DIY Ironing Mat

**Would you believe I've had people ask me to make these for them? Which is a bit of terrific... I have listed it on Etsy if you're interested in your own custom mat!

First, a confession.  I have no issues with confessing this to you, my friends, because I know you won't judge me.

I'm having an affair.  His name is Canon.  He's a Rebel.  I found him on Amazon.com.  It was love at first sight.  My husband knows about him and is surprisingly supportive.

I got a new camera!  So now I'm learning about ISO (which, for those of you not in the know, is pronounced EYE-SO and has to be shouted because it's in all caps) and aperture and a billion other things that are completely confusing to me.

Ansel Adams, look out.

On to today's project!  I got an iron for Christmas and it's amazing.  It's also bigger than my head, not sure why.  But I don't have an ironing board.  More importantly, I don't want an ironing board.  They are large, bulky and have to be put away which is always a production.  So I found something on Pinterest that I thought would work great.

I got some fabric in two patterns, a yard of each, and a yard of Insul-Batting.  I also got some magnets and puffy paint which I did not end up using.

I measured the top of my dryer and pinned the fabric together, right-side out.  I cut the fabric using the measurements, making sure to leave plenty on the sides.

Once I had the measurements right, I grabbed a fat square of fabric and laid out my magnets on it.

I folded the fabric over and cut it.  I pinned all the magnets in place for sewing.

I hand-stitched around the magnets.  I didn't want them to slide around, so I made sure they were pretty snug.

Once that was done, I stitched the magnet ensemble to the wrong side of my bottom fabric.  I made sure to place it so that it would stick to the sides of the dryer.

I tested it out before stitching, just to be sure it would fit OK...

Then I laid the batting on the bottom fabric...

And pinned the top fabric to it, tucking the ends in as I went.

I enlisted the help of my super-awesome Aunt Lois to sew up the sides because she's got a black belt in sewing machine.  Sewing up the edges took her about five minutes.

And then I took it home and tried it out.  It is too cute and works great!

In a project for one of these that I saw, they used puffy paint on the bottom to stop the mat from sliding around... the magnets I got must be super-strong because the mat doesn't slide at all.  And I can leave this up on the dryer if I want to, it's so pretty!

Oh, and the whole thing cost about $10... I love when pretty is thrifty too!

**Would you believe I've had people ask me to make these for them? Which is a bit of terrific... I have listed it on Etsy if you're interested!

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