How to Make an Easy - and Extremely Cute! - Ironing Board Cover

I'm getting ready to shoot a video on pressing vs. ironing (I know! So exciting!) and I decided I just couldn't do it on my old, water-stained ironing board cover. I have a magnificent Michael Graves extra-wide ironing board that I bought several years ago. When I bought it I had the foresight to buy an extra Michael Graves cover - knowing that by the time I needed a new cover the extra-wide version would be long gone. I've moved it to four homes and I finally took it out of the package today - only to find that it was a standard-sized cover. Aaargh!

I was. . . angry. I briefly considered putting the icky old cover back on the ironing board - but it was really pretty gross. And then I realized it was just a flat piece of fabric - no shaping - nothing fancy. Even the drawstring was just slipped through the serged edge.

I realized I could use the old, stained cover as a pattern for a new cover - and one that would be way cuter than the boring Michael Graves design I had been schlepping around for years.

How about this cute Peter Pan fabric I bought in Japan? I just laid the old cover on the new fabric and cut around the edge. (New pattern weights are on my list of Things to Make Soon.)

I even made improvements! Instead of a flimsy serged edge I used some old (really old - look at that price!) seam binding tape someone gave to me. Bonus points for it being orange and looking so cute with the fabric.

I stitched the binding around the edge. I pulled the drawstring out of the old cover and reused it on the new one - I just threaded it through the binding tape using a big, blunt needle.

 

The original cover was tightened on the board and just knotted in place. I used this fancy sliding springy thing instead of a knot.

Now I get to iron on cuteness every day. Squee! I was so inspired that I didn't even shoot my video - I started on a new skirt for Jo instead.

By the way - the whole project took less than an hour from start to finish. Everyone should pretty up their ironing board this way!