These are a tradition passed on from Hubby’s grandmother. She was a very crafty woman. She would set up shop every Christmas in a front room in her house and sell little handmade items and baked goods to the community. These were among her most popular items. Through the years she taught many people how to make these, including Hubby himself when he was a boy. 🙂
My mother-in-law taught me how to make these on our last visit to NY. They are called laced hangers, maybe because of the material with which they are covered. Hubby’s grandma got all her fabric for these from a lingerie factory as remnants. My MIL has since tried to contact this factory and they don’t seem to be around any longer. I wonder if there are other factories out there that would be willing to sell their remnants in bulk cheap. Probably.
Essentially you will be covering a hanger in half square knots using fabric.
These hangers are the perfect solution for those articles of clothing that are determined to slip off a hanger no matter what you try.
Materials Needed:
- 1 heavy duty wire hanger.
- Needle and thread of coordinating color as fabric.
- no-fray stretchy nylon-like fabric cut into 2 strips 2 inchs wide of 4.5 yards length, or one strip 9 yards long. Sew several strips together to reach the length if necessary.
Measure and Cut material:
Gathering your material with a small rubber band, like in the above image, is helpful when lacing your hangers so that the excess lace does not get in your way or get tangled.
Sew two colors together:
Sew the two colors right sides together by hand with needle and thread.
Begin Lacing/Knotting:
Hold the hanger facing away from you between your knees with the hook side up.
Tie your half square knot onto the end of the hook.
Remember these words:
Over…
Under…
Around and Through.
A few tips:
Lacing around the curves can be tricky. Be careful.
Always make sure your lace is untwisted and not twisted around the hanger wrong before starting a new knot.
With each knot be careful to always tie it around the hanger.
Continue to the end:
The spiral effect happens naturally and by no extra effort of your own.
End with a Bow:
You can sew through the bow if desired to secure it in place and to keep it from coming untied.
Nice job, great photos. These would put a smile on the face of Irene Martin.
I love this hanger! What a beautiful and useful project! Under measure and cut I’d like to know how much material to cut (length being the critical factor) Any idea? What it the type of fabric you used called?
Have you tried this with any other type of fabric? Thanks so much for sharing this beautiful project.
.-= creative jewish mom´s last blog ..A Felt Bean Bag For Alphabeans Alphabet Game! =-.
Thanks. The measurements and type of fabric used are listed under Material Needed.
I have not tried making these with any other type of fabric, but I assume it could be done with anything really. The stretchy chiffon type fabric that I learned with seems ideal though.
Let me know if you have any other questions. 🙂
The method of lacing/knotting is a lot like that used in Chinese knotting.
Thanks so much for the directions, I’m going to use it with our club and 16 kids, along with the breading honor. They have done the knot honor so will be no problem for them to tie. What a nice gift for their mothers.
I used to make these years ago. I had to send away for the material. Does anyone know where I can get this material?
Do you know where I can get this material to make these coat hangers? I live in a nursing home and can not get to stores to look for it.
Hi Sandra, sorry for the late response. If you click on the clickable link under materials needed it will take you to a site where you can purchase from similar material online. I hope this helps!