Super-Easy No-Sew Fish Extenders

[famy27]

We couldn't decide if we wanted to make or buy our FE. I thought about ordering one from eBay, but we decided to see what we could come up with on our own. The problem is that we don't sew at all. Even the no-sew instructions I found were too complicated for me!RL]

We ended up going to the Container Store, and we found these cute Handy Hold Alls for $20 each. I thought about getting the houndstooth, but our DD really like the Caribbean vibe of the Fresh Bouquet patterns.

We then went to Michael's and got 6 in x 6 in mini-totes, which were $1 for a pack of three. We are adding our names and stickers to them.

All we have to do is snap the totes onto the Handy Hold All and tie some ribbon at the top. Voila! A no-sew FE for $21. I'll post a picture when it is finished.

 

[Disney Dreams]

I have been absolutely stuck on trying to make my FE for the last several days. I read the no sew instructions posted elsewhere here on DIS. I went to Michaels. I have read and read and read. This is just killing me.... More than it should, but I don't sew and am just plain stuck.

I would LOVE to see your picture when you are done. I know the exact bags you are talking about and cannot quite visualize them going on to these hanging strips sturdily.

Thanks!

- Dreams

 

[pdwimmer]

My best advice is to use a hot glue gun and iron-on patches. Joann's has disney themed iron on characters, letters etc. Use a hot glue gun with just a tiny bit of glue to place them where you want. Once dry extra glue can be removed by just pulling on it. Then turn the fabric over with the patch/letters facing the ironing board. Place a very thin piece of cloth over the fabric. Then iron.

 

[Princess Olivia]

So funny! This was my exact dilemma and now we are half way through doing it the same way! We bought small white canvas bags and are using fabric paints. So far so good! They are coming out pretty cute!

 

[bitlerzx4]

ohhh I am so happy I am not the only one having issues... Can't wait to see your pics

 

[ppiew]

I used the squares of felt in DCL colors (Walmart red, black, yellow) . got a long piece of felt, cut down the squares to pocket size and hot glued them to the long piece. I did sew a pocket at the top about 2 inches and put a wood dowel (also from Walmart) thru it, put some yarn on ends of dowel and hung it up.. worked great!. Printed some stuff from the disboards creative stuff , cut it out and glued to the felt.

 

[budbeerlady]

So funny! This was my exact dilemma and now we are half way through doing it the same way! We bought small white canvas bags and are using fabric paints. So far so good! They are coming out pretty cute!

This is what we ended up doing. I haven't had much free time to do anything so I bought the blank canvas 3pk of bags from Walmart ($6.97) and let Dd have at it. She made hers look very original. I think I am just taking a sharpie to mine sometime this week to get it done.

 

[RobbW]

We couldn't decide if we wanted to make or buy our FE. I thought about ordering one from eBay, but we decided to see what we could come up with on our own. The problem is that we don't sew at all. Even the no-sew instructions I found were too complicated for me!RL]

We ended up going to the Container Store, and we found these cute Handy Hold Alls for $20 each. I thought about getting the houndstooth, but our DD really like the Caribbean vibe of the Fresh Bouquet patterns.

We then went to Michael's and got 6 in x 6 in mini-totes, which were $1 for a pack of three. We are adding our names and stickers to them.

All we have to do is snap the totes onto the Handy Hold All and tie some ribbon at the top. Voila! A no-sew FE for $21. I'll post a picture when it is finished.

Hey all! I'm famy27's DH (with a capital D!). I took pics of our FE hanger and wrote up a step-by-step for the cruise thread for our 10/22 Disney Magic cruise. My DW asked me to re-post that here in her thread. So, here goes:

Well, check another item off our "To Do" list. We just finished our FE hanger tonight. We're not the artsy-crafty types. So, we're looking for a way to make a hanger without having to do a lot of cutting, gluing and sewing. Thanks to my DW, we found a way to get around the cutting and sewing, though we still had to get our hands sticky with a little glue. For others on the FE list who still don't have a hanger and are also looking for something quick, here's what we did:

Step 1: Get ye to The Container Store and secure one of these nifty back-of-door hanger-ma-bob doohickies (technical jargon). They come in a bright, flowery pattern or a black & white pattern. My daughter chose the bright, flowery pattern. They have six loops that snap to hang items on the back of your door and such.

Step 2: Get ye to a Michael's craft store and secure these miniature tote bags. They come in multiple colors. We chose green and pink. Cut off one of the handles. This will be the front side of the tote. The side with a handle will be the side you hang from a loop.

