Saturday, April 4, 2009

Cheater ruffles galore!!!!!

What starts out like the padded hanger above, found in every single thrift store in America, and ends up like the image below?
Every single one of these ruffles came off a padded hanger that I got thrifting or estate sales, or were gifted to me by Melanie. I love to embellish the wood hangers underneath, and kept the satin covers to use in my art, but it wasn't working out too well. I just couldn't seem to manipulate them in the right way to get the look I was after.
Yesterday I was home all day with dd who was sick, so I was puttering in my studio in between taking care of her, and quite by mistake came up with this oh so easy idea. Just take a seam ripper to those little pieces after you take them off the hangers, and open them up. 
Voila, instant ruffles! Now I love ruffles but haven't had the patience to sit at my machine and make a bunch, now I don't have to. The fun part is they all come out a little differently, some are super ruffled, some have a flat part on the top (I purposefully left them that way for a little variation), and some are just single ruffles.




Then you get out your ironing board and gently press them out making sure you don't over press them, thus defeating the whole purpose, which is to leave lots of ruffles in and to have a somewhat rumpled look. I can think of about a thousand fun uses for these, bet you can too!
Here they are in their final home on a shelf in my studio, just waiting until I need one for a collage, dolls dress, flower, whatever............hope someone else can use this easy idea.

8 comments:

The Feathered Nest said...

Gail!!!! What a wonderful idea!!!! Now I want to go find tons of them and rip the fabric off....too cool....and wonderful to create with, thank you so much for sharing this ~ xxoo, Dawn

melanie said...

OOOOOOOOOOohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...can I have those hangers back??? Just kidding- love the colors and the idea...you are beautiful AND smart!!!

Lori said...

cheater ruffles...what an ingenious idea!!! those are just lovely!!!

Coleen said...

omg!!!!.....what a wonder-filled idea!!! Thank you for sharing!!! Gotta go shopping now!!!!

Heart hugs,
Coleen

Patina said...

I love that idea Gail! I wouldn't of ever thought of that.

Hope you have a wonderful Easter!

. said...

They are so lovely. You can use them in so many ways. I'd get an old tank top and make cute little sleeves or ruffles on the sides. a quick sew job. Oh now your the next to designer. Hope you have fun with them. Oh and thanks for the comment on my blog. hopetreestudio
Blessings Denise

Recycled Rita said...

Such a nice idea! I see padded hangers at flea markets and never thought of that! karen...

Kathy said...

Hi Gail Yes I do still have the lamp and its tag must have fallen off. Sorry about that. If you want it feel free to let me know and well connect. Your blog is great and I also love the ruffles! Great idea:) Kathy