Every winter, a cold breeze emerges from underneath our stove. This year I got smart and decided to block it off.
First, I cut the legs off of a pair of old pants:
That was wider than I needed, so I cut it in half and trimmed off the seams.
I was left with four strips of fabric. No picture here, because even though I have discovered that I can get sewing done in the playroom, it’s a rare feat to get sewing and photography done in the playroom.
I took one strip, folded it in half, and serged one end and the side length. I chose to leave it un-turned (with the seam on the outside), because that meant one less step, and you can take shortcuts like that when you use a serger and are not a perfectionist.
I put Mike and the kids to work stuffing it with all of the miniscule scraps that I save because I find it extremely difficult to throw fabric away. They used the handle of our toy broom to push the stuffing to the bottom of the fabric tube.
Emma took a moment to show off our draft-stopper in her seasonally inappropriate attire. There are benefits to having children too young to clothe (and unclothe) themselves.
I serged the open edge shut after this picture.
And here it is in all its glory under our perpetually fingerprint-and-footprint decorated stove. Hooray for no more drafts!
Now to turn the three remaining strips into draft blockers for our doors and under the kitchen sink.
If you have a draft-free house, my children recommend these as toys, although given that they primarily wave them about wildly in the air I don’t feel that I can second their recommendation.
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
I love when I get things taken care of that have bothered me for a while. Your fridge looks almost exactly like mine – ours constantly has fingerprints, too. :) And Kaia also dresses like Emma. I swear she is oblivious to the cold.
I really need to do this. Currently, I’m using an old towel as a cold draft for the back door, and it is quite unsightly! Love how yours turned out!
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What a good solution to your problem. You crack me up on the toy comment ;) and Conner wears pretty much the same attire that Emma does… silly kids.
great idea
Thanks for reminding me about this. i too have been meaning to do this for some years now :-)
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Love the team effort and Emma’s smile!! :) Your home is now more comfortable for the people who choose not to wear sleeves. :)
.-= Elisa | blissfulE´s last blog ..this year I resolve to… =-.
My daughters would never consider Emma’s outfit “seasonally inappropriate.” They think sun dresses, shorts and tanks should be worn year round.
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I have also seen to use a bag of beans or rice to stuff these draft stoppers with. Good idea with the little scraps–I have two huge boxes full of scraps of felt and fabric that I just can’t part with. Amazingly, I have found things to do with them! Here’s another!
Love that Emma is in a tank top while you’re worrying about drafts! I always worry about Ingrid being cold when she runs around with no pants on, but apparently kids run hotter or just don’t care if they have purple lips…
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