A new ironing board cover...

My ironing board cover looked like this.  Ewwww.  Apparently you should put a towel on your ironing board before using Best Press or other spray starches.  Who knew?  Today was the day, however, when I got really grossed out by the ironing board cover and I made a new one.  I feel incredibly clever.  Husband was most impressed.

Before Picture:  Ewww, yucky!

It took me awhile to select a fabric for this project.  Some prints can make me feel a little dizzy when looking at them close up so I made sure to test drive a few before making the final choice.  Test drive in this sense means, flinging the fabric on the ironing board and then staring intently at the resulting effect.  I finally selected a large gingham style print that I picked up at the thrift store a bit ago.   Make sure the fabric you select is 100% cotton.  It would be a disaster if you picked a fabric that went all melty when you started pressing.  

Throw your fabric on the ironing board right side down.  Make sure it is nice and straight and that there is enough to overhang at each end and on the sides.   I took some standard chalkboard chalk in a lovely rose and outlined the edge of the board.  I then threw the whole works on the floor and cut out the cover, leaving a good 4 inches.  I also put a layer of plain white flannelette on the board as extra padding and I did leave the old cover and padding there too just because I wanted a good base for the snazzy new cover.

Now you need to pick some bias tape.  You could make your own, or use leftovers but I happen to have a LARGE stash of bias binding tape.  Why you ask?  It is often in thrift stores and I buy it when I see it.  I often use it when making daughter scrub tops.    I used the wide double fold bias tape for this. I picked a rather icky colour.  It is not going to show and I thought I would use up something that might linger in the tin because of it's nasty colour.  

Open up one fold of the tape and pin it all around the cover.  Pin to the wrong side.  Stretching it around the curves.  I LOVE the way bias tape goes around corners!  Magic!  Once you get the one side down, turn it over and fold to the right side.  Stitch close to the edge.  Can you see that I used white thread on the icky brown bias tape.  That is because I was too lazy to change the thread and I knew this would not show on the finished project.  You might not be so lazy.

One new package of icky brown bias tape was not enough to go all the way around.  Luckily, I had a slightly less icky brown bit of bias tape in the tin that was just the right length to finish the whole thing.  

Snazzy.  Make sure you leave an opening to thread either elastic or string into the casing formed by the bias tape.  I used elastic.  Once I had the elastic threaded, I placed the lovely new cover on the ironing board.  Made it look all pretty, then I pulled the elastic tight and tied it off in a super strong granny knot.  

Voila!  Happiness is a new ironing board cover on a rainy Sunday morning!!  I am most pleased.  

After Picture:  so pretty and fresh!

Don't forget my fabric giveway!!!!  It is open until next Friday evening.  Have a super rest of your day!


And I will link this up with Sew Modern Monday!