A hideaway hanger is a fabulous travel accessory. With a zippered pocket concealed beneath the scallops, it provides a secure place to hide jewelry and other valuables when you are staying in a hotel. I’ll never forget when a teacher at a huge sewing school had all of her jewelry stolen while she was in class. A hanger like this might have prevented that heart wrenching theft.
This classic heirloom style hanger is packed in my suitcase every time I go out of town, a lovely and useful gift from my dear friend Barbara Chatelaine of Baton Rouge.   It was stitched on her beloved Pfaff 7570. Barbara is an incredibly talented sewist, a fabulous cook–her shrimp etouffee is legendary–and altogether a delightful and charming Cajun lady.
enlarge to see clean scallops
She declares this to be an easy project. By simply tracing the outline of a wooden hanger, a pattern can be drawn. Add a seam allowance and trace the shape onto fabric which has been pressed onto an iron-on low loft bonded batt. The batting gives the cover body as well as  cushions and disguises the contents of the hanger. Before cutting it out, embroider a monogram or other design. Or just leave it plain.
The zipper is attached to two strips of fabric then stitched to the wrong side of the front and back hanger pieces. The seamline is covered with a strip of fabric top stitched in place. Finally, the front and back are seamed together, leaving a small unstitched area for the hanger hook.
Barbara shared a valuable tip with me. I’ve never cared for scalloped edges, as I can never get a clean cut and would rather have a root canal than live with those little eyelashed poking out.   They always seem a little raggedy to me.  Barbara works a decorative scallop, trims close to the stitching and then works her magic.
Against that cut edge, she butts a cord of some sort in the same color as the scallop thread. This might be gimp, perle cotton, buttonhole twist or even several strands of the same sewing thread twisted together. This cord is carefully guided while she stitches a narrow, tight zig zag over the cord and into the already trimmed scallop. The result is a clean-as-a-whistle scalloped edge!
This would be a practical and pretty Christmas gift for a friend who gets around.
2 responses to “Hideaway Hanger”