Every girl wants order in her wardrobe, and these fabric covered hangers are as pretty as they are practical. You can add a lavender-stuffed heart made of the same fabric, or some fabric flowers, near the hook, too. Look out for the old-fashioned wooden hangers that have a hook that unscrews, as these are super simple to cover. Whilst you are hunting down old hangers, keep your eyes open for vintage hangers. Those with simple shape are easier to work with. Internet auction sites are a good source if you cannot see them at a car boot sale.
Hangers covered in shiny satin material, carefully ruched along the top seam and padded with layers of wadding, look lovely, but are the thickier ones to make. The simpler process of making the all-in-one version, made with offcuts of blankets allows you to cover a wardrobe’s worth of hangers in no time.
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Materials you need
For simple covered hangers:
wooden clothes hanger
strips of thick blanket fabric or felted wool jumper
fabric scissors
coloured cotton, silk or woollen embroidery thread
embroidery needle
For ruched hangers:
polyester wadding
fabric scissors
wooden clothes hanger
hand-sewing needle
sewing thread
pretty satin, velvet or cotton fabric
tape measure
iron
How to make it?
Simple Covered Hangers:
1 Unscrew the hook from the hanger if it does unscrew. Using the hanger as a guide, cut the strip of woolen fabric that will fit snugly around the hanger.
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2 Using pretty-coloured thread and blanket stitch, start sewing the fabric into a narrow tube. Sew up one short end, then once you have sewn a little way along the length of the tube, checked that the hanger just squeezes into it, then sew nearly all the way to the end. Slide the hanger into the tube with the seam at the bottom, sew up the other short end and fasten off neatly.
3 Find the hole where the hook fits into the hanger with the needle and make a little hole with the points of the scissors. Using blanket stitch again, sew a circle around the hole. Thread the hook through the hole and twist it until it is back to where it should be.
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Fixed Hook Hanger:
If the hanger does not have a removable hook, sew halfway along the tube, then slide the hanger into it with the seam at the top. Pull the hanger cover taut as you sew past the hook and than carry on until you have sewn all the way to the end. Fasten off well.
Ruched hangers:
1 Cut the wadding into long thin strips and wind it around the hanger until it is neatly covered, bandage style, in a layer of wadding. Use a couple of stitches to hold it in place.
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2 Then cut a strip of fabric that is deep enough to wrap around the hanger about 30 cm longer than the hanger. Turn under one of the long edges and press it flat.
3 Establish the centre of the fabric by folding the long raw edge in a half and pinching a crease on the fold. Open the fabric out again and sew the pinched crease to the wadding at the centre of the hanger with a couple of stitches.
4 Then, working out towards one end of the hanger from the middle, ruche the fabric up a little and sew it in place with small running stitches.
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5 Keep going until you have scrunched up all the fabric and stitched it to the end. Then repeat the process on the other side of the hanger.
On the end, you can add small woolen lavander bag or make some pretty layered flowers like a corsages. Or go crazy and add bobble trimmings, buttons and beads but ensure these are the types that won’t catch on clothing.