Ironing Board Cover Facelift

Today is a school holiday.  Yesterday, my husband and I were ice-bound and unable to set foot out of our house because of terrible icing conditions.  It was a Sunday, so most people on the top of our hill had no particular place to go anyway.  Today is sort of a thawing out day, so I opted to stay put, let things outside get back to normal, and get some things done inside. 
One thing my husband had on his Christmas list this year was a new ironing board cover for our wooden ironing board that also folds up into a seat.  We keep the ironing board open in our bedroom all the time, so the seat pad is never used and is in mint condition, while our ironing board cover has been replaced several times.  We used to order our covers from a place in North Carolina which has since closed, and I have discovered that there are very few places who make these covers for what I consider a reasonable price.
I figured I had enough sewing experience to easily create my own, since it's an odd size and can't be purchased at stores which carry ironing board covers.  I searched around and found this tutorial which actually uses the casing portion of the old ironing board cover.  So I gave it a whirl this morning.  It took me a little over and hour and I used fabric and batting from my stash, so it virtually cost me nothing but my time!  I am pleased with the way it turned out and pretty proud of myself to boot!  It's only noon and there is plenty of time left in the day to accomplish lots more!

 

 

Pin Cushion Jars

A new school year has started and that means the beginning of Sewing Club.  I had my first meeting and had about 17 girls sign up.
I like to start off  the year by having the girls create a pincushion because I think it makes perfect sense.  Not only is it something useful for each meeting, but it also it an easy 1st project, which the students can feel confident about making.  Even though we make a pin cushion every year and I have some of the same girls in the club all of their 4 years, I do a different one each year.  You can never have enough cute pin cushions!
This year, I had the girls make canning jar pin cushions.  I have actually made a few of these myself.  There is no sewing involved and they are very cute, and very easy.  The girls can keep their needles, buttons, and thread in the jar as well. 

A baby favor pin cushion jar I made

 

 

The girls were very excited to begin their first project!  I had a stack of fabric, some scissors, hot glue guns, fiberfill, ribbon and cardstock handy.  I used this tutorial as a guide and created my own pincushion jar prior to the meeting.  I used a large jar and filled mine with colorful spools of thread.  The girls followed my directions step by step, and within 30 minutes, we had a beautiful array of canning jar pincushions!  I took photos of each one.  Some of the girls proudly took their pincushions home to show their moms, but most left them behind, ready to use for their next project.



 



My Sewing Club pin cushion jars.  My sample is the larger one.

Student pin cushion jar

Student pin cushion jars