Quilting is best known as a way to make personally meaningful warm throws, but the craft is much more versatile than this classic use suggests. Many other household items can be made using quilting supplies to produce unique, meaningful items you’ll love to have around the house or to gift to friends. Here’s a simple way to use your quilting skills to make a helpful and attractive ironing board cover.

Choose a fabric that will be pleasant to iron on. This means something with some weight, such as quilting cotton or a light canvas. You’ll also want it to look attractive, so consider using one of your favorite patterns or patching several complementary pieces together. In all, you’ll need around 1.75 yards for a standard-sized board. You’ll need enough batting for several layers, but this can be pieced together from scraps, making this a great way to use up all the fiddly pieces you have left over from your major quilting projects.

Place your fabric on your worksurface or floor, and invert your ironing board onto it. Trace around the edge, adding a border of between 2.75 and 3.25 inches, depending on the elasticity of the fabric you’ve chosen. Cut out the enlarged shape. Cut or patch your layers of batting to the size of the ironing board, using the zigzag setting on your sewing machine to join pieces where necessary.

Stitch a strip of double-fold binding around the reverse side of the enlarged shape using a top stitch setting. Then, stitch the inside edge of the binding in a similar way, placing small pleats as necessary to create a channel for the elastic. Feed around 3 yards of 0.25-inch elastic through this channel; a safety pin is useful to help guide the elastic through. Once it is through, distribute the gathers as evenly as you can and make sure both ends of the elastic are accessible.

Place the required depth of batting onto the top of the ironing board, then place the cover on top and tighten the elastic by pulling gently, When the cover is snugly fitted, tie off the elastic in a bow, trim any excess, and tuck the ends under. As well as making useful household items, quilting can help you give new life to unwanted everyday clothes. Check out these great ways to use old neckties to create stylish fabric masterworks.