There’s no reason to settle for the bland fabric that comes on most ironing boards – making a new cover is super easy!
I loved my old ironing board cover, but it had gotten badly waterstained and really faded in the sun. Plus – I made all kinds of new sewing room accessories using the Ed Emberley Happy Drawing fabric collection and I wanted my ironing board to match. So time for a new cover!
This time I needed to replace the pad too, so it was a great time to shoot a video showing you how to do the whole thing from start to finish.
If you want even more padding, I recommend a couple of layers of 100% cotton terry cloth. A towel won’t fit the length of most ironing boards, but you can buy it by the yard at the big box fabric stores.
Here are handy links to all the posts about quilting tools and supplies.
Sewing Machine
- My Sewing Machine and Why I Love It
- How to Choose a Sewing Machine for a Beginner
- My Favorite Sewing Machine Feet
- Basic Sewing Machine Maintenance
Iron
Rotary Cutting Tools
- My Favorite Rotary Cutting Tools
- How to Use a Rotary Cutter and Ruler
- How to Clean a Fuzzy Cutting Mat
Scissors
Other General Sewing Room Supplies
- Easy Pattern Weights (a free pattern)
- Pincushion (a free pattern)
- Needle Cushion (a free pattern)
- Sewing Machine Cover (a free pattern)
- How to Make a Design Wall
- How to Make a DIY Cutting Table
One More Hugely Popular Post that Seems to Fit Here Better than Anywhere Else
Return to the Let’s Make a Quilt main Table of Contents.
Move on to the posts about choosing your quilt pattern.
Happy sewing!
I needed to make a new one too but was in a rush and bought one that was marked down and on sale! Gonna bookmark this for future reference though! You make every thing look so easy. Thanks.
Happy New Year! 🙂
Wonderful tutorial! You make it look so easy. I find myself thinking that I can do this. 🙂
How would I estimate how much fabric I would need to make the ironing board cover? Thank you!
It needs to be enough to run the length of your ironing board plus a few extra inches at each end to wrap under the edges. Flip your ironing board over and you’ll see how much extra wraps on each end.
Resolution for 2013… sew more! Thanks Wendi for your wonderful web site and fanatastic tutorials.
Thanks! And Happy New Year! I heartily approve of your resolution. 😉
Does the cover need to be any especially good fabric? Or only cotton or anything like that? My cover and mat are both gross and I heard the hints about the batting, but what about the cover itself?
Thanks for your super-cool blog!
Ooooh – excellent question! You definitely need to use 100% cotton for the cover. That’ll stand up to your iron’s hottest heat. It can be medium or heavy weight – nothing too thin.
Wendi,
Could you please tell me where you got that ironing board? I love my wide ironing board but it is not well made and rusted right away. I did not see rust on your board, what is it made of?
Thank you,
Jennifer
It’s a Michael Graves extra wide ironing board I got at Target several years ago. I don’t know if they make them anymore, but it was an excellent board so it’s worth a look. I actually use a new board now – one I made for myself from some Ikea furniture. You can see the hack instructions here. http://wendigratz.wpengine.com/2013/11/awesomely-huge-ironing-board-ikea-hack.html
I redid my cover years ago (need to again soon) and used my father’s old wool blanket from when he was in the Navy (Korea) to make the padding. Two layers and it holds steam beautifully without risking mildew, etc. I’m sure they are available through Army-Navy surplus stores pretty reasonably priced.