DIY: Catch that Draught! (p.s. silly letterbox)

Ok, so this is such an old age thing to make, right?

NO!  because my flat is gorgeous and old and amazing, but this also means none of the doors fit properly and the windows are silly and there's a gale coming from under the front door.

And I am a student, and therefore strapped for cash, and therefore the heating does not get used in this house (perhaps that explains my fervent obsession with knitting cozy goodies continuously).

Anyways, I thought I'd share how I made this, as I couldn't find one myself and it was very easy :)

This fabric came from MisforMake, is so pretty with little hills and houses and sheeps :)

p.s.  look at how stupidly small my postbox is.  I run to the post office continually to collect post which wouldn't fit through.  The poor postman even has to fold all the edges in on my lovefilm dvd subscription to make it fit through and everything arrives all bashed.  

What a silly letter box.

To make your own, you will need:

• 18" x 44" of fabric (this is about 2 fat quarters)
• a bag of toy/cushion stuffing (I used approx. 300g)
• scissors, thread, measuring tape etc.

1. Ok, start! yey!  Measure the gap under your door, plus around two inches, plus another inch for seaming allowances.  Don't worry if it's largeish, better too big than too small!  (and if you really hate it squished you can cut pieces off).

So I measured 41" and cut off the edge.

2. With this edge, cut out two squares (to turn into circles) for your ends.  I find the easiest way to do this is just to fold it in half triangularways.  You should be left with two squares and a scrap.  

3. Cut your two squares into two circles!  (I did this by folding into 4 and cutting the way you did with paper snowflakes as a kid.  You could also make a paper template).

4. Now to move onto the sewing!  There are several ways to do this, so I shall show you the way I did and you can change the order of them if you like.  I pinned the main piece of my fabric (the 41" piece) together lengthwise, leaving about an inch and a half because I didn't want my roll to be that big, but you can make it thicker or thinner by leacing less or more waste on this edge respectively.   Seam this edge, by sewing machine or hand.

note:  you don't have to do the circles!!  If you just want a rectangular one you can go ahead and sew straight across these edges (remembering to leave a gap to stuff!).  If you dooo want a roll, continue on!

5.  The circle ends are trickiest, you could sew them on before seaming the roll, but you'd have to measure the exact circumference of the edge of the roll and match this to the circumference of your circle (minus seaming allowance).  So I just cut any size circles I liked from the strip of fabric, and pinned them in 4 'corners' of my tube.

6. Using these pins to keep your circle in place, sew with right sides facing.  You may have to make little pleats 'cause your circle will probably be too big.  If you pin further into the circle, the less your end will puff out and the less you'll have to pleat.

 7.  REMEMBER NOT TO SEW YOUR 2ND CIRCLE FULLY SHUT, leave a few inches (around the size to fit your hand in easily) - you need to put stuffing in at somepoint!  So stuff your tube and then hand sew the final few inches by hand .





Weyhey, you're done!  I hope that quick little guide is clear enough, just comment below if there's anything you think I should add!

Have you ever made anything like this before?  Any fun stories about hunting down that draught in your housey?



:) x