Boring to make, but actually kind of exciting to have finished, because they have made a huge difference! Our house was built in 1919 and still has a lot of original windows, some of which are soooooo drafty. Every year I'd say "I ought to figure out to make some draft stoppers for those" but then I never got around to doing it. Finally, after a week of high winds coming up from the water, I did it.
I didn't bother to even look for any directions online, I'm sure there are plenty. But I just forged ahead and did what I thought would work -- and it did! I measured the windows and then cut rectangles that were the width of each window plus 1-1/2" long; and 7-1/2" wide. I used french seams for extra strength, and seamed the rectangles along the long edge and one short edge. Emily and I then filled them with play sand using a kitchen funnel (that was fun, if a little messy!), and then I rolled the open ends over, pinned them and then very carefully brought them back upstairs and sewed them closed. We put them in the windows and seriously, the temperature in the house climbed within just 2 or 3 hours.
Sewing hasn't been all boring though, Emily has her own machine now and has started making things! But more on that later. Ha ha, and I totally forgot, I made a new flannel robe from a vintage pattern for Evan...where is my brain? More on that later, too!
Like the dots. It's good to do that mundane stuff. And it's always the stuff that gets used the most. Like I never blogged the summer pjs that I made. But of course, those get worn all the time. :)
ReplyDeleteLove the fabric for the draft stoppers. We have a similar situation but it is with doors. Our house has a very unique thing which is a full basement under our garage! I've never seen anything like it but the trouble is that it's not heated (the rest of the basement is fully finished and used every day) so the door from our laundry room to that basement is very drafty. Here's how I made mine. I made two rectangles one narrower than the other but the same length. I sewed the narrower rectangle long side with the wrong sides together and the seam allowance on the outside. Then I sewed the wider rectangle right sides together and included the seam allowance of the first tube in that. When it's tured right side out your have a skinny tube inside of a wider tube. Then I filled the skinnier tube with the plastic pellets used for making beanie toys, and stuffed the larger tube with firmly packed fiberfill. This makes a tube that is weighty enough to stay put, but doesn't use as much of the more expensive bean filler. It's quite remarkable how much difference it makes to the comfort of the rest of the house and I kick myself for not doing it sooner. It's just such a tedious task. I should have used nice bright fabrics like yours - I used a cotton canvas type in dull beige. ;-(
ReplyDeleteI never thought of sand and will check to see if we can get it here. Did you find it at a lumber/building store?
you read my mind! i've been thinking about making these for a while now. you may have just inspired me to actually do it!
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