Every so often I find myself overwhelmed by the urgent need to drop everything and start on a new crochet project. Sometimes an idea pings into my Creative Mind as if from nowhere and sometimes something catches my eye online and makes me feel all inspired to try something new. You just never know when inspiration will strike, and that precious zap of creative energy demands to be acted upon!
Yesterday, when I should have been doing a gazillion other things, I fetched my basket of cutesome Ricorumi cotton balls and set about crocheting a quick cover for a wooden coat hanger. And I did this because??? Well, because I felt inspired to turn something plain and wooden into something pretty and yarny of course! Also, I've got a project coming up which will require me to hang a garment for photography, and after noticing that my friend Sandra always hangs her beautiful crochet creations on the most divine hangers, well I decided my wooden hanger just wasn't going to cut it.
A little note about hangers - these simple wooden ones which are curved and don't have the straight trouser-draping bars along the bottom are quite hard to find. If you are searching online, you need to used the words "wooden crescent hanger" to find them (the "crescent" word is important). I bought mine in a local shop but you can find them on Amazon in packs of 3, or packs of 10. Please make sure you double check the dimensions and don't buy a childs size by mistake!
I wanted to also draw your eye to the lovely felty basket I'm using to hold my Ricorumi balls in....
....this was the prototype basket that I made during the summer to test out the idea of putting pure wool crochet into the washing machine to felt it. I'm soooooooo happy with this basket!! I'm working on the second one now (making bigger handles, and a slightly bigger base) using different colours and I hope to be able to show you the finished basket very soon. The idea is that you can store your yarn in it so that the whole thing becomes a working colour palette - I find it really, really useful to order my yarn and see all my colours at once when I'm working on decorative projects. More soon!
Back to the hanger cover. This is a really quick and simple make - all you need to do is produce a narrow strip of crochet, preferably in beautifully colourful stripes. First determine the starting width - this needs to fit right the way around the hanger so that you can join with a seam along the bottom curved edge.
Short rows are worked back and forth in double crochet (that's single crochet for US peeps).
I used a 4mm hook and made a starting chain of 13, which means each row is 12 stitches wide.
I worked 4 rows for each stripe, 19 stripes in total.
When you create your starting chain, leave a long 20cm tail end at the beginning - you'll use this to stitch up the end of the hanger cover later (you can see my orange starting tail end in the above photo)
Although this is a very simple project, I thought it might be useful to share a few tips to help you produce a nice, neat, no-end-darning bit of hooky (yes that's right, NO DARNING!)
Changing colour - When you come to the end of a stripe, it's a good idea to learn how to change colour when you create the last stitch of the row. To work the last double crochet stitch, insert hook into stitch, yarn over and pull a loop back through the stitch - you'll have 2 loops on the hook (red yarn in the above photo). Cut the yarn, leaving a 12cm tail end, then simply hook up the new yarn (pink in the above photo, leaving a 12cm tail end) and pull the new yarn loop through both loops on the hook.....
....see???
This allows you to chain 1 and turn with the new colour already on your hook.
Now here's a neat trick to deal with your ends - when you crochet the first row of a new colour, carry both tail ends horizontally along the top of your stitches, making sure your hook passes underneath them with every stitch you make......
....do this right the way to the end of the row so that your tail ends are carried right the way across and end up sticking out at the edge (as in the above photo). You can simply snip them off close to the work, so no darning required and no ends poking up through the middle of your stripes. Boom!!!!!!!!!
Keep checking the length of your crochet against the length of your hanger, remembering that the crochet fabric should stretch a little to give a nice un-baggy finish. I made 19 stripes in total which was 19 x 4 = 76 rows.
When you fasten off, leave a 20cm tail end for stitching up.
Fold your crochet in half along the length of the work, then using the tail ends at the start and end of your crochet, neatly stitch up the short ends.
This is what you should have now - a long stripy length with the two short ends folded over and stitched together.
Find the centre of your crochet (mine was the centre of the 10th stripe) and insert the hook of your hanger through the centre point.....
.....then fold the crochet right over the hanger so that the short, stitched-up ends hold the crochet in place.
To make the seam along the bottom, I crocheted the long ends together around the bottom curve of the hanger, working a row of double crochet. This was then finished off with a row of Bobble-shell edging.
Begin at the far right hand end, insert your hook and pull through a loop of the edging colour, then chain 1 to secure.
Inserting the hook under the stitches of both edges, work 1 dc into the ends of each row (4 dc stitches per stripe).
Try and keep your tension and stitches as even as possible - it's a little bit awkward working around the hanger, but if you take your time and go slowly then it's not too difficult.
When you reach the end, you can fasten off if you want to keep the edging very simple, or keep going if you fancy creating a little bit of bobble-shell.....
.....I think the bobble-shell stitch gives a lovely finishing touch - it's just the right amount of pretty without being too dangly or fussy.
Now me being me, it was impossible to leave the stripes unadorned, it just wasn't going to happen. Crochet flowers are the obvious choice for embellishment, but I've seen lovely hangers with little hearts or buttons added as a finishing touch, or maybe a little ribbon bow would look sweet too?
I decided to make a couple of my Japanese Quince Flowers - I thought two flowers with a couple of leaves would be just right.
The flowers are quick and easy to make, with just a little bit of additional fiddle adding in the yellow stamens. But they do look lovely....
....especially once they are tucked up against the stripes.
Super pretty!
I love my hooky hanger, and of course I am now fighting the urge to make more, more, more. Why is it with these things, one is never ever enough?
