Double Sided Door Draft Stopper Tutorial

This is the bottom of our basement door.

For the past 4 winters, as long as we've lived here I've been wanting to make a door stopper to keep the draft from coming up from the basement.

Tonight that became a finalized reality.

And now I'm about to tell you how to make one for your own drafty door.

You will need:

-Something to stuff each side of this door draft stopper with.  I used an old towel.  I have seen some with water pipe insulation, but I used an old towel for mine.

- A pair of scissors.

-Needle and thread

- Cute fabric for the cover. 1/2 a yard should be plenty.  I used the legs cut off of some old pajama pants.  I love to upcycle.

-A cute helper doesn't hurt.  I wanted to take this opportunity to let my 4 year old get a little sewing experience.

Step 1:

Hold your towel up to your doorway and cut the ends off of each side to make it match the width of the doorway.

Next you are going to roll up the long sides of the towel, until you get to the center of the towel.  Make sure to leave space for the bottom of the door between your rolls.  You can add the pieces you cut off of the ends of the towel to the inside of the rolls, by laying the cut pieces down lengthwise on the sides of the towel.

Step 2:
Stitch the rolls into place, by hand.

Your little helper can do this too.

 Just be sure to warn him or her beforehand about the fact that they WILL prick their fingers, and it WILL hurt.  But it won't hurt for long and that's just part of sewing.
Everybody does it.

Poor tough little girl.  She was so proud that she didn't quit.
I sewed down one side, while she did the other.
Then of course I helped her on her side.

Step 3:
Get your cover ready.

My mom recently sent me a box of clothes for the kids.
Inside was a grocery bag full of the bottoms of pajama pants.
Someone had cut them off to make pajama shorts, and I got the scraps.
Nice!
Thanks Mom!
I just put one pant leg inside the other with the right sides of the fabric facing and stitched the raw edges together to make one long tube.

If you are simply using fabric you bought at the store, then just wrap it around the towel and leave yourself about 1/2" of seam allowance.
Step 4:

Then I slipped the towel inside the tube and pinned to show where I wanted my seams to go.
I've got the cover turned inside out for this step.

Step 5:
Sew the side and one edge along the outline shown by the pins.

Step 6:
Flip it right side out and slip it over the door draft stopper (towel portion).
Now sew closed the end of thecover, and zig zag stitch up the middle, where it will fit under the door.

And now it's done!
So darn easy, and it took me so darn long to sit down and get it done.
Shame, shame, shame it took me so long to make this.

Thanks for checking my blog out!