Making something old, new

Maybe that title should be "making something crappy, not crappy." 'Cause crappy is the nicest way to describe my ironing board. I've had it for years and it shows. The cloth is threadbare and kind of looks burned in some spots. I've accidentally cut through it in a number of spots. The batting layer (between the cover and the metal grate of the board) is threadbare itself, even though I've put in more layers. Sometimes when I'm ironing that metal grate pattern is transfered to whatever I'm ironing. Argh! And for some reason there is a huge dent in it which means I don't have much of a flat surface.

So, I drew up my plans.

First step, I had my hubby cut a piece of wood to attach to the frame.



Voila!


Next, I cut a piece of batting (the 80/20 stuff) to fit over the top.


Then I cut a piece of fabric to go over that and pinned the whole thing together. I think people often use muslin, but I had a nice big piece of white fabric so that's what I used.


I sewed around the whole thing, just to keep the two layers together. Not a pretty job, but no one is going to see it. Then I made these marks at intervals along both of the long sides.


I sewed zig-zag stitches around these to make button holes.


Then I put the fabric on the ironing board and used some old twine to lace it together. I cinched it tight so the cover won't be riding around on the board.


And, voila! A new top for my ironing board!


What is really nice about this is that I can actually iron a yard (or more) of fabric. A standard ironing board is pointed at the end (for pants or sleeves) so you really don't get that much space to iron a big piece of fabric. I hate ironing only one half of a piece of fabric, turning it over and ironing the other half.

Now my board is big enough to have some project laid out AND have the iron AND some pins or scissors or something.

Ah, the simple pleasures in life.