Instructions for Covering a Wire Hanger With Yarn

Transform a plain wire hanger into a thoughtful gift with yarn.

Finding clothes in the bottom of your closet can be a frustrating and costly experience. Virtually eliminate rewashing and ironing, or returning unworn clothes to the dry cleaner, by preventing delicate items from slipping off wire hangers. Yarn-wrapping turns slippery, plain-looking wire hangers into functional and attractive personally crafted items. If more than one person uses the closet, make two sets of yarn hangers in different colors to help identify whose clothes are whose.

Things You'll Need

• Tape
• Scissors
• Button, bead or pom-pom (optional)

Instructions

Single-color Hanger

1. Tape the end of a ball of yarn to the neck of a wire hanger -- the place where the wires begin to twist together to form the hook. Leave a 3- to 5-inch tail outside of the tape.

2. Sit in a comfortable position and hold the hanger between your knees with one triangular end pointing toward you.

3. Wrap the ball of yarn over the hanger and grasp a section of it with your left hand to form a loop. Bring the yarn up through the loop and tie a knot.

4. Continue wrapping the yarn and making loops around the entire hanger, pushing the loops close together as you work so you cover the hanger uniformly. Keep the tension even and the knots evenly aligned for the best results.

5. Cut the yarn when you reach the hanger's neck, leaving another 3- to 5-inch tail.

6. Remove the tape from the first yarn tail and tie the ends of the two tails together.

Two-Color Hanger

1. Tape the end of two yarn balls in different colors to the neck of a wire hanger, leaving two 3- to 5-inch tails outside of the tape.

2. Place a strand from one color tightly against the hanger, and make five to 10 loops around the hanger and yarn with the second color.

3. Alternate colors, making the same amount of knots with each color to create a symmetrical pattern. Continue wrapping until the entire hanger is covered.

4. Snip each yarn strand when you reach the hanger's neck, leaving 3- to 5-inch tails. Remove the tape from the first tails and tie the ends of the four tails together.

Tips & Warnings

• Embellish the yarn hanger with a button, pom-pom or bead. Hot glue the embellishment on top of where you tied the yarn ends together.

• Build an extra sturdy hanger, capable of holding jackets and heavy sweaters neatly, by taping two wire hangers together before wrapping them with yarn.

References

• Craftbits: Yarn Covered Coat Hangers
• The Idea Door: Yarn Covered Hanger

Resources

• Micheals: Yarn Covered Hangers