STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

How to make decorative hangers

Give your best frocks the special treatment they deserve, and prevent the shoulders from creasing, with these quick-to-make hangers. They have been padded in thrifty style by binding the wooden arms with old tights: you could also use strips cut from an old T-shirt or jumper.

How to make decorative hangers

You will need:

  • 20 x 65cm floral fabric (per hanger)
  • Wooden coat hanger
  • Padding: old tights or top cut
    into 10cm strips
  • 60cm bias binding
  • Matching sewing thread
  • sewing kit

    1. Cut your fabric
    Cut one piece of fabric for each hanger, measuring 15cm x 60cm, with the straight of the fabric running along the width of the piece of material.

    2. Pad the hanger
    Bind the padding around the coat hanger. Starting at one end, wrap it tightly towards, and then past, the hook. Sew on new lengths when needed and secure the ends with a few stitches. Top tip: A length of double-sided tape fixed all the way across the arms of the hanger will stop the padding from slipping about as you wind it in place.

    3. Make a tube
    Cut a length of binding 2cm longer than the hook. Press under a 5mm turning at one end. Fold in half lenthways and slip stitch the folded end and the long edges together to form a tube. Slide the open end over the hook and sew the raw ends to the padding.

    4. Press the fabric
    Press a 1cm turning at the short edges and a 2cm turning along the long edges of the cover. Fold in half widthways and mark the centre point.

    5. Stitch the folds
    Slip stitch the folds at each short edge. Sew the top edges on the left side together, from the corner to the centre point. Use 5mm running stitches, worked 5mm down from the folds.

    6. Join the hanger and the cover
    Slide the hanger into the cover. Pull up the thread so that the fabric gathers over the padding. Even out the folds and fasten off the thread. Gather the other side in the same way.

    7. Finish with a bow
    Make a bow from the remaining bias binding, trim the ends and stitch to the cover at the base of the hook.

    Adapted from Sew! by Cath Kidston, £14.99, Quadrille.

    • Related sections: Country , Craft projects

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