How to Re-Cover An Ironing Board
I won’t even tell you how long I’ve been meaning to re-cover my ironing board. But if you take a look at my old ironing board cover, I’m sure you’ll be able to take a guess. (*cough*Forever*cough*)
There are tutorials out there for how to re-cover your ironing board, including precision-tracing, ironing everything, measuring out elastic, and so-forth.
I just wanted to DO IT. And you know when you’re working with the time when multiple children are simultaneously napping, you tend to need to skip some steps.
So I did it. The lazy way. And now my ironing board is super-pretty.
Here you go.
Take your old cover off, and straighten the edges that were draw-string-ed. Fold it in half, lengthwise, and place it along the fold of your new fabric. I used a fabric I really like but which I didn’t have any sort of hopes or plans for. That way I won’t be sad I didn’t make it into “X Project,” and it will make me happy to see on the ironing board too.
My old cover was constantly slipping up over the long edges of the board, so I decided to make mine a bit bigger all around. There are no seam allowance, so if you want to cut yours the same size as your old one, that’s fine.
Did you notice my fabric wasn’t long enough? No problem. I just cut another piece to add on to the end. This wouldn’t be a good idea if the seam ended up in the middle of your board. The bump could cause more wrinkling in whatever you’re trying to iron! But alllll the way over at the end? No problem.
Not shown — Stitch the two pieces together, and iron the seam open.
If you’re also replacing the cheap-ass foam that came with your ironing board, you’ll need to cut that too. I used four layers of natural cotton batting. Because that’s what I had. If I were buying a batting especially for this project, I would buy something thicker so I wouldn’t have to use as many layers. But this worked fine.
I didn’t worry about cutting the edges perfectly. No one will see them. And I could have stitched all of the layers together around the edges (not in the middle — since you want it to be totally smooth for ironing), but I didn’t. Too lazy.
You know the dinky string that draw-strings your ironing board cover? It’s actually not dinky! It’s a nice braided string. So we’re going to use it for the new cover. Pull it out of your old cover.
Voila!
Now, starting at the narrow tip of your new ironing board cover, zig zag over the string along the edge of the fabric. Set your machine on the widest possible stitch, and go slowly… if you stitch THROUGH the string at any point, it will be useless as a draw-string. So you just need to zig zag over/around it. This isn’t too hard to do if you make sure the string is on that little center marker at the front of the machine’s foot the whole time.
See how it zig-zags over the string? Yay!
Now, smooth everything out, place the batting on top of the wrong side of your new cover, and your ironing board on top of that. Tighten the draw-string around as much as you can…
And use the little clippy thing that was on your old cover to secure the string so it won’t slip. If yours didn’t come with one of these, tie a really good knot I guess.
Iron your ironing board cover, and you’re good to go!
13 Comments
I must be lazier. I just buy that clear elastic and stretch and zig zag over it all the way around. Been doing it for years.
Before athritis slowed me down, I made a cover for my ironing board and coordinated the fabric with what I had covering the nearby daybed. I enjoyed the “look” every time I saw it! Thanks for sharing about putting fabric, batting, and board (upsidedown) on the floor! So much easier than wrestling with it!
I know this is an old post, but just came across it. I had that same fabric and had planned to do over my ironing board too! I ended up making a shower curtain with it instead, but used your tut to do the ironing board in another fabric. Love it, thanks for posting such simple steps!
How crazy that you had the same fabric for the same purpose! Haha. Glad you found my tutorial helpful. 🙂
Great tutorial! I never thought of laying my board upside down on the rug to get the cover on (DUH!). I’ve also used that shiny aluminum foil-type fabric under the decorator fabric for some extra heat.
If you have a serger you can use it to stitch over the string, finishes the edge at the same time. I’ve made several of these for myself and friends over the years. Can trace around the ironing board and add enough for the edge, for a perfect fit. Love your print fabric.
love the zigzag over the string trick for a drawstring. Very clever!
Great tutorial and super cute fabric choice! I posted it on my FB!
Don’t you just love it when you finally get around to doing something you’ve been meaning to do for AGES. Then every time you look at it you can feel good instead of that pang of guilt for not having done it, STILL.
Great looking project! Thanks for posting!
Love this! I’ve needed a new cover ever since a fusible-web project went awry…my husband says I’m responsible for ruining a couple of his shirts with the sticky residue! Oops. Gotta try this. Thanks for posting!
I just fixed my cover–again–and was thinking to get a new one. But this is great! Thanks for sharing!
You remind me when I was young and a stay at home Mom, loved my crafts and decorating the house! Now that I am older this is what I do:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fans-of-A-View-from-a-Heart-of-Mersea-art-by-Julia-Ruane-Smith/344090671048?ref=mf
I like it….. Tip: If you have fray-able fabric, you could run the edge through a little pool of Elmer’s glue so it wont unravel. Or Fray Check. or not. 🙂