It's about dang time

...for my ironing board cover to rest in peace. 

But...it's like I always say, when I want to make something, I want to make it NOW!  So, problem with wanting to make an ironing board cover is...casing and rope...I can make a casing, I think...but I didn't have the rope needed and on top of that, the idea of threading a rope through an extremely large casing is enough to make my teeth hurt.  Zero.  Fun.  Sir.

Luckily, I found this tutorial on how to make an ironing board cover using the previous ironing board covers casing and rope.  YAY!

Now, I am not as precise as the lovely Lisa Lam, and I will never pretend to be, but I was lucky to benefit from her excellent tutorial and now have an ironing board cover to be proud of.

My previous cover had a nice insulating pad attached...and I wanted it. So I carefully cut it away from the outside. I only nicked the front once...badly. It almost ruined the whole project. Be careful when chopping.

Do not look too closely at the extremely well-used...almost burnt clear through, nastiness of my previous cover.  It was time to be retired, clearly.

Trace...very carefully around the original cover.  Very carefully, got that?  Now, I normally would be very distressed and think possibly my awesome...Sharpie..yes, Sharpie...marks would show, but I figured I had a pretty good chance that they would all be tucked safely away on the bottom.  Carry on.

Cut.

Now you need to cut out the casing.  Measure 1 inch in from the casing onto the original cover.  Cut.  Preferably better than how I cut.  But, it turned out okay.  My seam allowance though was terribly uneven.  Make yours neat, please.

If you notice above, I had pinned the casing front sides together onto my new cover.  But it falls short.  You need to gather up the excess as best you can.  Try and pin evenly.  It doesn't look pretty, but luckily you're not even gonna see it.  It's tucked underneath.

Sew all around...but don't sew your rope....that'll mess up your tightening ability later on when it's complete.  I sewed this using a 1/2" seam allowance.  Also, sew with the casing side up.  It'll help with the easing of the larger size of the bottom piece.

Toss on some extra padding because you have worn your original padding completely away.

Throw on the new ironing board cover.  Swoon because it is so much more lovely than before...ever before...I mean, even when it was brand new.  It might have something to do with the completely gorgeous Heather Bailey fabric I got on sale.  Thanks Hawthorne Threads. 

Wanna see how the bottom turned out...

Totally good.

Now, iron with pleasure.

Thanks for reading!

Heather