I am one of those annoying people who
likes to have everything neat, tidy
and organized. We work hard for what
we own and want to take good care
of what we have.
Some call it perfectionism, I call it living
a less stressed well balanced life, plus
being financially smart.
I don't do well in a cluttered environment.
My brain doesn't function well and
I become stressed.
I don't like wasting precious time
searching for things, or spending needless
amounts of money buying stuff I know
we already own but can't find.
Over the years I have become
much more organized.
It is an ongoing process.
One of the areas that I have finally
tackled was our Master closet.
While Hubby was on vacation I finally was
able to get in there and clean things out.
I ended up taking 6 large garbage bags
of clothes to Goodwill to donate, and
that was just my clothes!
I still own a lot of nice clothing and
want to keep it in good condition and shape.
I like to hang up my sweaters,cardigans
and blazers so that I can see what I have.
I am able to put together an outfit much more
quickly this way by being able to see everything at a glance.
The only thing about hanging nice garments
are the pointed shoulders that the traditional
hangers leave on your clothes.
So I decided that I needed to make some padded hangers.
BTW, all of my padded hangers will co-ordinate with my clothes!
Hee, Hee, Hee.
Total costs to make these padded hangers was $ 0.60 each.
The only thing I had to purchase was the wooden hangers.
I was able to find 5 hangers for $2.97 at Walmart.
I used to do a lot of quilt making and still have a
ton of material and batting to use. It only made
sense to make them instead of buying, plus I get
a sense of pride knowing that I made something
that is not only functional but beautiful as well.
This is how I made my padded hangers.
As I stated above, I purchased unfinished wooden
hangers from Walmart and removed the wooden
dowel rod. I was pleasantly surprised that these
dowel rods were nailed in, instead of being glued.
Don't throw away those dowel rods!
We are going to be using them in our garden to stake up our plants.
See, there I go again saving money.
Next up, adding the padding to the hanger.
I cut my batting 23"L x 18"W, I wanted a nice thick padding.
Measure one side of the hanger and add an additional 1 inch
to cover the ends, multiply that number by 2. This will be your length.
Fold the batting in half lengthwise, and then fold in half 1 more time.
You should have 4 thicknesses of batting.
Using a sharp pointed instrument, I used and awl, poke a hole in the center
of the batting. Place the hanger through the center hole.
Wrap the batting around the hanger and staple the upper part of
batting in place using a staple gun.
Continue wrapping the batting around the hanger and pin in place.
Stitch the batting in place using a large basting stitch.
Your stitches don't have to be perfect as this will be getting covered.
Stitch the ends closed. You don't want the batting to
slide up the hanger when you add your sleeve.
Create a pattern for the sleeve.
Lay your padded hanger on top of a piece of cardstock or cardboard.
Trace around one half of the hanger adding an additional 1/2" for
seam allowances. Cut out your pattern piece.
Choose your fabric and iron to make sure there are no wrinkles.
Fold the material in half with right sides together. Trace your
pattern piece onto the material using a ballpoint pen. Pin the
traced pattern pieces together and cut out.
You need 2 sets of patterns per hanger.
Using a sewing machine, stitch around the pattern piece leaving
the square end open. Trim off excess.
Turn the sleeve right side out and iron flat.
Place the sleeve onto the hanger.
Turn under the raw edges and stitch together. Don't worry if
your stitches show or the edges don't line up perfectly.
Cut a length of ribbon approx. 28". I used 1/4" satin ribbon.
Wrap around the hanger handle and cross in front.
Wrap the ribbon around the back and bring back around to the front.
Tie a bow. I found that it was easier to turn the hanger away
from you and then tie the bow. This way the ends
of the bow will hang the right way.
Trim the ends of the ribbon.
Your new padded hanger is now ready to use!
I'm in the process a making these with 4 different fabrics.
The most time consuming part of making these is adding
the batting to the hanger. Once you have that part done
the rest goes rather quickly.
Check back in next week and I will give you a
tour of our Master closet.
That's it for this week.
I'm off to make some more padded hangers!
Until Next Time,
Veronica
