More craft activities
Discover more fun craft activities to keep you occupied all through the year.
Make a cosy draught excluder
In winter you want your home to feel cosy but turning up the heating isn’t the cheapest or greenest way to stay warm. Find out how to make an easy draught excluder to help keep the heat where you want it.
Perfect presents
You could craft these either for your own home or as a thoughtful handmade gift for family or friends.
What you’ll need
- Fabric
- Fabric scissors
- Pins
- Needle
- Thread matching your fabric
- Stuffing (you can buy stuffing from craft shops but you can also recycle old, laddered tights which work just as well)
Optional
- Sewing machine
- Iron
- Decorations such as buttons or ribbon
Method
- Choose a piece of fabric
- This could be a piece of fabric you have left over from another project, or from an item of clothing you no longer need. It needs to be 35–40cm wide and a little longer than the door frame where you'll be placing your finished draft excluder.
- Fold your fabric
- Fold your fabric in half lengthways, making sure the side of the fabric you want to be showing (called the ‘right’ side) is on the inside.
- Pin in place
- Pin down the length of your fabric and along one end to create an open tube. This will ensure the fabric stays in place for the next step. If you've not quite cut a perfect rectangle, you could use a tape measure to place the pins in a straight line and then trim off the excess fabric.
- Sew an open tube
- Sew the pinned sides, either by hand or using a sewing machine, removing the pins as you go. As you remove the pins, hold the fabric to keep it straight. Sew as close into the corners as you can, so that they look tidy when turned inside out.
- Turn inside out
- Once step four is complete, turn your open tube inside out so that now the side of the fabric that you want to be seen is on the outside. Depending on what type of fabric you are using, you may want to iron down the seams at this point.
- Fill the tube with stuffing
- Insert your chosen stuffing into the tube. If you are using old tights, be sure to shred them to make your finished draught excluder less lumpy.
- Close up the end
- When your tube is full, carefully sew up the end by hand, being as neat as you can.
- Decorate your finished draught excluder (optional)
- Now you have a fully functional draught excluder, you may wish to add some decorative touches. You could easily cut and create your own felt letters, but ribbons, buttons and pom-poms look great too.
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