Adventure 1.

Before moving to my wee house, I had a good sturdy built in ironing board that Mr. Needles built me. I loved that thing, but there was no reasonable way to take it with me and no where to put it up here.  So as a matter of course, one of my first trips included getting an ironing board.  

For convenience, I bought one where the pad was included.  This was a fatal error as far as ironing boards are concerned.  The cover was not worth 2 cents.  It was too short and too narrow to stay on. (See that edge of the board?)

 When it was put into the closet before ever using it, the top fell off. Ironing never happened.  It was too much hassle to get it to stay on.  I stopped wearing things that needed ironing. That ironing board more or less stayed in the closet till I was prepping my quilt top. I ironed on it but I said bad words many, many times.

I promised myself that I was going to fix it.  

When I sat down this afternoon, I planned to add extensions to the existing cover and move the tie to the new casings so the cover could stay in place as it should.  As I was starting to pin the extensions on, it became clear that the fabric was bad.  It did not look sturdy enough to withstand the good hard pull of the a properly tight string.  I debated buying a new cover but darn it, this whole thing had been used once and I was not about to spend another penny on something I don't do that much of in the first place.

A quick dive into the fabric stash revealed a substantial piece of fabric left over from my quilt top.  I think I originally bought the fabric as the backing for my quilt.  I remember that it cost 50 cents a metre.  Yes it is that ugly, but it is a good sturdy 100 % cotton. There was enough of it for this.    

I used the original top to cut out the pattern for the new one, cutting about 5 extra inches around the outside.  Room to get under the lip of the board, and plenty for a good casing for the string.  About halfway through the sewing, I found myself thinking of the thin foam padding from the original board.  

It would have been smart to have had this planned out before I put everything back in the wool room.  A couple of wool batts would have made fantastic padding.  That container was at the bottom of the back of the room, and no it isn't coming out this soon.  I promised myself that I would pull some out when I pulled out spinning stuff next time. Till then I would go with the foam. 

But the foam did not work. Being more firmly tied in place with some extra central lacing made the padding buckle.  I tried to straighten it out but each time, it buckled.  Then I spied the solution.  There was a light weight cotton quilt batt tucked on my bookcases near the lace weight yarns. It was unused from a planned baby quilt and it would be perfect for this.  

I folded the cotton batt into quarters and measured it on the ironing board.  It was perfect.  No cuts required.  I obviously bought this not for a quilt but for ironing board padding!  There was a tiny bit to cut off to shape the narrow end of the board, and I sewed it around the edges to keep my quarter folds nice and crisp and then this.

 Far better results than I thought when I sat down to do this after lunch.  I think this over powering flowery pattern is great for a cover.  It is sturdy and well tied in place with just the right amount of padding.  This is the kind of cover that will last a lifetime.  We shall see if the board last as long.

Call me slightly less curmudgeonly.