Chapter 1 An Accidental Business Is Born

We had a different life before I became The Ironing Board Cover Lady.

I was a market research consultant and on the Board of Directors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Sydney.

My partner, Victor Pleshev, was an architect with his own practice.

We shared offices and clerical staff on the top floor of an old soap factory on the waterfront at Mort Bay in East Balmain NSW. In the same space where a few years earlier, Ben Lexcen was busy developing the ground breaking designs for Australia II. And stunned the yachting world when Australia II was the first challenger in 132 years to win the Americas Cup.

The 'recession we had to have' in Australia, starting in 1989, decimated the building industry and architects in particular. Victor's main clients were developers and they were the first to fall.

By early 1992 the writing was well and truly on the wall. We had to close our business, say goodbye to our 16 devoted staff, sell our house of 19 years to pay our debts and make a new beginning.

The new beginning wasn't a hard decision. We've always wanted to live in the Australian bush. But on different terms. Have a country house and keep our city terrace house in Balmain, where we lived. The city terrace house had to go, but the country property was a definite possibility.

There was an extended drought in 1992 and our purchase was an over cleared, over grazed, small sheep property of 54 hectares (about 130 acres) selling for the right price.

What attracted us was WATER! It had a drought proof bore. Why is that exciting? It meant we could have the large country garden we’ve always dreamed of.

I'm an expat American. Born in New York City. I've mainly lived in apartments, townhouses or terrace houses with small gardens. I've always yearned for the solitude and freedom of the wide open spaces. But you can't have a garden without water. Our climate here is hot and dry in summer and cold and frosty in winter. We have abundant winter rains but sluggish summer rains. So a drought proof bore means part of our dream could come true.

The location is perfect. The village of Ilford is 970 metres high and tucked between the scenic hills of Bathurst and the burgeoning vineyards of Mudgee. And only a few hours from Sydney.

But alas, we still had to earn a living. Selling our terrace house in Balmain to avoid bankruptcy means we weren't independently wealthy. Victor came with some architectural projects in tow, but I came with no work prospects at all. And the architectural work would dry up quickly.

Victor has always designed products for his clients, so we decided we'd try our hand at product design.

Our first successful product was an accident. An ironing board cover. Designed as a gift for his mother.

His mother, Rita, was recovering from a stroke. Her major side effect was the loss of feeling in her right hand. Not noticeable to you and me, but a problem for her. Holding a teacup, struggling with an ironing board cover that constantly moved, holding an iron, weren't easy tasks for Rita.

While visiting her in Sydney in 1994 and watching her iron, she burst into tears because she couldn't control both her iron and the moving cover on her board.

The next day we went out to buy her a decent cover. One that wouldn’t move on her board.

We came back with a few. None of them did the job for her. The drawstring covers were too difficult for her to pull tight and the good quality elastic covers looked like giant mushrooms on her board because they didn't fit tight.

On our drive back to Ilford, Victor mused that if he could get a multistorey building to stay up, he could get an ironing board cover to stay on his mother's board.

And he did. Over a period of 6 weeks, he designed and perfected The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover. And gave it to his mother as a gift. And promptly forgot about it.

A few days later his mother rang. She had orders for 20 covers!

Victor reminded her he was an architect, not a maker of ironing board covers!

She explained to him that she loved her cover so much, she rang all her friends in the Russian community (yes, they're Russian) and they all wanted one. And we couldn't let her down by not making them.

So there we were, at our dining room table, cutting out and making ironing board covers at night. Victor was chief of layout and cutting and I was head seamstress. All we had was a small pair of battery operated scissors that cut only two pieces of fabric at a time, and a 20 year old domestic sewing machine and overlocker.

And so an accidental business is born.

There are now more than 75,000 covers in use around the world. And they're now made with love and care in rural Australia by men and women who have a disability.

To learn more about The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover, visit our website at http://www.interfaceaustralia.com.

And there are more stories to come! The leading hand who forbids us to return. Divorcing couples fighting over their ironing board cover. The bikies who storm our front gate to buy a cover!

It’s always a pleasure to hear from you and I hope you’ll share your ironing stories with me.

Take care,

CAROL