Eurghhh winter!! The bane of everyone who owns an old and draughty home. I don’t know about you but the minute it drops below 15 degrees outside it becomes harder and harder to keep the house warm. Add in a howling wind and it’s colder than penguin poo! In fact I sometimes go outside just to warm up a bit 🙂 And so this year I’m on a mission to keep the house warmer by tackling the drafts. I’ve already upgraded my curtains in various rooms and now I’m onto door drafts. Old doors don’t tend to fit perfectly and the arctic blast that I get coming from the bottom of my front door is enough to give my toes frostbite. So here’s my guide on how to make a simple and yet very effective draught excluder.
Not only is it functional but it’s incredibly easy to make too and I hope you’ll agree, quite stylish too. I am using my Cricut machine as part of this project but you could cut the letters out by hand if you’d like to have a go too. To be fair, you don’t really need the words, I just thought it would be fun. Instead you could use a sumptuous velvet to give a really luxurious finish. They’re really cheap to make too and you really don’t need much fabric. And they make excellent Christmas presents too. Let operation ‘Warm House’ commence. Let’s get on with out project shall we.
what you will need to make a draught excluder
Tape Measure
Pencil or pen and paper
Fabric of your choice – I used DITTE from IKEA at only £3 a metre
Scissors (here are my favourites)
Pins
Thread to match your fabric
Sewing Machine although you could sew it by hand with a bit of patience
Iron on vinyl – I bought mine in Hobbycraft
Cricut machine (optional)
Needle for hand sewing
iron
Kapok (either cotton or polyester)
how to make a draught excluder for any door
step 1 – Measuring up
First you need to measure the width of your doorway. And not just the door. Measure from the outside edge of one architrave to the outside edge of the other. Jot down this measurement on your paper especially if like me you have the memory of a gnat. And then add 4 cm to this measurement.
Step1 – Cut out Your Fabric
Now it’s time to cut out your fabric. Cut out two matching rectangles 24cm deep by the width measurement you have jotted down.
Step 3 – Pin right sides together
Then right sides together pin along the two long sides and one short side. Once sewn this will leave us an opening to add our filling
Step 3 – sew the two sides of your draught excluder together
Now sew all three sides with a plain stitch leaving a 2cm hem. When you get to the open side I recommend sewing in from each side too to leave around a 7 cm opening. This just make it easier when it comes to sewing up the gap after you’ve added your stuffing as you’ve already created your corners.
Step 4 – Snip the corners
OK, we’re just about there to turn the fabric right side out now but before we do we need to snip the corners off. Take your scissors and cut diagonally across every corner making sure not to cut through your stitching line. The reason we snip the corners is to reduce fabric bulk allowing for a beautifully crisp corner.
step 5 – turn the draught excluder right side out
Now turn the draught excluder right side out. You pen or pencil will come in handy right now too to help push the corners out. And then once you’ve finished give it an iron to press the seams.
step 6 – create your iron on design
Please do miss out this step if you’re going for a plain draught excluder. Ok so now it’s time to add our wording. I can’t decide between ‘It’s Fucking Freezing’ or ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ but I’m a sweary mare so obviously went with the gutter snipe version! I’m using my Cricut so I’ve chosen my font, created my wording and set the machine to go. I’m not going to go into a tutorial on how to use it as if you have one you will already know and if you’ve just bought one there are loads of amazing You Tube tutorials out there. If you haven’t got one I thoroughly recommend butting one on your Birthday or Christmas List.
Step 7 – Pin your design to your draught excluder
Once your design comes off the Cricut machine you need to weed out all the bits you don’t need to leave just the lettering behind. And then carefully position it onto your fabric making use of a couple of pins to keep it in place.
step 8 – iron on your design
Now for the fun bit. Adding the lettering. Switch on the iron and grab a piece of cloth. Once the iron is up to temperature (cotton Setting) cover the vinyl with your piece of cloth (I used some of my left over fabric) and then place the iron on top for around 25-30 seconds before continuing along all of the lettering repeating this step until you reach the end. And then flip the material over and repeat on the reverse. Then allow it to cool but keep the iron on just in case.
Step 9 – Peel off the iron on backing
Now’s the time to reveal your design in all its glory! Carefully and slowly lift away the backing plastic. You need to pay close attention though as some parts of your letters may not be fully stuck down. If you do come across an area that isn’t fully adhered though, just grab your iron and repeat Step 8 on the front of the draught excluder but for 10 seconds.
step 6 – fill your draught excluder
Now it’s time to stuff your draught excluder with your chosen filling. This is really down to choice. You can use fluffy Kapok either cotton or polyester or the more traditional route which can also be organic which is buckwheat husks. Having not been able to c=get any locally though I’ve opted for Kapok from Hobbycraft.
step 7 – sew up the opening
Once your draught excluder is full of your chosen filling all that’s left to do is pin the open sides together and then using your needle and thread sew the opening closed.
And there you have it. Your very own hand made and very funky draught excluder. All you need to do now is place it at the bottom of your chosen door and feel the warmth return to you toes. What do you think? As always do leave me a comment, I literally do a happy dance when I receive one. Oh and if you’d like your own ‘It’s Fucking Freezing’ draught excluder but don’t want to make your own a slightly different version with a removeable pad is available to order in my shop.
NB. Disclaimer – This guide is meant as such and i can’t be help responsible for any accidents or errors that may occur due to following them.
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