Fool-Proof Ironing Board Cover (Really!)

Does your ironing board cover look like

this?

Are you ashamed to iron

your lovely new creations on your old, ugly,

stained, torn, ill-fitting,

and otherwise NASTY 

ironing board cover?

Well, help is on the way!

NOW!

NOTE:

This is NOT an "Uber-Crafty, County-Fair-Blue-Ribbon-

Winning" Ironing Board Cover tutorial.

Not at all!

This is an
"ACK! I can't stand it anymore and 

I have less than an hour to kill and

I need to make something to assuage my

nasty ironing board guilt" 

Ironing Board Cover Tutorial!

Here is what you need:

1 5/8 yard of cotton fabric

1 5/8 yard of Insul-Bright 

4 1/2 yards Extra Wide Double Fold Bias Tape

(I used scraps, so they are not even matching!)

2 1/2 yards 1/4" elastic

2 safety pins

and of course your regular sewing pins, thread,

scissors and sewing machine.

Grab your ugly old cover and lay it on top

of your new fabric lengthwise.

Cut around the old cover. 

Mine was MUCH TOO SMALL and slipped

off my board constantly, causing 

extreme frustration.

So, I cut my new cover about 2 inches larger all around.

Starting at the flat end of the cover,

pin the bias tape all the way around the cover.

Just wrap the bias tape right over the raw edge.

Make sure your pins are going in the direction 

so you can pull them out as you sew,

rather than stabbing your fingers as I often do.

DO NOT OVERLAP the bias tape

here, as this is your opening for feeding

through your elastic.

Using a medium ZigZag,
stitch the bias tape onto the fabric,

with the left side of the stitch on the fabric

and the right side on the bias tape.

Using the zigzag insures that

you will not miss the underside of 

the bias tape if your stitch is too close to the edge.

Stitch past your starting point and back stitch a few times

to make sure it will hold tightly when you start

feeding the elastic through.

 Attach a safety pin on both ends of your

elastic and start feeding one end

through the opening in the

bias tape,

which is two different colors in my case!

Make sure you pin the end of the elastic to the 

fabric with the other safety pin. 

This way, as you are feeding the elastic through the 

bias tape casing, it will not pull all the way through, 

causing you to yell nonsensically and throw 

your project across the room.

Once you have fed the elastic through, 

and adjusted the gathers,

you will have 

a little pile of fabric that looks like this.

Once again, grab that nasty old

cover and now lay it on the Insul-Bright.

I kept mine folded and cut two layers

because I like my ironing board really padded.

I cut about 3/4 of an inch all the way around,

so it was smaller than my new cover,

but bigger than the joke of a cover I had been using.

Now, put your new padding on your ironing board,

and fit your lovely new cover on top!!!

Grab those elastic pieces and PULL!!!!

Knot them good and tuck then into the 

cover underneath the board.

 

Oh, such a relief!!!

And since I have no storage at all

in our new house, I keep my 

ironing board behind a chair, up against 

the wall, when I am not using it.

Doesn't it look so much nicer than

the nasty old one?

Now, grab your old cover,

wad it up and

throw it in the trash,

all the while singing

and dancing to some guilty pleasure

pop song.

And in case anyone was wondering,

yes, this is some of my beloved,

hoarded Mary Engelbreit fabric

that I have been petting and loving

since 2003. 

It makes me happy to see it,

so I may as well be happy when I am ironing.

So, not my usual perfectionist sewing, I know!

But I truly could not stand that old cover anymore.

You can do this too! 

No fooling!

Happy Sewing!