You'll be seeing a bit more of this hanger towards the end of the month when I share my Making the Seasons post for September. I've decided to try a little bit of woolly upcycling this month, adding some colour and creativity to a charity shop cardigan. I'm not quite ready to embrace Autumn just yet, but I could use a little bit of added woolly warmth on top of my summer linen dresses......still wearing my flip flops though!!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I have already made five and love them! See my latest blogpost where your tutorial is acknowledged. Thanks for a great idea!
Posted by: Linda Ashworth | October 06, 2018 at 08:12 AM
Lucy, you didn't wrap thin wadding around the hanger to go under your crochet strip.
Everyone that I know who makes these always wraps the wooden hanger with something to make them a bit chunkier and softer for your clothes to hang over.
ie to prevent that sharp pokey look at the shoulders of your garments.
I have done them in fabric and knitted lace and yarn with the wadding to pad them out.
As always, your colour combinations are lovely.
Posted by: Patricia A | October 01, 2018 at 06:22 AM
So pretty! My mom crocheted many hangers for me and I wish I had more. With your detailed instructions, I think I can make my own. Your flowers are a nice touch to the project and would be a great addition on the ends to help keep straps from slipping off. Thank you for your ideas, inspirations, and blog!
Posted by: Nina C | September 27, 2018 at 09:22 PM
I have several that my mother made while in school. The year was probably 1935. I've since made many myself, and just ordered up some more hangers to make as presents.
Posted by: Alice | September 19, 2018 at 07:41 PM
You reminded me of the hangers i crocheted as a gift for a friend. They were made differently but came out very satisfying.
Posted by: Rivi | September 19, 2018 at 01:04 PM
I would love to cover some hangers for small Christmas presents. What colours did you use and where can I purchase the wool.
Loved making the bag last year. Pattern and wool came in a kit.
Janette
Posted by: [email protected] | September 18, 2018 at 10:00 PM
Bravo pour votre création, j'aime beaucoup la simplicité, les couleurs très gaies. Félicitations pour vos explications, je vais en réaliser. Bientôt l'Equinoxe de septembre, dimanche prochain !- Bises.
Posted by: Nadine G | September 18, 2018 at 03:34 PM
Lovely! You can also buy old wooden hangers second hand on ebay. I recently bought 15 lovely old hangers for £7 (including postage) and although they are not all exactly the same they are so much more in keeping with the few covered hangers I have kept from my grandmother's and mother's wardrobes and the odd padded hanger picked up in charity shops. A few of your gorgeous crocheted hangers will fit in very nicely with my collection!
Posted by: Ann | September 18, 2018 at 09:01 AM
I often visit your blog. It's so relaxing, inspiring and bursts with colors. I just sit back and watch you choose one color after other. l also love going out with you. beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Mom Das | September 17, 2018 at 07:07 AM
Very sweet pattern. I have hangers that my husband's grandmother made crochet covers for, and always wanted to figure out the pattern. It's over wire hangers, and I have been using them for 40 years!
Posted by: Mary Alice Bellis | September 17, 2018 at 05:29 AM
What a brilliant idea. I shall have to look at my coat hangers and make some covers.
Posted by: Carol | September 16, 2018 at 12:47 PM
Thanks for including the link to buy the hangers--I just ordered 10 from Amazon UK to ship to California, because even shipped to the US, which doubled the purchase cost, the total was only half of what they cost on Amazon US! (I haven't found them anywhere local; have been looking for years.)
Posted by: suzanprincess | September 16, 2018 at 10:10 AM
Love the coat hanger and the goergeous yarn basket basket too, would love a post on how to make the basket!
Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Jackie | September 15, 2018 at 11:06 PM
Love love love these. Have an old knitted one which belonged to my mother in my cupboard. brings wonderful memories.thanks for reminding me.
Posted by: Rachel | September 15, 2018 at 05:14 PM
Oooooh! So pretty and such a good idea for Christmas pressies (although I suspect not easy to wrap 🤨). Thanks Lucy 😁.
Posted by: greengirlgardner | September 15, 2018 at 10:59 AM
Wow I have already started to make padded patchwork coathangers for Christmas presents now I can add crochet. I thought they would be something a little different for my crafty friends.
Posted by: Denise | September 15, 2018 at 07:35 AM
Thankyou Lucy for the coat hanger pattern You always come up with something new for me to make Loved reading all about your holiday too
Posted by: barbara marshall | September 15, 2018 at 12:35 AM
Love the coat hangers. Really nice for hanging clothes as they don't fall off! Can't wait to try your basket. Love the colours 💕
Posted by: Debbie Tristram | September 14, 2018 at 10:51 PM
Πολύ όμορφο!!!
Posted by: Maria! | September 14, 2018 at 09:37 PM
3167 State Route 3
Posted by: Eileen Emerson | September 14, 2018 at 05:45 PM
I just found the link you provided for the hangers. Thanks!
Posted by: Savannagal | September 14, 2018 at 05:13 PM
Very Lovely! Your instructions are very clear and easy to follow. Thank You!
Posted by: Simone Thompson | September 14, 2018 at 05:11 PM
I knit a cover a couple years ago and would like to try yours too. But I can't find those hangers anywhere. Do you have a source?
Posted by: Savannagal | September 14, 2018 at 05:11 PM
Still wearing flip flops - you made me smile!
Posted by: Mary W | September 14, 2018 at 01:59 PM
My grandmother made these back in the 70's. Her's had clothespins hanging from the bottom edge for drying unmentionables! Still have a few..want to make some but cannot find the plastic clothespins anymore... Love yours!!!
Posted by: Katy | September 14, 2018 at 12:52 PM