Still love hanging your clothes out in the fresh air and sunshine? Then you’ll need a clothesline, clothes pins, oh yeah, and a holder for the pins. These days you’ll be hard-pressed to find a clothes pin holder, but you can easily make one, just by going to your child’s closet!
Whether you have a son or a daughter one of their shirts will make the perfect clothespin holder. The hanger is easy to make whether you sew or whether you don’t. The shirt should not be very large but any number of sizes will work fine. It should have a scoop neck and should have no buttons. The shirt can, however, have a pocket or pockets.
Although there are many different types of fabrics which will work for making a clothespin hanger extremely stretchy fabrics are not ideal. The length of the shirt is not important since you will cut the hem area away to the desired length.
Use an ordinary clothing hanger to make the clothespin holder capable of hanging on the clothesline – or anywhere. Wrap foam around both sides of the hanger, at the top. This will help hold the clothespin holder slightly open, therefore, making it easier to place and retrieve the clothes pins. Glue, tape or staples can be used to hold the foam pieces in place. Set the hanger aside for the moment.
Lay the child’s shirt flat on a table. Cut the hem from the shirt. You’ll decide how deep you want the clothespin holder to be by the amount you cut from the hem of the shirt. Turn the shirt inside-out and stitch it shut across the bottom. A half-inch seam will work fine to sew the bottom closed. After you’ve done this turn the shirt right-side out and lay it flat on the table once again.
Cut the sleeves out of the shirt and set them aside. When you cut the sleeves off, cut the seam along with the sleeve, leaving the rest of the shirt without the seam stitching. You will no longer need the sleeves. Save them for another project. Close the arm opening before hanging the clothespin holder.
If you sew you can easily stitch the arm opening shut. Use a straight stitch and simply follow the cut of the fabric. Use a half-inch seam and sew down from shoulder to underarm area. If you don’t sew use fabric glue to close the opening. Fabric glue is found at any store that sells fabrics and at some craft stores. Check the label to make sure the glue is washable. Follow the label’s instructions.
Slip the hanger into its opening. If the opening is quite a bit larger it could be helpful to use a little glue or stitching to hold the hanger in place. If you do this, though, the clothespin holder will not be washable in a machine. The stitching or glue will prevent the removal of the hanger for laundering.
You can use the finished clothespin holder outdoors or in. Simply drop the clothes pins into the scoop neck region of the finished project. The pins can also be clipped around the neckline itself or on other areas of the hanging shirt.
The clothespin holder is very helpful when hanging clothes out on the line. The hanger allows you to scoot the pin holder along the clothesline while hanging out the clothes. The pin holder can hang outside all summer long so it’s ready when you are. Make one easily in a matter of minutes and you’ll be able to keep all your pins in one place.
Reference:
- Purchase clothespins here: www.ebay.com
