Dust covers for the closet

After finishing my recent boxer short project using Butterick 5027 I was looking at the pattern, a real combo of options. I noticed that there was a pattern for a hanger cover included, and thought this might be a useful addition to my closet.

I made a few samples from some old sheets in my stash; the first one followed the pattern, but I added a 1" band between the front and back pieces to give it a little more width. This is designed to be a close fitting hanger cover, lined with batting, to hang your clothes over, possibly to avoid wire hanger marks? Well anyhow, it wasn't quite what I had in mind. I didn't use batting as I was just testing it. And then I made a number of changes. 

First try 

What I was really after was a dust cover to put over a hanger with something already hanging on it, to protect the shoulders and top of a garment from dust if it isn't worn often (those things at the edges of the closet). To do this, I realized I would have to enlarge the main pieces as well and widen the band connecting them. I tried one more, still not quite right, and then finally got it to sit correctly for what I wanted. 

Second try: not quite right yet!

I ended up tracing the pattern and adding 2" of length to either end of the main pieces, 1" to the height, and making the top band 2.5" wide. I sewed it all up using a 1/4" seam, leaving one edge of the band unsewn while I folded down the edges of the opening at the top and stitched that -- the trickiest part, messy no matter how you do it. Then finished up with the last seam. 

Because I was using sheets, on some of these I just used the deep sheet hem for the edges of the main pieces. Then I just made a quick hem on the bands before attaching them. This is a fiddly home decor project but it is something I need in my house and I am happy to have finally figured out a way to do it! I think I might make a couple more from the rest of the sheet that I used and then should have enough - just a couple for the more rarely worn items. I spent a lot of time in January making unusual (for me) projects! Onward to some garments in February.