How to Cover Coat Hangers

Covering a hanger with padded decorative fabric is a good way to use up leftover scraps of fabric or to recycle clothing and old linens. You can give covered hangers as gifts to family and friends or sell them at craft shows. The project is relatively quick and easy, even for beginners.

Things You'll Need

• Newspaper
• Wooden coat hanger
• Pencil
• Measuring tape
• Scissors
• 1/4-yard decorative fabric
• Straight pins
• Sewing machine
• 1/4-yard quilt batting
• Pliers
• Hand sewing needle and thread
• 5/8-inch wide ribbon, 24 inches long

Instructions

1. Lay out a sheet of newspaper on your work table. Place your wooden coat hanger in the center of the paper. Trace the wooden shape on one half of the hanger, from the tip of one shoulder to the center under the hook. Remove the hanger. Trace around the drawn shape, 1 inch larger. Cut out the pattern.

2. Fold 1/4 yard of fabric into two layers with the right sides together. Pin the pattern to the fabric and cut out through both layers. Move the pattern and cut out one more pair. Each pair will cover one half of the hanger.

3. Pin together the edges of one hanger cover pair. Do not pin the end that meets the middle of the hanger. Sew a 1/4-inch seam allowance along the pinned edges of the hanger cover. Repeat with the other pair. Turn the sewn hanger covers right-side out through the unsewn end.

4. Measure from one shoulder end of the hanger up to the top of the wooden neck and down to the end of the other shoulder end. Add 2 inches to that measurement. Cut a piece of quilt batting 6 inches wide by the hanger measurement. Fold the batting in half, matching the two short ends. Cut through the folded end, creating two strips of batting.

5. Remove the horizontal pants bar from the hanger with a strong tug. Use pliers to remove the nails.

6. Wrap the length of one batting strip around the wooden arm on one half of the hanger. Overlap the edges and pin. Repeat with the other strip on the other half of the hanger. Pin the middle together where the ends meet. Hand-stitch the pinned edges to secure the batting.

7. Insert one fabric hanger cover over one arm of the batting-covered hanger and guide it to the center of the hanger neck. Repeat with the other fabric hanger cover. Pin the ends together where they meet by first folding the ends under 1/4 inch. Hand-stitch the pinned ends together.

8. Cut a 24-inch length of 5/8-inch-wide ribbon. Position the center of the ribbon under the center of the neck. Pull the ends up, covering the hand-stitched seam. Wrap the ribbon around the base of the wire hook and tie into a bow. Trim the ribbon ends.