We wanted pew hangers with some specific criteria:
- Low cost
- Flexible enough to use for a variety of events
- Easy to install and remove
- Generally unaffected by casual bumps of pedestrians, children, etc
We eventually arrived at this solution. (Click on the following images to expand)
The ribbon can easily be changed out with a different color/thickness/pattern, and the glass tea light can be replaced with a small wreath of flowers or other decoration. It took a little bit to set it all up, but now that the groundwork is in place, we can install and remove these pretty quickly, and the versatility of the particulars make them suitable for a wide variety of events.
These pew hangers are built around “Tealight Wall Sconces” (about $5 for a pair). We supplied our own battery-powered tea lights (about $17 for 36), and 4 rolls of red ribbon ($1.50/roll). We used tiny safetypins and hand-made metal “hangers” to attach the hangers to the pews. For special occasions, the effect is definitely worth it, and the visual impact works well even if you skip pews.
Making the Pew Hangers
Each pew hanger required 35″ of ribbon. We cut a fishtail on one end of the ribbon. To prevent the ends from fraying, we singed them by passing them quickly over a cigarette-lighter flame. The fishtails are designed to extend down below the wall sconces as an extra design detail.
We used a pen to mark two notches in the underside of the ribbon – the first was 12″ from the end of the fishtail, and the second was 13″ from the end of the fishtail. These notches indicated where the safetypin would be pushed through the ribbon in order to make a secure loop around the top end of the wall sconce.
There were several reasons we chose to use safetypins: they were quick to attach, secure, out of sight, and the result left a small billowed fold in the ribbon that kinda/sorta looked like a design detail (as opposed to a boring, visible/creased fold in the ribbon or an unsightly metal pin poking through the ribbon to secure it).
Securing the ribbon pew hangers to the pews was a two-part process:
- On each pew, we made and installed tiny wire loops, placed in a discrete corner on the pew seat (tucked out of sight underneath the pew cushion). No photos yet. Sorry.
- For each ribbon, we made a tiny wire hanger that would hook into the loop we installed on each pew. The hangers are shaped just like miniature 1″-wide clothes hangers. To attach the ribbon to the hangers, we first seared the ribbon to prevent fraying and then folded and stapled the ribbon around the hanger. (We could have used safetypins instead of staples, but I’d rather use safetypins for other places and projects. Should we need to detach the ribbon from the hangers to use a different color ribbon, removing staples isn’t too much trouble. If detaching the staples causes the ribbon to get frayed, we’re not too concerned because this end of the ribbon stays out of sight – unlike the middle of the ribbon where we use the safetypin).
To attach each ribbon to the pew, it’s simply a matter of raising the pew cushion a bit and hooking the ribbon into the loop. Voila! This solution allowed us to attach the pew hangers quickly and securely in a discrete location for each pew.
And here they are installed and lit for our Christmas Eve service.
