Hi there,
I recently picked up a second hand ironing board at a local yard sale. It wasn't much to look at but the frame was nice and sturdy so I gave it a new home.
Which is why I spent a couple of hours over the weekend making a new cover for it. To be honest, ironing board covers aren't difficult. I spent most of the time deciding what fabric to cover it with.
Pretty much any fabric will do as long as it's hard-wearing and heat-tolerant. Cotton is ideal. Denims are brilliant. This could be a great way to up-cycle the legs from old jeans - as long as you don't use the frayed or ripped parts. Or the seams. You don't want anything torn or bumpy on your board. It'll just keep catching on your iron leaving you with more creases.
Stay away from sheer fabrics, polyester or nylon.
Oh, and pre-wash whatever you use to make sure it's colour-fast. The last thing you need is your best baby blue shirt going a bit pink when you use the steam setting on your iron!
Anyway, I picked out some fabric remnants that have been in my stash for years. I didn't have enough to do the whole board in one piece, so I chose some fabric that I could stitch together in a kind of patchwork effect. Me being me, and usually in a hurry, I kept the pieces large, but you can really go to town with the design if you want.
Log Cabin, big chevrons, stripes... It's up to you.
Whatever you decide is right for your board is what you should go with. It's your board.
I used an overlocking stitch to join my pieces together. I wanted to make sure that the fabric seams don't fray. Loose threads bunching up underneath the cover, will cause ridges.
Don't have a serger or an overlocker? Use the overlocking stitch on your sewing machine. It looks a bit like triangles inside a box.
No overlocking stitch? zig zag stitch will work just fine. Failing that, 2 parallel rows of straight stitch and maybe some anti-fray spray will also do the job.
When all your seams are done. Make sure to press them all flat. The general rule of thumb here is that seams should be pressed towards the darker fabrics. The reason being, that they are less visible that way. It doesn't really matter though. The main priority is to make sure that they are flat. You really don't want ridges in your cover.
The best way to measure a perfect fit is to put your fabric face-down on the floor. Turn your board upside down and pop it on the top of the fabric, making sure that it is central. Then, draw a line with a pen or tailor's chalk 4 inches away from your board all the way around.
My fabric was only about 3 inches bigger, but that's OK, it'll still work.
I did the same with the batting, or wadding. I've used two layers to give extra padding. The cut for the padding is smaller. The overhang only needs to be an inch. Or 2.5cm. Again, overlock or zig zag around the edges to stop fraying.
Next, I made a channel all the way around the cover. The channel is for the cord that is needed to pull the cover tight.
To do this turn over an inch (2.5cm) at the edge of the fabric to the wrong side and press.
Stitch it down using a normal straight stitch all the way around. Keep as close to the edge of the turned over fabric as you can. On top of your previous overlocking is great.
Leave an opening of about an inch an a half at the base of the board. That's the widest end. You don't want the ties at the narrow end. They'll catch on the clothes and get in the way when you iron. You'll be forever tucking them back in to the channel.
For the next bit, you'll need some piping cord or some elastic. That's personal preference. I didn't have any elastic so I used cord. The cord needs to be the same size as the perimeter of your board plus a bit extra. This is the math part. Measure the length of the board top. Double this figure. Measure the width (at the widest part). Double it. Then add both together and then add another 6 inches to be safe.
To get the cord or elastic through the channel, you will need a safety pin. Attach the pin to one end of the cord so it won't come undone and then thread the pin through the channel. This bit will take a few minutes. Keep pulling the cord through until you get back to the opening on the cover. You should now have two lengths of cord sticking out of the end. The longer the sticking out cord, the easier it is to pull. So try and end up with between 3 - 6 inches on each side.
OK, now for the fun part. Put the batting on the board, center it. Put the cover over the top and center that to. Now grab both ends of the cord sticking out at the wide end and pull.
Hard.
This part is easier with a friend as they can hold the cover down around the board as you pull.
The cover will magically be pulled tight around the board and the padding. Then you just need to tie off the cord and tuck it inside the opening. Don't close the opening. You may need to re-tighten the cover after it's settled following use.
And it's done!
All refreshed and new. It might even encourage me to iron more often... Well, failing that, it looks a lot nicer hanging up in the cupboard now. :D Besides, after the hard life this board has had, I bet it's looking forward to a bit of rest and relaxation. It'll have an easy life with me.
Some people say that you should remove the old cover before adding the new. As you can see from the pictures, I didn't. You don't have to. I left it on for two reasons. (A) It adds to the padding. (B) I don't need to figure out what else to do with it. Leaving it on the board stops it ending up at a landfill somewhere.
I could probably have centered it a bit better, but all in all it turned out pretty good. No one will see the underneath. Or as my Dad always used to say, "no one will notice going by on a bus".
Bye for now
Olly
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