Homemaking Matters – Treasuring the Moments

Make Your Own Ironing Board Cover

Elisabeth — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:00:00 +0000

I made my own ironing board cover! At least part of it anyways. My mom took over when I ran into a problem and since I am not very expert in sewing and was rather busy with canning some spaghetti sauce – blah, blah blah – mom being such a kind, loving and helpful person took it upon herself to bail me out. I was glad! No complaints here.

The whole process was really easy with only one snag which Ill tell you about in a minute.

We used this tutorial from U-Blog which utilizes your old ironing board cover .

This picture shows the area we could never get quite right. At the point of the cover we could not get it to fit snugly around the ironing board. You can see it has a little too much fabric bunched up. I was concerned that it might be a hindrance in ironing but I have not noticed any issues and I’ve been ironing plenty.

My old ironing board cover had a neat feature. The sides were pulled together by a velcro strap so I never had to tug on the cover to keep the frame covered. With the tutorial I used, I was able to keep this feature.

The finished product.

I don’t find sewing to be very economical. What do all you seamstresses and crafters do to bring the prices down to a more reasonable range?

Being a relative newbie on the sewing scene I found the tutorial to be easy to follow and the project to be quite simple and straightforward – except for that one glitch I mentioned.

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent – A Failure

Elisabeth — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:26:00 +0000

I got inspired to try out a homemade dishwasher detergent. Every recipe I looked at on the Internet recommended Borax and Baking Soda 1:1. Okay, no problem. I’ve had Borax downstairs on top of my freezer for about 5 years now, waiting for some use I’ve quite forgotten. Of course, baking Soda was in my cupboards as well.

My first attempt was unsatisfactory. Dishes had some particles of food, smudges and a fine film covering the surface.

Second attempt adding vinegar as a rinse aid was unsatisfactory. Same problem. Dishes had particles of food, smudges and a fine film. Now I’ve used vinegar plenty in the past as a rinse aid for hard water and it works excellently but in this case it did not.

The next time my son put liquid dish soap in unbeknownst to me. Too much. I’m sure you’ve read about what happens right? Soap and water was coming out on to the floor as well as rust from who knows where. It was a surprise to me; I didn’t know my dishwasher had rust!

Result – floor was clean, dishwasher purged itself of any nasty things hidden in its dark spots and dishes were shiny but had to go through another wash cycle to get any extra soap that might have dried on. In the meantime, the dishes are piling up on the counter waiting for their turn in the dishwasher and their chance to shine.

My advice – don’t bother with this common recipe of Borax and Baking Soda.