My 1st cover I used the striped ticking fabric but my iron kept leaking so it got stained quickly. The next time I decided to use the silver heat resistant fabric I had stashed somewhere in the sewing room. I stapled to the batting and board so it wouldn't move plus I just have to wipe it off. Love it. Its been working for me for the past couple years now.
When my old iron caught fire right in my hand, a couple sparks dropped down onto the silver fabric and burned a few tiny holes in it but it didn't go any farther so I'm glad I had that silver fabric on instead of cotton or the ticking fabric. Might have been a bigger fire for me to handle.