Out with the nasty

Boy did I need a new ironing board cover. I sew a lot, and so I use my ironing board a lot for pressing. I have an oversized ironing board that is so great for my purposes, but it only came with unbleached muslin covers. Both stained and tore, and finding new, oversized covers is hard to do. Plus, when you do find them, they are overpriced.



Ugh! It's pretty much ruined all my tutorials, hanging out in the background all nasty-like.

I decided to make my own, and heck if it's not the easiest thing I have ever done. Ever. I found a tutorial here.

OK, watch how simple this is: Buy a piece of fabric -- must be 100% cotton, no synthetics, due to the heat of the iron. I bought 2 yards, but I had a bit left over as you'll see in the picture.

Take off your old cover and pull the string out. Save the string and the little plastic string tie thing, if it has one.

Smooth out the old cover on top of the new one. Cut, leaving a seam allowance of your choice.





Remove cat before proceeding. (I swear, I thought she was going to pee on there. She's on antibiotics now, but she had a bit of a bladder infection and was peeing in naughty places. She was especially fond of fabric. She must be feeling better because she just sat on it and kept her wee-wee to herself.)

Finish the edge. I serged mine, but if you don't have a serger, just zig-zag on your sewing machine.



Now just fold over and sew a little casing for the string. None of this has to look pretty. It will be hidden on the underside of the ironing board.



Now, run the string through the casing. Have you ever used one of these bodkins instead of a safety pin? They are awesome, and practically free.



Put your new cover on the board and pull in the strings. Look how much better!

It's all downhill from here

In the post below, you'll see I got excited about how to fold a T-shirt. In this post, we'll observe my slow descent into Loserville. I definitely am a loser of sorts because I can never remember which hand to make the loser "L" with on my forehead so that the "L" will go the right direction. I have been told that makes me a loser in and of itself.

In this post, I get overly excited about an ironing board. But once you see the picture, perhaps you'll understand:



Mark may get mad that I bought a new, not very cheap ironing board when we already had one that worked, but allow me to present my defense:
1. He doesn't iron. Ever.
2. I do.
3. Pressing is an essential and integral part of sewing. One must press constantly and between every step.
4. This ironing board is much wider than a normal ironing board, and since I do a lot of my pinning on the board, this allows me a greater work space.
5. This ironing board has a holder for the iron -- thus leaving me with more work space.
6. This board has a little bar that folds out to hang shirts, which comes in handy when I iron MARK'S shirts and have to walk each one to the bedroom to hang it as I go. For the record and in Mark's defense, he does pay me to iron his shirts. And I do complain more than necessary despite that.
7. This board has a shelf underneath on which to store my pressing ham and roll. Do you see how snug and comfy they are down there? I can also hang the spray bottle there.

Mark doesn't necessarily understand the importance of these factors, but I'm sure you do. And in all liklihood, he won't even notice that the ironing board is different.

UPDATE: Mark noticed the ironing board the very second he walked into the room. I was not in too much trouble. He appreciated the holder for the iron, at least.