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snake draft stopper |
back to make |
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I never even knew what a draft stopper was until we moved to the mountains where a cold draft is 1) really cold and 2) like bleeding money. So I set about making a draft stopper only to realize in my planning stages that this could be made into a snake (only because I didn't want to buy faux fur to make a weasel or ferret). Be warned that I designed this on the fly and had some tactical errors. You might learn from my mistakes. |
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You will need fabric (how much? see the next entry), red ribbon (only if you want a tongue), two beads (for the eyes), thread, scissors, a sewing machine (not pictured), some stuffing batting, some quilters batting, approximately five pounds of aquarium gravel, pins, and a needle. Various folks use cat litter, uncooked rice, etc. I'm not interested in attracting mice and I don't like what happens when kitty litter gets wet... |
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Measure your door width and add 8 inches to it. That's the length of your fabric. Also check to see how high above the ground your draft/leak zone is. You want to double that plus a couple of inches for the width of your fabric. Now cut two pieces of fabric to that length and width. Note: your second piece doesn't have to be the same as the first since it will never see the light of day (again). |
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Take old scraps of batting and lay them on top of the wrong side of fabric piece #1. Leave a 1/2 inch margin from the edge as shown in the picture. Sandwich the batting by placing fabric piece #2 on top (right side facing up). Pin the edges. |
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If you're making a snake, trim the tail like so. Use the cutting from the first attempt as your template for the other side (for symmetry). If you're not making a snake, leave it be. |
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Now quilt large Xs across the fabric sandwich (my Xs were about 8x8 inches). You can do it by hand, but I find a sewing machine to be faster and an opportunity to screw up straight lines. This is mostly to hold the batting in place. Why batting? Because the fabric is thin, the gravel has interstitial holes, and your draft might penetrate the stopper. Also, I didn't want the darn thing to thunk around on my wood floors... So the batting helps to interrupt airflow and cushion the gravel. |
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Again, only if you are making a snake, cut a piece of ribbon (I bought red velvet ribbon, but felt works well too) and fork the "tongue". |
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Sew the tongue wrong-side up and pointing back to the body onto the top of the snake. (If you used two different fabrics, do this on the outside fabric - otherwise it doesn't matter). |
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So I thought I'd be smart and round the head because I wanted to sew a rounded/pointed head for my snake. Sometimes my spatial reasoning is bang on, other times, like this one, I am not thinking at all. Don't do this. |
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Fold the fabric sandwich in half with the right side facing IN (because you are going to turn this baby inside out). Pin the edges together but leave the head open (and you might want to give it a few inches along the side unpinned as well to ease the filling of the guts). Sew a 1/4 inch margin from the tail to the head opening. Please don't sew the whole thing shut. |
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Carefully turn the stopper shell inside out. You can pop the tail out with a broom handle (or, in my case, a swiffer handle). Then take some of the loose batting material and stuff it into the tail using same household cleaning device handle. Stuff it full of batting until you reach the constant diameter part of the body (where the tail ends). |
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At this point, start pouring in the gravel. I'll just warn you that my fabric was 44 inches by 8 inches and that this five pound bag of aquarium gravel ($4 at Petco) just barely filled it up to the neck. Once you've emptied enough gravel, grab more loose batting and stuff it in leaving a few inches left of the head unstuffed. |
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Sew the eyes on (if you are talented, you can sew the eyes onto the head before you even begin sewin the body up - but I couldn't figure out where I wanted them at that stage). Fold in the margins and hand stitch the head closed making sure the tongue is sticking out and not in. You can see where my lack of skill resulted in a snake who looks like it ate a lemon more than a snake snake. |
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You're done! Now drop that stopper at the door. I had to moosh mine up a little because it was a tad on the short and fat side (so squashing it makes it a little taller and blocks the draft). |
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back to make |
