Studio One :: Ironing Board Cover

The other day, hubby mentioned our ironing board cover was looking a little worse for wear. And I had the bright idea that I should make one rather than purchase one like I always had. Sounds easy enough right? I ordered 2 yards of a canvas weight fabric - GEO POP by emmie k for Robert Kaufman - and looked forward to a quick sew in a few days.

So Sunday night I figured I'd just 'whip it up'. After perusing Pinterest, I had settled on a tutorial by U-Handbag. I thought it was genius that she 'reused' the casing and cord! And you know, it probably is a really good idea. But unfortunately, my old cover didn't have a string that tied, but rather elastic without any excess to loosen up. So it was quite awkward measuring and cutting the casing away. And even though I measured as suggested, it didn't fit my new fabric well, and when all was said and done, it didn't fit my ironing board at all. I was bummed.

Luckily, there was enough fabric to try again, and this time I referred to a tutorial by 36th Avenue. {Since I'd already cut the casing off my old cover, I couldn't really use it as a pattern which would have been very logical. If you can do that, do.} 

Anyway, here's a rundown of what I actually did in case you want to do the same:

1. Lay fabric on floor, right-side down. Set your ironing board upside down on fabric, 3" from a long edge.
2. Measure and mark 3" around the entire board, though I narrowed that to 2" at the square end. With the iron rest my board has, there's not much room to tuck the cover down over the edge.
3. Cut on the line you just marked.
4. Press a rough 1/4" down around the entire perimeter, to the back side. Stitch down close to raw edge to make a hem.
5. Now press 1/2" all around, folding the finished edge you just made toward the back to make a casing. Sew very close to your folded edge, leaving 3-4" at the square end, reinforcing your stitching as you begin and end.
6. Thread 1/4" elastic through the casing, starting where you left an opening. I used a safety pin attached to one end of the elastic to make it easy to thread. It'll take some smoothing as you go, but it isn't too finicky. I failed to measure my elastic before I started, but I'd suggest starting with 5-6 yards to be safe.
7. Once the elastic is threaded through, try the cover on your board! Pull elastic ends until the cover fits snugly, then tie the elastic in a double knot and trim a few inches away. 

Easy, right?! And it worked out ok! How fun will this be to press quilt blocks on? Very!

{Note that I left my original pad on the board before putting on the new cover. It's all snug enough that I think it'll be ok, 
but of course it would be better if I hadn't cut off that casing. You know. And yes, that is a power strip strapped to the leg of my board. 
Hubby put it there so I don't have to crawl behind the board every time I want to plug in the iron. 
Plus, it allows the cord to be more centered to the board, and adds some length.}

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday.