As the nights grow colder - and the energy bills rise, we thought we would share one of our favourite scrap-busting projects, which also happens to be an essential for keeping those cold draughts at bay.
This a great beginners project, and could be done with no sewing - or could even be hand sewn if you wanted a sofa project! I whipped this one up in 20 minutes max from cutting, sewing, stuffing and finishing.
You Will Need:
Fabric - You'll need a piece of fabric roughly 125cm x 30cm wide. We recommend measuring your doorframe as described below to work out the exact amount you need as door width can differ
A basic sewing machine (or a needle and thread if hand sewing/fabric glue)
Sharp scissors, or a rotary cutter and mat
Pins or quilting clips
Iron
Hand sewing needle
Coordinating threads
Stuffing materials - ideally shredded to avoid being lumpy. Use fabric/wool scraps, old clothes, old (clean!) socks, rice, sand, wadding, toy stuffing, old pillow or duvet filling, dried lentils, foam peanuts or packaging, balled up paper or even dry cat litter! We used fabric and wool scraps to stuff ours!
Method:
*Note - all pattern pieces include a 1 cm seam allowance, and should be sewn with such unless otherwise stated*
Measure your doorframe. Align the tape measure with the outer side of the door frame and take the width measurement. Add a few cm onto each side of the frame measurement, to account for seam allowance and to create an overlap to cover the whole width of the door.
E.g. My door width measures 98cm including the frame.
98cm + 8cm (4cm each side overhang) + 2cm (1cm seam allowance each side) = 108cm wide
The height of your pattern piece will need to be approximately 32cm high.
Cut out your measurements from your fabric. My panel measured 108cm x 32cm.
Fold the fabric in half lengthwise, right sides together, and pin around the raw edges.
Stitch around the raw edges, leaving a 5cm gap in the top raw long edge, being sure to back stitch when you stop and restart.
Trim the corners off to make turning out easier.
Turn out through the gap you left in the top seam, Poke the corners out carefully with a knitting needle or skewer. Press.
Stuff the empty draught excluder tube with your choice of filling, pushing the inner to the corners and edges. If you find it is getting a little lumpy, massage the filling down the tube.
Hand sew closed the opening you left.
And you're done!
If you do make our Draught Excluder - be sure to tag us on social media @little.fig.handmade !
- Charis