{PROJECTS // clothespin keeper}

Yesterday I did three loads of wash and hung them on the line. And when I took it down and brought it in to fold, there were clothespins everywhere. The basket that I use for them was overflowing and they were scattered throughout the clean laundry with nowhere to go. 

So I decided to sew a clothespin keeper with a hanger.

My Grandma had several of these at her house. One in the basement, two or three in the shed by the wash line. I honestly don't know why I didn't think of making one of them before now. But, having decided to sew one up, I had to come up with my own pattern. I was surprised at how simple and fast it was! I thought I'd share here how I did it.

{1} get a heavy-duty hanger and some thick material. after folding the material in half longways, trace the outline of the top of the hanger leaving seam allowance.

 {2} cut out along your lines. it should look like this, with the angled part at the top. if you don't have a long piece of material like I did, you could simply cut two pieces of the same size and sew them together, using the hanger as a size guide.

 {3} next you'll need a hole to put the clothespins through. i used a maxwell house coffee can lid to trace for the right shape and size, and traced it a little above halfway up. cut out with scissors.

 {4} pin bias tape around the hole you just made and sew that on.

 {5} to make the hole for the hanger at the top more sturdy, I decided to put bias tape on just that area. so, cut bias tape a little longer than the top of your material, pin, and sew.

 {6} next, pin and sew your sides up, right side together.

 remember to leave the area with bias tape open, since you'll be putting the hanger through that. I kind of curved my seams when I got to the tape so there would be plenty of room for the hook.

 {7} finish your raw edges. you can cut with pinking shears or zig-zag the edges or serge them if you have a serger. i used pinking shears and also clipped the corners off the top to make them lay nicely on the hanger.

{8} fold right-side out. this is a picture of the hole for the hanger. see how nice and finished that looks? put your hanger in through the clothespin hole and then poke the hook through this hole.

And it's finished! It took me about an hour to make, and in while I was working on it I was chasing around my boy and his puppy.  I haven't tried it out yet, but I am loving the way it looks. And the best part is that every single one of my clothespins fits inside.