Ironing Board Cover Tutorial

I bought my ironing board last August at Walmart simply because it was cheap and it fit my tight college student budget. They were all out of the pink and orange stripe so I had to settle for the blue. Then it dawned on me that I could easily make a new cover with some lovely fabric from my stash...and that's exactly what I did.

And so here we have it...

First you'll need to remove the old cover. Mine had a little metal clasp that held the strings together. I just popped it off with a butter knife.

At this point I decided to adhere that thin piece of foam to the board itself. This isn't necessary but it made things easier when it came time to recover. I just used a smidgen of Elmer's Craft Bond Spray Adhesive. 

Now remove the long draw string from the old cover (save it, you'll use it for the new cover)  and flatten the cover out. This will serve as your pattern for the new cover. Lay down the cover on your pretty fabric and trace with a fabric marker (or just a sharpie) about 1.5" outside the border. 

                                                                        

   

Your fabric likely won't be long enough to accommodate the entire cover in one piece. That's alright mine wasn't either. Here's what I did. 

I marked a line on the old cover when I ran out of fabric. 

Flip the cover around and finish tracing the other side, but this time extend your tracing 1" beyond that marked line you just drew. 

Cut out the pieces you just traced and you should have something like this.  

Place right sides of fabric together and pin. 

Sew with a 1/2" inseam

Iron open the seam you just sewed. Now that you've got your cover, you just need to make your casing. Iron down a roughly 1" casing around the perimeter of the cover.

When you get to a corner you'll need to sort of smoosh the fabric down and then press. Don't worry about getting this perfect, it won't show.

Once you've pressed down the casing all around the perimeter, you'll just need to stitch it down.

Cut a small slit through the back layer of the casing (make the slit at the straight end as shown below) . Take a safety pin and tie your string to the end of it. Insert the pin into the casing and thread it all the way through. 

Gather at the point of the cover to make a hood.

Use this to hook onto your board. Now pull the strings tight. really tight. You don't want the cover too loose or it'll be bothersome to iron on. 

And there you have it! A fresh new ironing board cover.

Ahhh so much better.

Note- If this bothers you, or if your fabric is striped, you'll need to take care to line up your fabric accordingly. I personally didn't mind. It's hardly noticeable. 

In case you're interested, I used Amy Butler's fabric from the daisy chain line. She has such beautiful fabric.

Enjoy! 

If you decide to use this tutorial, I would absolutely love to see your pictures! 

Linking to...

http://www.houseofhepworths.com/

http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/

http://sugaranddots.com/

http://nightowlcrafting.blogspot.com/

http://paisleypassions.blogspot.com/

http://www.yesterdayontuesday.com/

http://www.theshabbychiccottage.net/

http://firefliesandjellybeans.blogspot.com/

http://www.momnivores-dilemma.com/

http://delightfulorder.blogspot.com/

http://thriftydecorating-nikkiw.blogspot.com/

http://www.savedbylovecreations.com/

http://www.aglimpseinsideblog.com/

http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/

http://www.stuff-and-nonsense.net/

http://www.littlelucylu.com/

http://simplydesigning.blogspot.com/

http://www.504main.com/

http://creationcorner.blogspot.com/

http://www.findingfabulousblog.com/

http://strictly-homemade.blogspot.com/

http://www.bystephanielynn.com/

http://www.flamingotoes.com/
http://niftythriftythings.blogspot.com/

http://todayscreativeblog.net/

http://www.creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com/

http://www.skiptomylou.org/



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