Sew a pretty ironing-board cover :: Vanessa Arbuthnott :: free sewing pattern

How to make a pretty ironing-board cover - Vanessa Arbuthnott - free sewing pattern - Craft - allaboutyou.com

Shown here in Paisley Ground in limestone and raspberry, this pretty fabric cover fits over a padded layer and is kept in place with a tape pulled taut around its edges.

You will need

● linen or linen union fabric (see step 1)
● matching sewing thread
● thin cotton wadding
● 3m of 5cm-wide ready-made bias binding
● 4m of 5mm-wide cotton tape
● paper for pattern
● bodkin or safety pin

To make

Make a pattern by tracing the shape of your ironing board onto paper and adding 3.5cm all around; cut out the paper shape. Using the pattern, cut out one piece from the fabric and one from the wadding. Lay the fabric piece flat, wrong side up, and place the wadding on top, with the edges even. Pin and tack the wadding to the fabric around the edges.

Open out the folds on the edge at one end of the bias binding and press 1cm to the wrong side at the end. With the right side of the binding against the wadding, and starting at the centre of one end of the cover, pin the binding around the edge of the cover, opening out the binding as you go and pinning the opened-out press line 2.5cm from the edge of the cover. To finish, cut off the working end of the binding, leaving 1cm extra. Fold the end to the wrong side by this amount, and pin in place with the two folded ends of the binding butting together.

Machine-stitch the binding in place all around the outer edge, stitching along the opened-out binding press-line.

Press the binding over to the right side of the cover, aligning the folded edge of the binding with the stitching line. Pin and tack the folded edge of the binding to the right side of the cover all around the machine-stitched line.

Working from the wrong side of the cover, use overhand stitch to join the ends of the binding together up to the folded edge only. Machine-stitch the binding in place, then remove the tacking stitches.

Thread one end of the cotton tape into a bodkin or attach it to one end of a safety pin. Thread the tape through the opening in the bias binding, through the casing, and back out through the opening, leaving approximately 20cm of tape showing at each end. Place the cover over the ironing board and pull up the tape so the cover folds underneath and fits tightly. Tie the tapes into a double bow and tuck the ends underneath the edges of the cover.

This project is taken from 'The Home-sewn Home' by Vanessa Arbuthnott with Gail Abbott (Cico Books, £16.99).