A while back, a few years, maybe longer than a few (I lose track), I bought a new ironing board cover. And, I bought a pretty one. For many, many, many years, I just got the regular, silver-ish, plain old ironing board covers. But the most recent time (however longish or shortish it was), I saw a lovely, red-with-flowers ironing board cover. I thought it would look nice in the room where I iron (and sometimes sew). It did. But, ironing board covers don’t last forever (at least they don’t if people keep ironing on them). A little hole developed in the middle of my pretty red ironing board cover. The more I ironed, the larger it got. I needed a new one.
I couldn’t remember where I’d gotten the lovely red one. I think I found it once when I was in Fort Worth. Beyond that, I’ve no idea. And, I might just as well have been in California visiting JoAnne, or in North Carolina when I was visiting friends near where David’s mom lives. I just remember how much I liked it. I hoped to find one just like it.
I tried Amazon. I put in “red ironing board cover.” I got lots and lots of attractive ironing board covers, but none just like what I had. I finally gave up searching and chose one with poppies on it. It arrived quickly, and I couldn’t wait to get it out of the package and onto the ironing board.
Over the years, as I (and Mother before me) got new covers, we typically just put the new one on top of the previous one. By time we needed a new one, the inner pad had lost quite a bit of its thickness and cushioning properties. Instead of removing it, we’d just attach the new one, and the previous layers gave some additional depth for ironing.
But when I opened the package with the newest member of the ironing board cover community at my house, I was pleasantly surprised to find a very thick, very resilient lining under the cover itself. I thought that maybe it was time to finally get rid of the two or three covers that were on the board.
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- I pulled off the pretty red cover (isn’t it nice). There was a silver one under that. And a purply-metallic one under that, and one under that, and one under that, and under that, a white sort of canvas cover. Yes. There were six layers of ironing board covers, very possibly dating back to my childhood or teen-aged years.
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- This is the ironing board top, which hadn’t seen the light of day in, I don’t know, a LOT of years.
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- The lovely new cover (with its amazing thick lining layer). It has four heavy-duty elastic strips (two on each side) which snap together underneath the board to hold the sides taut. And there’s a strong piece of elastic at the front, narrow end, which requires two hands to remove (but who would want to). It’s a GREAT ironing board cover!
It’s a far cry from the covers in my ironing board’s past life:
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- A new, silver ironing board cover would come with a thick, cotton pad.
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- It might have had a sturdy string running through a hem around the edge of the cover. You could tighten the string and tie the ends, to keep the cover in place.
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- Or, you might buy these fasteners that would grip the edges of the cover. The wide elastic would hold the cover on snugly.
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- For years, we didn’t have a free-standing ironing board. We had an installed ironing board that was in a shallow cabinet. It was a little smaller than a regular ironing board, but really convenient.
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- When we moved into my childhood home, I kept Mother’s ironing board. It’s old and so, so sturdy. This is exactly what it looks like, hanging on the back of the door of the room where the sewing machine is. Except, of course, it has that pretty new poppy cover.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
Isaiah 40:4 (New Revised Standard Version)
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth;
Luke 3:5 (New Revised Standard Version)
I don’t mind ironing. I guess it’s partly because I don’t have to iron as much as my mother and my grandmothers did. But I think if I put on a recording of Messiah and listen to the music about uneven ground being made level and the rough ways smooth while I’m ironing, things will move along more enjoyably.
I have inherited your love of ironing and I am very picky about what covers and irons I buy. Now donate that archaeological trove of covers to some museum!
That sounds like the kind of ironing board cover I need. My history of covers sounds a lot like yours. Maybe I should go shopping! 🙂
That’s what Amazon is for!!