Decorative Clothes Hangers – Part One: My Handmade Gifts for Friends

This week I’m so excited to bring you the start of my new Christmas mini series; My Handmade Gifts for Friends which has been in the making for a while now. Each week I aim to bring you a simple and beautiful idea for Christmas presents. As always I will recycle where I can, use craft materials I have to hand (although not exclusively) and keep the cost down without, I hope compromising on beauty and style. There will be many variations on my themes in the hope you will be encouraged to try some of these ideas yourselves. Today we are starting with creative and decorative clothes hangers. Wooden coat hangers infact which with simple decoration could make an ideal and perhaps unique start to this years christmas presents. And as is so often the case, this craft begins with a family story…

Long before my children declared an arts and crafts morning boring, I had a series of rainy day crafts in my arsenal. One of these was to personalise wooden Ikea coat hangers which hung in their tiny wardrobes. I recall a dear friend seeing them one day and saying to me “you are so creative, where do you get these ideas from?” Infact like many of my creative crafts, these decorative clothes hangers were not my idea at all. This one was Little Miss’ although I doubt she had any idea, at the time.

One wet morning when Master M was a tiny baby he decided to check his lungs were working perfectly; loudly and relentlessly. And since we had started at silly o’clock that day, a fractious Little Miss was up to no good. Around mid morning, I settled my agitated daughter in her bed with Dolly for a nap. Master M wore himself out and the house returned to quiet once more as I poured myself a much-needed coffee. It was as I sat drinking in both the coffee and the quiet, I became inquisitive and a little unnerved at the silence. Little Miss was not known for enjoying a forced nap and I decided it was now unusually quiet. Avoiding the creaky stair, I quickly made it to the top from where I heard excited childish chatter, quickly followed by a distressed screech of “NO NO not the green pen only the PINK!!” Entering the room took my breath away as I quickly surveyed the messy floor to see a mountain of my daughters beautiful dresses and outfits surrounded by her vast collection of dolls and teddies, each one with a bright felt pen in its hand or paw. “Oh hello Mummy” she said turning to hear my gasp “we’re making the coat hangers look pretty, would you like to play?”

To begin your own grown up version of my daughters decorative clothes hangers, start first with a wooden coat hanger of your choice.

If your chosen hanger is complete with varnish, you could apply a thin coat of this and wait for it to dry. Then choose your paint colour and apply a thin coat over the primer. You might even prefer two coats. I have a very old stash of these from my days as an Interior Design student and they are acrylic based. You might have something similar in your little one’s playroom or you may have a few emulsion tester pots left over from painting rooms in your home or perhaps like me, your furniture. I would avoid gloss paint (no patience for drying time involved there) otherwise any paint goes with this craft. Apart from the red painted wooden hanger, all other colours were mixed until I got the shade I liked best. I was aiming for old time-worn colours you might find on a Shaker cupboard or shelf.

Next determine the design your decorative hanger is to have. Perhaps a daisy or a heart or maybe a perfectly pointed or irregular star. Decide if you will use a template or for a more primitive look you could try freehand. My daisies and hearts were painted freehand and purposely I was looking for a raw childlike appeal.

You may choose to stencil your design. I think a recipients inital would be a thoughtful choice. Maybe you won’t bother at all with a motif. I kept the blue painted wooden hangers simple and they were only distressed to give an aged appearance.

I distressed each of the painted wooden hangers with fine sandpaper when they were dry after which, all these decorative clothes hangers were preserved using this and not with my usual waxing method. I didn’t want to run the risk of beautiful clothes themselves having a protective layer of wax on them. And although a hanger alone will look beautiful once wrapped in pretty tissue paper and ribbon, a little something else with the painted wooden hangers can be quite easily achieved. What about a simple rag ribbon? An old cotton sheet was dyed with two avocado stones (who knew?) to get this wonderful aged pink. Then I ripped the sheet into strips to give my homemade ribbons a rustic look. Not my clever idea, the very lovely Claire @cakeandmoss showed her Instagram following this little trick. Since then the M’s have consumed a fair few avocados in pursuit of my happiness.

And do you remember this craft a few posts back? Well I had a little of the rice and lavender mix left over, so out came the machine again and I made a simple mini heart to keep moths away and remind the lucky friend of summers past.

And if you don’t have a machine? Perhaps you could hand stitch simple squares. For this one I measured and cut a rectangle of pretty linen twice the size I wanted my final square. Fold the material in half and using a simple running stitch secure the two sides of the square – the bottom of the square is the fold of the material. Turn the stitched square inside out, press with an iron and fill your square with lavender buds (and toy stuffing filling if you like) and then simply slip stitch the opening to close. I found a piece of white piping and attached a loop to a corner and hey presto. This would be a delightful rainy afternoon activity with little ones. You can make each decorative clothes hangers adornments, both as simple or elaborate as you like.

And if you really do not fancy sewing any simple stitch at all and would like an even easier creative hanger option, you could always get out the craft glue and add a pretty button to a salvaged piece of material. Here I have used pinking shears to cut another rectangle of french linen sack, snipped a small slit a quarter of the way down to slip over the metal hanger and simply attached my vintage button. And should you decide to keep these simple and decorative clothes hangers for yourselves, I won’t tell a soul. A couple have made it safely to my wardrobe too.

As with so many crafts, your creative hanger designs will be limited here only by your own imagination. I enjoyed letting my imagination run away for an afternoon.

And there are so many other creative hanger ideas on Pinterest too; I’ve pinned a few here you may like. And that is part one of the My Handmade Gifts for Friends series which I do hope you enjoyed. Thank you Little Miss for the idea. I hope one or more of these decorative hanger designs sparks your inner creativity and as always, if you do have a go, I would love a little peek. Next week another simple gift idea with a more seasonal twist this time and if in the meantime, you need a few more ideas for inexpensive Christmas presents, click here and here. Have a wonderful and I hope creative week x