Pimp My Sewing Room! How to Make an Ironing Board Cover

Do you like the cover that came with your ironing board? Is it still clean, or has it got interfacing gunk stuck all over it like ours did (ssshhh!)? Vanessa here today – I recently recovered the ironing board at T&TB HQ in a gorgeous yellow fabric, and thought I’d share with you how to go about it. A nice and easy project that will make you smile whenever you press those seams!

You will need:

• Ironing board
• Enough fabric to cover it – medium weight cotton is ideal (the fabric I used is from Ray Stitch)
• Matching thread
• Heat protective wadding – or reuse the stuff that’s already on your ironing board, like I did
• Bias binding – a bit longer than the circumference of your ironing board
• String – a bit longer than the circumference of your ironing board
• Medium-large safety pin
• Sewing machine and basic tools, including a chalk pencil or washable pen
• Optional: Pattern paper
• Optional: About 40cm (15in) of 1cm (3/8in) wide elastic

Remove your current ironing board cover. Lay your ironing board onto your fabric (or pattern paper if you want to make another one for later) and draw around it, 5cm (2in) away from the edge.

Cut your marked shape out of the fabric.

Open out the bias binding and press one of the short ends under about 1cm (3/8in), wrong sides together.

With one of the long sides of the binding opened out, pin it to the raw edge of the fabric, right sides together. With the short end still pressed under, start stitching the binding to the fabric together along the fold nearest the raw edge...

When you are about 2cm (1in) from where you began, stop stitching and cut your binding with about 4cm (1½in) to spare. Fold this end under, pin and press with your fingers, then stitch over the folded edge, guiding it under the needle carefully.

Press the binding away from the fabric, then press it towards the wrong side of the fabric, rolling the seam under slightly. Pin the binding to the fabric, then edgestitch approximately 2mm (1/8in) from the folded edge.

You should now have a little self enclosed tube running around the underside of your fabric. Attach a safety pin to one end of the string. Post it into the tube and using both hands to push and pull, guide it right the way around the casing until it pops out the other side – make sure the end of the string doesn’t vanish inside the tube!

And now you will now have something resembling a shower cap ☺

Again making sure neither end of the string vanishes back into the casing, distribute the gathers out until it takes the shape of your ironing board. Remember – more gathering = more curves. Position your ironing board inside the cover, then tighten the string until it fits snuggly around the base. Tie a double bow as tight as you can to secure.

For extra security, you can stitch a piece of elastic to either side of the cover to secure it – not essential, I added this as an afterthought.

Give your new ironing board an iron (not something I ever thought I would be suggesting people do, but as zen a task as any). You now have a beautiful, clean and un-scorched ironing board!

This project has given us the bug for tarting up more stuff around the studio, so look out for more posts in our ‘Pimp Your Sewing Room’ series!

PS. Have you seen we've got new dates for our sewing workshops? Come and brush up your skills at our studio in South London. (You can use this ironing board if you like!)