Make Your Own Hanging Sweater Shelf
No matter how well planned a house may be, there is never enough storage space. A hanging sweater shelf can help organize a closet, and protect delicate knits from being stretched by hangers. Careful selection of color and fabric can dress up a room that may have no other option for any kind of storage. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. From the cotton fabric, cut two 18 inch-by-4 foot pieces of fabric, one 12 inch-by-4 foot piece, twelve 18 inch-by-12 inch pieces of fabric, and six 6 inch-by-18 inch strips of fabric.
2. Cut 6 corrugated cardboard or thin plywood pieces, 11 1/2 inch-by-17 1/2 inch.
3. Hem one 12 inch end of each of the 12 inch-by-18 inch pieces of fabric. Pin them together, matching the hemmed ends, with wrong sides together. Baste unfinished edges together.
4. Mark 12-inch intervals down the long side of the 18 inch-by-4 feet pieces of fabric. Mark 12-inch intervals down the long side of the 12 inch-by-4 foot piece. Use a square or other device to mark matching straight lines across the three pieces of fabric. This is where the shelves will attach.
5. Pin the 12 inch-by-18 inch shelf squares to the lines you have drawn, making a 1/2-inch seam allowance that will point downward from the shelf. Roll the edge under in a French seam (the seams that are made on the outside seam of jean legs are a French seam). Pin securely, with the previous hemmed edges of the 12 inch-by-18 inch pieces pointed toward the open front.
6. Pin the top and bottom onto the sides and back, matching the dimensions. Allow the seam allowance to extend on the outside of the assembly. Slide the pieces of cardboard or plywood into the openings between the hemmed shelf ends. Pin the top edge of each side to a clothes hanger and hang on a rod to check level of shelves. Adjust as needed.
7. Remove the cardboard or plywood pieces. Remove the coat hangers. Using a serger or hand backstitch, sew the shelves to the side panels. Next, stitch on the top and bottom. Finally, roll over each exterior seam, tucking in the raw edge and stitch together as if making a shirt-tail hem. The seams will go down each side of the back, around the top, and around the bottom. The completed object should have three enclosed sides and an open front.
8. Fold the long strips in half, right sides together, and stitch down the raw edge, making six tubes. For each tube, fasten a safety pin in the end, and push it through the tube, turning it right side out. Tuck in the raw ends at each end of the tube, and stitch shut. Double two of the tubes, and pin them about three inches from the outside edge, reaching from back to front of the unit on the top. Sew securely to the top. These strips will reinforce the fabric at this point. Then fold each of the other tubes in half, with the short ends together. Mark the center point. Stitch the center point to the reinforcement strip, making the stitches go through all thicknesses of cloth including the top. This will create six ties, three on each side, on top of the unit. Using these ties, securely tie the sweater shelf unit to the wooden hangers.
9. Replace the cardboard or thin plywood in the shelf spaces. Baste the front edges of each shelf together using a whip stitch to keep the stiffening material from sliding out or snagging clothing.
10. Using the wooden hangers, hang the shelf unit on the hanging rod in a closet or on a rod suspended from the ceiling. When the unit becomes dusty, simply untie from the hangers, pick out the basting stitches from the front of the shelves and remove the stiffening units, and wash in the washing machine.
Tags: pieces fabric, inch-by-18 inch, each side, inch pieces, inch-by-4 foot
