Denim Draught stopper

Difficulty:

Cost:

A pair of thrifted jeans- $5

Materials:

Jeans

Tools:

A sewing machine

Scissors

Bleach

A paintbrush

Gloves

 If there's one thing that students can't afford, well, it's basically everything. Draughts can drain an already stretched budget as they let in cold air when you're spending so much in a vain attempt to keep a room warm. As well as this, they are just plain nasty.  This is the Salute to Cute method for keeping out draughts in the middle of winter in a cheap and stylish way!

Method:

The first part is a bit of fun. Take all the jeans that you have collected and hack the legs off them!
Cut each of the legs down the in seam so you have a nice flat piece of denim to work with.
Trim off any extra jean detailing like hems and seams. All that should be left are some long and wide pieces of denim. 

Take these pieces and join them up end to end so a long patchwork of denim pieces develops. 

Next figure out the length that you want your draught stopper to be and cut three equal lengths of your denim patchwork to fit this measurement. 

Sew the pieces along the long seams, joining them up into a bigger, wider patch work of denim pieces.

Now the customising begins! 

Lay out some newspapers to protect the surface you're working on and carefully pour some bleach into a container that can be discarded when you're finished. Lay out your denim patchwork on top of the newspaper. 

Using your paint brush, paint the design that you want on to your denim pieces. We recommend wearing gloves to stop the bleach getting on your hands. 

As you can see we painted all sorts of designs. Polka dots and stripes are always going to be a favourite but Ali couldn't resist getting creative with some cat stamps!

Wait for the bleach to dry and develop the pattern on your denim. When this has happened, fold you draught stopper in half lengthways, right sides together, and pin to make a seam.
Also pin along one end, leaving the other open so that the draught stopper can be stuffed.   

Sew this seam closed and turn your draught stopper the right way out. Stuff the draught stopper with anything that you have handy. You could ball up old newspapers and use those or even cut up the bits of jeans you didn't use and use them to fill up your draught stopper.
Once stuffed, fold the open end of your draught stopper inwards and sew closed. 

So there you have it, a stylish and customisable way to keep the cold air away!

This is Ali's gorgeous dog Hunty (he has cropped up here and here too) falling asleep on her nifty collection of draught stoppers! 

Happy draught busting everyone!