A week's worth of work

Labels: - Sunday, March 21, 2010

Well, I have had a few custom orders come through this month.This window seat with matching throw pillows is one of them. It is by far the most detailed and expensive job I have had yet. Of course, any time you start getting into upholstery fabric and foam you are going to spend a lot of money.
Anyway, this is also the first time I have worked with piping. I was a little intimidated by it at first, but I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to work with. I'm thinking I will probably use it more often. I think it would look great on some bags.
The cover for the big cushion turned out to be the easiest part of the whole project. Getting the cover on the cushion was tough. The pillows gave me problems too. See the green fabric? It's gorgeous, but it's a loose woven fabric. Hence, it unravels easily. Hence, you need stabilizer to work with it. Hence, I failed to do so the first go 'round. Hence, every seam I sewed busted. Hence, I had to start all over.
So 2 pillows that shouldn't have taken me more than an hour to do, took me three days. Why 3 days? Well, I had to go and get more fabric. When I finally got the covers made and I went to make the buttons to tuft them, thats when I realized I had bout 2 different sized buttons. So then I had to make another trip to the store...for 2 buttons. Argggg.
It is all finally finished now, and I think it turned out great. I just hope the client likes it.
Now on to the second of two t-shirt quilts.

How to make a new ironing board cover.

Labels: , , , - Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Ironing boards get really gross really easy. All that starch attracts dust and grime like a magnet. Of course, the odd accident with iron-on fusible web or interfacing doesn't help it either. It also doesn't help that an ironing board may turn into a makeshift table that holds juice cups, dirty diapers and the morning cup o' joe.
So, from time to time you may need to think about a new ironing board cover.
Why not make it pretty and make it yourself. It's super easy to do and takes about an hour.

Here's what you need:
2 yards of cotton fabric ( I used a cute pillow ticking I found)
2 yards of 100% cotton low-loft batting ( twin size)
7 feet of ribbon
cotton thread
knitting needle
safety pin
 

First, fold your fabric lengthwise with right sides together. Then, lay it on top of your cotton batting. Smooth everything down. Next, lay your ironing board on top of the fabric. Measure 4" out from the edges of your ironing board and cut through all the layers. Secure with pins.

 
Next, sew all the way around the cover with a 1/2" seam, leaving a 6" opening at the bottom. Trim your seam allowances and turn the coverso that the right sides of the fabric are out. Smooth out.

 
Starting at the bottom, without closing the opening, sew a 1 1/2" casing all the way around the edge of the cover. Make sure to leave the opening open. 

 
Take the ribbon and create a loop and safety pin it together. Slip the knitting needle through the loop. Then use the knitting needle to thread the ribbon through the casing leaving a tail at both ends of the opening.

 
Place the cover over the ironing board and iron it to smooth out any wrinkles. Then fit over the board and cinch tightly with the ribbon and tie in a knot to secure.
Voila! Enjoy your new cover!

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