Ironing board recuperation

It came as a shock to me a couple of weeks ago when I realised that our ironing board cover had almost completely worn through, considering it is so rarely used, apart from when Jim has a sudden shirt-ironing spurt. So I popped over to Fabrics Galore, my cheeky little fabric haven round the corner on Wandsworth Road and picked out some good quality cotton in order to replace the original ironing board cover.

If you feel like a change of ironing scenery or need to replace a worn away cover, all you'll need is:

• fabric (preferably heat proof) 4 inches wider all the way round than your ironing board
• approx 2.5m string
• pins, needle and thread

and that's it!

1. I began by laying the ironing board upside down on the fabric and pinning the edges of the material into a loose seam about an inch wide, leaving enough fabric to wrap underneath the board, once tightened with string.
2. I used the sewing machine to quickly stitch the hem all the way round and then I threaded the string through (this takes a bit of patience!)

3. With the fabric laid pattern side down on the floor, I placed the upside down ironing board on it once again before pulling the string tight, to ensure that the fabric was taught and evenly positioned over the old ironing board cover. I didn't bother removing the old one as it adds extra padding over the metal frame.

 

4. I then tied the string into a tight bow, making sure the fabric was equally ruched the whole way round the board, and tada...

...a new ironing board cover (with added dangly bits!)