Create a costume hanger

At the 2015 APAC Study Day, Margaret Boulton, a volunteer from the V&A Theatre and Performance Department, demonstrated how to create a cheap and practical padded coat hanger for costumes, using polyester wadding and a calico cover. The instructions and are below, and you can also download her pattern as a PDF to print on A3 paper..

Step 1:

Put a long strip of polyester wadding over the hanger’s metal hook to secure it. Start wrapping the wadding around the arms of the hanger.

Step 2:

When the first piece of wadding is completely wrapped around the hanger, take a second strip and wrap it around the hanger in the same fashion.

Step 3:

When the second piece of wadding is completely wrapped, put the calico cover over the top. No need to sew the cover together at the bottom as the costume will hold the cover in place.