Step 3: Get ye to the stickers and embellishments section at Michael's. Secure whatever themed stickers/embellishments you want to use to decorate your totes. Don't forget adhesive lettering for your names if you want to include them on your FE hanger. Also, pick up a good fabric glue to glue all your embellishments to your totes to make sure they don't come loose. The self-adhesive on the back of the embellishments doesn't hold too well on the fabric totes.

Step 4: Glue ye names and embellishments to the totes. Make it look fun and pretty, if you can. We don't want any lame, boring FE hangers on this cruise! (Don't worry if you're not good at this part. Neither are we!).

Step 5: Sit back and admire ye craftwork!

Below are pics of the individual parts and our finished FE hangers:

The Hanger:

The snap loops on the hanger:

The miniature totes:

The finished FE hanger:

 

[bitlerzx4]

LOVE, thank you.

 

[RobbW]

LOVE, thank you.

Thanks. We just need to remember to bring zip-ties to secure the FE hanger to the fish hook so it doesn't "walk off". Being our first Disney cruise, I was not aware that was an issue until someone posted a reminder on our Disney Cruise Meet thread. I'll be sure to pack a few of them!

 

[1DCL11]

I "somewhat" followed the no sew instructions for mine... but also used E6000glue to hold the pockets where the iron on bonding didnt hold... or where I thought it needed some "extra" sturdiness. I also used the iron on bias tape (hem tape) instead of trying to iron on bonding to the tape.. that seemed like a major pain !!! I still need to add the ribbons at the top to hang it .. but Im almost done !!!

 

[h2only]

what are these and what are they used for? this will be my first Disney Cruise, and to be honest there seem to be so many little things I keep seeing that seem like i will be going very unprepared?
I also something about giving gifts?

could someone give me a quick rundown of these sort of things and there importance?

thanks

 

[RobbW]

what are these and what are they used for? this will be my first Disney Cruise, and to be honest there seem to be so many little things I keep seeing that seem like i will be going very unprepared?
I also something about giving gifts?

could someone give me a quick rundown of these sort of things and there importance?

thanks

This is our first Disney cruise, too! It does seem daunting the number of things experienced DCL cruisers do and participate in. We just happen to be Disney fanatics ourselves, which is why we decided to jump straight into the FE exchange on our first cruise.

What we have posted here is what's called an FE Hanger. FE stands for Fish Extender. Apparently, next to your door just outside your cabin on a Disney ship, there is a decorative fish hook/hanger doohickie. Somewhere along the line, someone thought to hang things from this fish hook. This developed into the FE hanger. Basically, it is a length of fabric with pockets for each family member or person in your group. The pockets are for other people to put things in. Below is an image of an FE hanger in action (to the left of the door):

Disregard the inordinate amount of door decorations for the purposes of this post. These people are obvious crazed, lunatic Disney fanatics! (We can only hope to emulate them someday!).

The FE exchange is kind of like a "Secret Santa" type of thing. You should go to the thread specifically set up for the cruise you will be on. The very first page or so should list if there is an FE exchange on your cruise. Members need to sign up to be part of the exchange.

What happens, from how I understand it, is that everyone who has signed up to participate is to bring some sort of gift, token, or trinket for everyone else who is participating. Sometime during the cruise, you go around and put your gifts into the other participants' FE hangers.

The gifts don't need to be big or elaborate. In fact, they probably shouldn't be big at all, as everyone will need to pack all these gifts to bring them home at the end of the cruise. From what I've heard, most people try to give a gift that is somehow symbolic of their interests or where they are from. For example, someone on my cruise who is from San Francisco is planning to bring Ghiradelli chocolates since they are made in (or near) SF. Since I am really into astronomy, I have made astronomy-themed FE gifts to give out. You can either buy small gifts that you would like to give out or you can make gifts if you are really into the whole artsy-craftsy scene. I'm not very skilled in the artsy-craftsy stuff, but I couldn't really find anything to buy that really fit with what I wanted to give as FE gifts. So I ended up making mine. Some people REALLY go overboard making homemade gifts, which I'm sure are very much appreciated. But it is by no means a requirement that you make your gifts. Everyone enjoys their FE gifts regardless if they are bought or made.

The following DISboards link gets into the whole FE hanger/exchange thing, and I'm sure you can find plenty of other threads if you do a quick search. Good luck and have lots of fun on your cruise. When, where, and on which ship are you cruising?

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1219607&highlight=fe+hanger