extra fabric, which may extend beyond your twill tape line near the curves.  Flip and enjoy!

I used Anna Maria Horner’s “Fortune” fabric from the Good Folks Collection.  It’s a nice match to our dining/sewing room decor.

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Change is good.

Last night was one of those nights full of big ideas that get me moving.  Not sewing; reorganizing.  Our dinning room has been in a state of flux the last 2 weeks as I grapple with this fact – I sew there.  My family knows and accepts that it is a sewing room, as well as a dining room.  Well, it’s time guests know too.

No more hiding the ironing board, no more constant stashing of the sewing machine, and no more traipsing to my bedroom every time I need fabric.

Here’s my rearranged dining/sewing room. I left the extension in the table, so that our family of 4 can eat at the table, with my sewing machine, notions box and random supplies pushed to one end.

Reorienting the table out this way, made room for the addition of a little wooden shelf to the left. It’s a permanent new home for my tabletop ironing board, as well as storage for the sewing machine and works-in-progress.  I just need to tidy it up with some new baskets and a fresh ironing board cover.  I’m hoping for a sewing machine cover too,  someday.

The other piece of furniture in our dining room is a buffet at the right.  It used to hold a rather useless collection of tablecloths, vases, crystal, tea cups and candles.  I had to ask myself why I was storing these rarely-used items so accessibly.  So, I seized the buffet as a sewing cabinet.  My  notions and scraps fit well in the small door.  And, my ever-growing fabric stash abides in the larger side.

Aahhhhhhhh! That’s better. Of course, reorganizing is not without some casualties. Some items are off to Goodwill, but I was wondering if these would appeal to any of my readers. Here’s a stash of 10 white glass ice cream dishes and some vintagey table linens. No room for them here!

The ice cream dishes are definitely vintage. I’ve had them for 10 years and my mother had them for ages before. AND, she thrifted them. I love their ridges!  The red/pink cloth with rickrack trim is about a yard square. It’s really old (again, from my mom) and a little yellow in spots. The red/yellow fruit tablecloth and set of napkins is was purchased new, but seems to go along with a vintage decor. So, they’re all free for the shipping. Just let me know what you want :). Otherwise, they’re off to Goodwill too.

For more pics of these freebies, see my photostream.

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Update – the dishes are taken!

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