Tuesday 29 January 2013

Hotty Totty Mark II

Otherwise known as my iron slipper. 



 
The actual making of the iron slipper was very similar to MK I but this time I shaped the front and lowered the sides.  It doesn't have a pocket to hold the flex but the strap across the iron holds everything together quite nicely.  I like both covers, I think, but will probably use this one for workshops as it takes up less room in my bag.

I have four irons in all, two steam irons, one I take to classes the other my spare and two craft irons. My initial thought was if you have a steam iron it would be approximately the same size as any other steam iron - wrong they definitely differ in size. Even half an inch makes a difference to the fit.   So whilst I could give you the size of the pieces I used to make this iron it may not fit yours.  This may be one of the reasons why I've never seen them advertised anywhere.  However they aren't difficult to make but you do need to take some measurements first.

The measurements you'll need are:

a)   length of sole plate (this is also the length of the side pieces).

b)   Width of back of iron.

c)   Height - decide how high you want the sides and measure that.  I chose to make mine the same height as the body of the iron but you may want it higher or lower.  

d) Size of sole plate - just put it on a piece of paper and draw round it. If your iron has a "waist" between the widest point of the sole plate and the back of the iron you will need to take out this "waist" by drawing a straight line between the widest point of iron and the back of the iron.

e) Measure the distance between the point of the iron and where you want the top of the sides to be. In my case the top came approximately level with the body of the iron. This made my top edge 2" shorter than the bottom edge of the side piece.

f)   Measure how long a fastening strip you'll need to go across the iron with room to catch the flex in before it is fastened.



The side piece is the trickiest piece to create.

Using your measurements create a pattern for your slipper.  A and C will be the height and width of your sides.   E will give you the starting point of the slope.

 Draw two lines the length of A but the height of C apart.  On the top line make a mark where E is and start your slope from there to the start of the bottom line.  I used a 60 degree angle on this mark and it worked well your iron though may be slightly different than mine.    You should now have a wedge shaped piece for your sides.

Remember these pieces do not have seam allowance so add this as you cut out your pieces.

You will need enough fabric to cut out four sides, two backs, two soles, two straps and bias binding.  Approximately one thin quarter or two fat quarters should be enough.  Plus wadding, approximately one fat quarter.  Line one set of pieces with the wadding and quilt, or not.

Cut two right sides (inner and outer bag) and reverse the pattern for left side, cut two again one inner and one outer bag.

Use B and C measurements to create the pattern for the back of the bag, cut two (one inner one outer).

Use D for the base and F for the strap.  Cut two each.

Hope you can make sense of these if not let me know - have fun.



2 comments:

Lyndsey said...

Thanks Annette I shall give this a go and make a cover for my iron. It will certainly make it easier to transport.

Nicola said...

This is such a brilliant idea. Thank you for sharing.