Make Do

Everything I have owned for the past ten plus years seems to be falling apart at the same time!

I look at the stuff I received at my wedding (that just happened yesterday, I promise!) and it all looks old, tattered, and used up! I guess you could say that I have followed the old pioneer adage, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." Maybe I took that saying a little too literally! My poor ironing board looked like the iron had peed all over it multiple times! It was also covered with fusible webbing mishaps and the fabric finally disintegrated. I can't tell you how long I went without using an iron. I would improvise for the longest time by draping a towel over the board or using my traveling ironing board/ cutter that I use for quilting. I would have probably have improvised forever except that I have a queen size quilt that I am trying desperately to finish and my little ironing board just wasn't going to cut it! Since funding for a new cover wasn't available (I'm supa cheap!) I decided that I would challenge myself and make do with what I had on hand.

I had fabric from a Relief Society project YEARS ago that was supposed to be sewn into aprons but I never got that far (Sorry Anne!), so I pieced together a top and bottom and I used a mystery green padded material that I inherited from a friend for batting since I didn't have any batting large enough on hand. I had some concern about the mystery batting and how it would react to heat but I have been impressed with how it is working so far. I didn't have any elastic to gather the cover so I used strips that had already been cut for the apron kits and I used those strips for the casing as well.


I loosely followed this tutorial from Amy's Creative Side with some modifications along the way. It came together quite easily and quickly and I am really proud of myself for improvising and using the resources I already had. I don't need to go out and buy things brand new or buy things for a project. It was more rewarding to challenge my creativity and necessity really DOES breed inspiration. At first it was a tad bumpy in some spots, (You can see it in the picture above) but after some ironing that has since disappeared and if my iron should pee all over my better than new cover I can just flip it around to the other side since it is reversible! Now that is the bee's knees!