Ironing Board Cover Tutorial - Beware, it's mostly extraneous....

I'm going to show you this very easy tutorial with a decorative (and useless, unless just bein' pretty is useful to you) touch, but I must forewarn you that the flair I've added may render this ironing board cover a royal pain.  As my dear Sew Shy commented, the seam lines in the postage-stamp and stripped piece topper I did will probably show up on items I press.  I'll have to try pressing something on it and get back to you, but I am hell-bent on making this work, especially since it came out so darn cute!

Still, in the pursuit of not spreading knowledge that actually sucks, I wanted to add that disclaimer.  I don't want you to sew an ironing board cover that is completely useless.  Lines or not, I'll use the darn thing since it took me the better part of a day to make, but I'll show you the right way to make a new topper.

Step 1: Trace your ironing board top

I had this rather fugly purple cotton hanging around.  It's too scratchy to use for a garment, the color isn't even throughout... heavens knows where I got it from.  The good thing about it is the weight of it; it just feels substantial and not thin or measly like some cottons do.  Anyway, grab that random two yards of cotton from your stash (I wouldn't suggest a synthetic due to their tendency to scorch) and trace a cutting line like I did in the pics above.  I traced my ironing board about two additional inches all the way around.

Step 2: Sew double-fold bias tape around the perimeter to create a casing

I used about five yards, so you would need two packages if you are buying it vs. making it yourself.  I obviously only had one package (black), so I had to use some other binding I had hanging around (beige -- look closely, it matches the carpet).  Be sure to leave yourself a small space between where you start and where you end your casing so you have a spot to pull your elastic or twine through.

Step 3: Run some twine or elastic through the casing to secure the cover to your board

I used kitchen twine, the stuff you use to tie turkey legs into place.  Just run it through the hole on the end of a safety pin, tie it a couple of times, and run it on through. You'll need about 4 yards so that you've got enough leeway to pull it through and tie it at the end.

Step 5: Admire!

Now, if you want to do the strip piecing I did, here's a rundown.

I went into my scrap pile of cottons and cut a bunch of 1 1/2 inch by 20 inch strips (they were actually all different lengths, but I digress).  Then I would pick three strips, sew them together, and cut them into 1 1/2 inch strips.  I sewed six of those together to get a bunch of long strips made up of 18 little squares, like this:

I got really tired of postage stamps by this point, so I knew I wouldn't have enough to cover the entire board.  I just started pinning around the middle and worked my way outward.

Sew the strip down, then iron it out.

Do it again, and again, and again, and again.

Since I hadn't made enough postage stamps to cover my top, but I did have a ton of leftover strips, I just used the same process to attach fabric to the rest of the top:

Sid pretended not to care about my amazing scrap busting.

She did, though.

Then I just trimmed all of the excess fabric away...

...and picked up at Step 2.

So go re-cover that grimy ironing board!!  If you need some additional padding between the ironing board frame and your top, be sure to put a couple layers of batting in there.  Again, I'd recommend cotton vs. synthetic on that, but you would probably be OK with synthetic.