How to Make a Draft Stopper

By Scarlet Paolicchi

Wintertime comes with hefty heating bills. Luckily there are lots of ways to lower your heating bills and save energy. Making a draft stopper is one way to help conserve energy and keep your family comfortable and away from those cold winter drafts! They also make a perfect gift during the holiday season.  

Materials

• Cloth fabric of your choice, enough for the door or window of your choice
• Scissors
• Heavy filler, such as rice or beans
• Measuring tape
• Sewing machine or a needle and thread
• Buttons or extra material to use as decoration

Before you begin your project, take some time to consider how you will decorate the final project. This will help ensure you have all needed materials ready and on hand.

Instructions

1.    Measure the length of the door or window where you plan to use the stopper, adding 1 ½ inches to provide room for the seams. The width will be 5 inches. For example, the measurements for my window draft stopper are 31 ½ by 5 inches.

2.    Measure and cut your fabric according to the measurements in step one.  

3.    Feel free to repurpose any fabric you have laying around your house, such as old towels or pick up a yard of stylish fabric at your nearest fabric store.

4.    Fold your cloth in half, vertically, so it is about 2 ½ inches from top to bottom. Use a hot iron to make a seam.

5.    Turn the fabric inside out and sew along the seams, leaving one side open for stuffing.  I would suggest double stitching for strength and to ensure the filling stays inside.

6.    Fill with a bag of rice or beans leaving an inch of room at the top and sew shut.

7.    Add any additional embellishments to the draft stopper. My son added a ribbon tongue into the final seam and added buttons and felt to create eyes making it into a snake.  

How did you decorate your draft stopper?  

Photos courtesy of Scarlet Paolicchi.