DIY: Changing Ironing Board Cover

I feel like I'm about to show you my dirty laundry.  Every time I use my ironing board I get grossed out.  There are so many nasty icky stains.

And what's up with the padding? It's falling out of the sides.  I'm just laughing to myself.  How embarrassing.

Yeah, it's pretty bad when you iron your clothes and you end up with the impressions on your clothing from the metal below.  Hmmm... no wonder that happens.  Check out the quality of my padding.

In an attempt to be green, I'm going to use part of my old ironing board cover before happily disposing of it in the trash.  I cut off about two inches all the way around the edging/gathering piece to reuse.

Then I used the remaining cover as a template for my new cover. Next time I would cut an extra 2 inches around my template.

Then I marked the center points on both the top and bottom of the fabric and gathering piece.

Pin the pieces together right sides facing each other on the top and bottom center points. Then starting at the top, work your way around the fabric, pinning a little on the right and then on the left.  Doing this ensures that it will be even all the way around and that you're not left with a bunch of extra fabric at the end.  Ummmm... yes, I'm speaking from experience. ;)  Let my mistake save you some time.

On the corners, gather and pin your fabric.

Here it is all pinned.

Now sew it all together.  I used a zig zag stitch, but I'm sure a straight stitch would work just fine.

Now for my padding, I decided to pick up a thick pad from Target.  I priced out thick padding at Joanne's before and decided that this padding at Target would be cheaper and save me some time.  I still wanted to cover it with a prettier fabric though.

Then I slipped my new cover on top and cinched it up and voila!  A new, pretty, stain-free, truly padded ironing board cover.

I'm linking to Shades of Pink and Kimba's DIY Day.  Hop on over there to see others' projects.