What you need
For each hanger you will need:
1 plastic coat hanger or two wire coat hangers
Roll of masking or scotch tape
Two colors of heavy rug yarn
Yarn needle
Instructions
These hangers are great at keeping clothing from slipping off the hanger onto the floor. They are also much less likely to become tangled with other hangers, especially when compared to common wire coat hangers. You can make these from either plastic or wire coat hangers.
1. If you are making your hanger from wire coat hangers, you will need to start by taping the two matching hangers together. Be sure that the shape and size of the wire hangers match exactly. Otherwise you’ll have problems covering them with the yarn. Connect the two hangers by wrapping small lengths of tape around the two hangers at several different spots. You’ll be covering the taped areas with the yarn, so you won’t need to remove them as you work.
2. If you are using a plastic coat hanger, you’ll simply use one hanger “as-is.”
3. Tie the two colors of rug yard together in a knot, leaving about an inch and a half of yarn “tail” on the other side of the knot.
4. Position the knot at the end of the coat hanger hook. Secure it by taping two ‘”tail” ends onto the hook with a piece of tape.
5. Hold the coat hanger on your lap, wedged between your knees, with the hook pointing towards your feet.
6. Hold the two balls of rug yarn on your lap, with one on each side of the coat hanger. Pick up one ball and loop the yarn around the hook of the coat hanger. Then, pull the ball of yarn through the loop you made, forming a knot around the coat hanger (basically a half hitch knot tied around the hanger.) Repeat this four more times with the one color. Then, pick up the other ball of yarn and repeat, making the loop and the knot in the opposite direction. Again repeat four more times. You will now have a stripe of one color of yarn, with the knotted edge facing towards one side of the hanger, and a second stripe of the other color of yarn, with the knotted edge facing the other side of the hanger.
7. Repeat this process, making five knots per color, until you get to the bottom of the hooked part of the hanger. Then, continue the process down one side of the hanger, around the bottom, and up the other side of the hanger until you reach the bottom of the hooked part again.
8. When the hanger is completely covered, wrap the loose ends of yarn around the base of the hook in either direction, knotting it securely in the front. You can then cut the ends of the yarn and tie a bow. Or, make a pom-pom out of the same yarn and attach with the cut ends, using the yarn needle.
9. Make several of these for your closet. You won’t have to pick clothes up off the floor anymore, because they will no longer slide off of the hangers.
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About how much yarn do you need?
I totally agree with others, I do better seeing what needs to be done. Check out these videos on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/rTMPXW4pswQ
https://youtu.be/HuaXTiT6Rm4
Thank you for sharing the videos! I’m also a visual learner and these made a huge difference.
Nice but how do close the end of the hanger that goes on the rod that Information would be greatly appreciated
Positive but a visual aid would help !
Needs visual aids. The instructions are not specific enough for someone unfamiliar with knotwork.
It needs to have pictures or video!!! Too hard to understand!!! Doesn’t make sense to someone who has never done it before!! Would love to make these! Very disappointed that there’s no pictures or video!!
My grandmother used to make these hangers, I still
Use many that I have.
Thank you very much for the instructions. My grandmother taught me how to do this when I was about 6, but I couldn’t remember how to start the tip. I have it know. Thank you very much; I like tying knotts :-).
Needs visual instructions.
I agree, some kind of visual tutoring would be helpful.
For someone that has never done anything like this I need a picture for each step like Nana Jones Craft Know it all does. I suggest going to her site until this one puts in pictures for each step for the hanger cover dummies like me.
I was going to say the same thing. Otherwise it’s like speaking another language!
Is there a video that shows how to make these covered hangers?
What is the length of yarn needed for each color to cover the hangar ? I seem to remembr 8 ft. Is this right ?
I learned how to make these as a child. Our favorite babysitter taught us. I still make these for people sometimes, and my daughter made on for a school project where she needed a mobile. Very nice memories! You can also double up on yarns and use just one wire hanger if you like. We didn’t have the nice plastic ones in the 1960’s.
I have been looking for this craft for 20 years! This is a great way to use extra hangers because it requires 2 wire hangers for each. A simple project but I could never figure out how to stop the end of the hook from coming undone. Thank you.
Thanks for your detailed instructions. I made some of these with my grandmother when i was a child and wanted to make more. They are great for hanging slinky blouses and keep out creases.
5 star
What a great idea for small amounts of left over yarn. Thanks!
My grandma made something like these for me 40 years ago, and I still have them and love them. Thanks for the directions so I can make some more!
I LOVE this idea! I’m going to try it as soon as I get home. 🙂
I made these or similar for my gtrandmother long ago. She just loved them. It’s a great gift for those older people that are hard to buy for. They do keep things from falling & hangers from tangleing. Leave less “marks” on sleeves too.