How to change an ironing board cover using ingenuity and your face

After about ten years (seriously) with the same ironing board cover and pad, I finally decided I was just about due to change the darned thing.  It had taken quite a beating over the years.  There were stains on the cover, tears along the edges, and the pad had gotten so thin that a real nice pressing resulted in lovely grid marks on the garment being pressed.  Alas, it could take no more.

All pumped for the new purchase, I went to the fabric store I purchased a nice new heat-reflective ironing board cover and a thick heavy duty pad (who knew it could be so exciting?).

Beginning what I thought would be a simple 30 second job, I removed the old cover and began the process of attaching the new pieces.  First I laid out the pad on top of the ironing board.  The instructions indicated that I needed to cut the pad to match the board and secure it with the cover itself.  I decided not to cut the pad down, as I wanted to tuck the pad under the sides.  My old cover had not only become thin, but had shifted around to where if I got too close to the edges there was no padding to cover the grid.  So I pulled it tightly over the edges.

I did, however, cut the end so that it would fit in the iron caddy that is located at the end.

Now this is about where the fun ensued and I discovered that this simple job, was either actually a two person job or a comedy.  I put the ironing board cover on, starting at the caddy end, which kept shifting the pad, making it fall off completely, and pulled only to realize that I needed to start at the rounded end.  Easy enough fix.

I pulled and pulled the sucker to get it down around the edges and the darned pad still continued to shift around.  Now, at this point you are supposed to secure two sets of straps, tightly, so that the cover stays snugly on the ironing board.  That's right... secure the strap in your left hand to the strap in your right hand UNDER the board while pulling towards yourself with your third hand.  What I ended up with was something that looked like this:

Basically, I was forced to fling my body onto the end of the ironing board cover to hold it in place, while trying to secure, velcro, and buckle straps blindly underneath.  Does Martha Stewart have any photos like this on her blog?

Next the end had to somehow slide through the tiny space located between the end of the ironing board and the iron caddy.

Okay, seriously?

Yeah... seriously.

I have a new ironing board pad and cover!  And it only took a few simple steps and tools to complete!!!

With any luck, it will last me 10 more years!  Now on to some more sewing! Phew!