written by marieann

I was tired of my belts falling on the floor. I had them drapped over a hanger but they got all tangled and lost. So with some fabric remnants and only a little bit of sewing, I made this! It’s very circus-like and bright.

Supplies
Sturdy plastic hanger
Fabric remnants (my fabric had a bit of stretch which I think was helpful but probably not mandatory)
Needle and thread

Tools
Sewing machine
Scissors
Rotary cuter/ruler optional (but strongly suggested)
Fabric chalk

Instructions
1. Fold your fabric in half (wrong sides together), pin the layers together, and trace around the edge of the hanger. Draw a SECOND line approximately 1/4 an inch away from this (making the fabric bigger than the hanger), but it doesn’t have to be perfect. Cut these two layers out along your second larger line.
2. Cut four strips of fabric 2 inches wide, grain-wise. (I say four strips based on 45 inch wide fabric cut with my rotary cutter. You need approximately 120 inches of length total.
3. Sew the two hanger pieces together along ONLY the corner curves, that is, where the straight bottom curves to edges. Sew directly on the first line you marked tracing the hanger. Leave turned wrong-side out.
4. Now you’re going to make the strips. This is just a simple way to make your own bias tape (but not on the bias because it doesn’t matter for these small pieces not sewn on the curve). Fold your two inch strips in half and press. Then unfold and fold each edge toward the center and meet at the fold. Fold in half again (along your pressed line) and press. Do this with all the strips. Then zigzag along the open end. I am sure there are prettier ways to do this but this is how I did it and it still looks nice.
5. Cut these strips nine inches long. If you have a lot of narrow belts you could make them shorter but if you have any fat belts you’ll need them to be this length. Pin them to your main hanger piece. Pin thru ONE layer of the fabric, with about one inch of the loop hanging above your stitch line. At this point, you want your loops to be pointed down (away from the hanging curve at the top). If you have a lot of belts I think you could overlap these loops. That is, instead of cutting 13 loops like I did, you could cut 20+ and overlap them some so that you will have a front and back row of belts. I chose to just put two belts on some loops but I think this would work too.
6. Baste these loops to the fabric. This is the tricky part. Fold the loops under even with the bottom edge of the fabric so that they are now hidden between the two layers and pointed up (toward the loop. Pin them curved around so that you catch the layer on the front and back. So when you pin these you should have an inch showing on the wrong side and the rest of the loop on the other side pointed up. Once you’ve pinned all the loops in place, pin the front hanger piece to the back hanger piece. * The reason for doing it this way is to reinforce the straps. This adds to the strength by sewing thru the layers multiple times. You could do it an easier way but I am afraid that the weight of the belts would pull out the loops.
7. Sew the bottom closed. You will be sewing thru FOUR layers (that is, the front of the main piece, the loop doubled over (but each loop is multiple layers too so it’s more like six layers) and then the back layer.
8. Turn the piece right side out and remove the pins. Press the edges so that your edges are totally crisp.
9. Put the hanger into the cover. Turn under the edges 1/4 an inch and blind stitch the top edge closed.
10. Hang lots of belts on it and jump around with pride.