Ironing Board Cover

In one of my ADD Crafty moments I strayed from my current pouch project and decided to sew an ironing board cover.  Today.  Yep.  Okay, it wasn't totally random.  Yesterday when I was getting rid of all of the fabric that I have "out-grown"  I ran across 2.5 yards of navy homespun.  As I pulled it out of my bin I thought, "Hey, that would make a great Ironing Board Cover."  Yea.  Weird.  I don't know why that project popped into my brain but it did.  And here we are.

Wholly Ironing Board Cover!

I didn't really follow any particular pattern.  All of the tutorials for Ironing board covers were basically the same.  Most patterns called for 2.5 yards of fabric. (check) Batting (check), double fold bias tape (believe it or not check)  3 yards of .25 inch elastic.  (check) and thread. (check)  How often does that happen.  Everything I needed I had on hand.  It was destiny.

Just eyeball it.

I laid my fabric out on my old sorry ironing board cover and well, ironed it.  I then roughly, eyeballed or estimated 3 inches larger than the ironing board top, and cut.  I decided to pad my ironing board cover, mainly because the one I removed was padded.  I'll let you know if this was a wise choice after it actually gets used.  I'll have to let you know once John gets home.  He irons.  I don't.  I press. Fabric only.  No clothing.

2 equally uneven pieces

After I had my top cut, I cut a matching piece for the underside from the same fabric.  I cut a piece of batting the same size.  Once all three pieces were cut, I sandwiched them all together, pinned and sewed .5 inch seam around the entire piece.  I trimmed the lining and batting back to and eighth of an inch.

I ironed and pressed the bias tape open flat.  I had to use 1.5 packages of bias tape to get enough length to make it around the cover.  Once both packages were ironed open, I sewed them together into one long binding.  Folding the bias tape in half I pressed it flat, wrong sides together, thus becoming the casing for my elastic.

Now that I had my really long piece of bias tape sewn (and pressed), I pinned it to the right side of my cover.  I almost pinned it to the wrong side.  While it still would have worked it would have made for an ugly frayed mess.  Then I sewed the bias tape around the entire cover.

Casing opening

Where the ends of the bias tape meet I did not sew them together as you would when binding a quilt.  Instead I left and opening for the elastic to be fed into.  I contemplated using a tie instead of elastic but in the end decided on elastic. And choose poorly I did.  I spent a good 20 minutes threading the elastic through the casing.  What a pain.  By the end I wished I would have settled on a tie.  (as a side note... Most of the tutorials I read said that this was an easy 30 minute project.  They must be super fast elastic threaders because it took me just over an hour to complete.)

Once the elastic was fished through the casing, it was time for a fitting.  I secured the elastic by tying it in a knot.  Fancy.  I know.  Bye-bye old ugly cover, Hello beautiful new masterpiece.

Now. Does anyone have a tutorial for covering the feet on of the ironing board?  I'm just not feeling the Duck Tape goes well with my new homespun cover.