Deftly Dodging Drafts

It's that time of year again.

The sky becomes a opaque grey and the bright green leaves of summer become the colors of sunset.  The air becomes crisp and chilly... and the wind begins to blow it right under our front door.

You can literally see the gap under the door!  (it doesn't help that our apartment is in a very old house...)

The solution?  Well, I could have spent twenty bucks on one of those "As Seen On TV" draft stoppers... or I could make one of my own with items I already have.  This seemed like a much more economical fix!  I had some old, bleach-speckled towels lying around that I decided to use.  After measuring the width of the door (and adding an inch or two for a seam allowance) I cut out a rectangle from the towel.

I made the rectangle about 10 inches wide. I also made sure that the finished edge of the towel was one of the edges of the rectangle (so that I wouldn't have to hem it!)

 I folded up the finished edge 2 inches. I then folded the unfinished edge down and pinned it all together.  I sewed down the side approximately half an inch from edge.  My sewing machine was unwilling to sew through three layers of towel... so I had to do it by hand.  It took a little longer, but once it was finished I could turn the tube right-side out.

I ended up with a good-sized tube with a tab sticking out.  After sewing up one end of the tube it was time to stuff it full of good, draft-stopping stuff!

I decided to use rice and scrap pieces of plastic baggies (the handles and bottoms) left over from fusing them together.  I measured out the rice into zippy bags so that just in case my draft dodger got wet it wouldn't be ruined.  (About one cup of rice per baggie worked well.)  I suppose you could also use beans, aquarium gravel, or regular stuffing.  I wanted something nice and heavy so that the draft dodger would lie firmly against the floor.

A few stitches to close up the other end and I had a very heavy tube of towel!  Now, why is there a tab on the one side?  Well!  I am glad you asked!

Using my handy-dandy staple gun I was able to tack the draft dodger directly to the bottom of the door.  Now whenever we open the door we don't have to kick the draft dodger back in place!

Goodbye chilly draft!