I live in a Victorian townhouse is lovely and cool in the summer and unfortunately cold and draughty in the winter. That’s why I made a denim DIY draught excluder.
Like many old houses that cling on to their original fixtures, the wind howls through the gaps. It can be really noisy at times as the old doors and the windows rattle. I love my original sash windows and old doors. I don’t want to change them. Therefore to minimize the draughts, I made my own DIY denim draught excluders for both my doors and windows.
The DIY draught excluder for the door is made by upcycling old jeans. I also added a bit of humour to them by stenciling on a pun or two.
One says “Mind The Gap“, which if you have ever visited London you would have heard this many times when getting on and off the tube. The other stencil is “Draft Dodger”, which I confess wasn’t my idea but actually a suggestion from one of my readers.
The denim door snakes also match my decor, I have a waistband denim rug on the floor and in the lounge some Boho jeans pillows on the sofa. Not to mention all the other upcycled denim decor dotted around the house.
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How To Make A Personalized Denim DIY Draught Excluder
What you need
- Old pair of adult jeans – kids jeans would do for the smaller window DIY draught excluder.
- Rotary cutter and mat
- Sewing Machine- with needles suitable for denim
- Fiberfill – you can buy some or use an old pillow. (If making a window DIY draught excluder you may want to use lentils or rice for the filling.)
- Letter Stencils
- White Paint – You can use either acrylic or fabric paint.
- Foam paint brushes
- If making a window DIY draught excluder a leather strip or denim loop for a hanging tag.
How to make a Denim DIY Draught Excluder
1.. First, measure the width or your door (or window) for the DIY draught excluder. My doorways are approximately 80cm (just over 2.5 feet) wide.
Then turn your jeans inside out and cut the leg to the length of your doorway, most adult jeans should be long enough (if not you may need to make your DIY draught excluder in two parts).
2. The leg of your jean is unlikely to be a completely uniform width across the whole length. Also, it is likely to be a lot fatter than you want for your DIY draught excluder. Therefore you will need to mark and sew down the length of the leg to even it up. For the door DIY draught excluder, I stitched the leg up approximately five inches from the seam.
The window DIY draught excluder was made much thinner (about 1.5 inches from the seam).
3. Next, turn the jean leg right side out and stencil the pun you have chosen on the front. Whatever paint you use, lay the stencil directly on the denim, hold down the stencil as you apply the paint with a dabbing action.
If you use acrylic paint you may want to set it with an iron and a 50/50 vinegar/water mixture (like I did with my doily stenciled pillow and denim stenciled table runner)
4. Then, once the paint is dry, fill your DIY draught excluder. For the door excluders I use fiber fill from old pillows.
However, for the window excluders, I use either rice or lentils. This gives weight to the window draught excluders which help them mold to the gaps in the window. As well as keeping out draughts. The heavier filling also helps stop the sash windows from rattling in the wind.
5. To finish, stitch up the ends when full. For the window excluders, I add a loop (leather or denim) so I can hang them when not in use.
Other Stencil Phrase Ideas
I have quite a few doors and sash windows in my house so have a number of draught excluders. This denim upcycle only used the legs of the jeans, there are some ideas of things you can make out of the leftover jeans pockets here. You can even make some cute heart keyrings out of the small scraps or a bouquet of denim flowers.
If you have anymore draught related puns I could use, I would love to hear them. Here some others I’ve already had
- Gap jeans
- Gone With The Wind
- Catchin’ Air
- Breeze Blocker
- Blowin’ In the Wind
- Baby It’s Cold Outside
- Wind Whisperer
- Chill Out
These denim draught excluders are really quick and easy to make but if you want to make a more colourful DIY draught excluder I have a great free needlepoint pattern here for a funky draught excluder.
You might also want to check out some of my other popular denim upcycles:
Denim Pocket Organizer
Iphone Denim Pocket Pillow
No Sew Denim Suitcase
Penny Jordan
Question, do you have any problems with them molding from condensation? Was thinking rice might help prevent that from happening. Thanks
Claire Armstrong
No Penny I haven’t had that problem. They keep the draught out but don’t seem to get wet, if they did I’d just put them on the radiator to dry.
Lisa Manly
“Break Wind”
“Wind Breaker”
Claire Armstrong
Love them especially ” Break Wind” thank you.
Beth Weber
Enjoy your suggestions… here’s another comment…
“just a rough draft”
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, like it!
Cher
I made a bunch of them back in the 1980’s out of cotton fabric. I made the window widths reach side to side inside the frames as cool air gets in on those sides. I filled mine with construction sand (not play sand). I still use them today!
Claire Armstrong
They sound great too!. Mine certainly make a difference in the winter.
Arnene
Great idea for floor drafts but the ones I have seen were filled with heavier filling such as beans or rice. Just saying 🙂
Claire Armstrong
YThank you. You can fill them with lentils and beans. I do fill my smaller window ones with lentils. However, with the bigger ones I find that fiberfill works just fine for me.
Jared
At least for American crafters, sports drafts could be fun. “#1 draft pick” for instance. Also, “what’s on draft?” And then you could always do “are you draft?!” (Daft), “arts and drafts,” or “fore and draft” for the nautical crowd.
Claire Armstrong
?? loving the suggestions and puns, thank you!
Kathy Wycott-Vandewal
Love these, I have a couple I use in my home and they work well, when you’re on the inside but when you leave the room or house of course it is left away from the door. An idea I had was to attach on each end a matching piece, almost like a flat belt that would slide under the door so when you go out and close the door you can pull the “belt” pulling the draft stopper back up against the door and the last draft will be just that, keeping the heat inside,
Claire Armstrong
Thank you Kathy, and the belt thing sounds like a really good idea.
Penny Jordan
Maybe Velcro them to the door? Haven’t tried it, but it might work?
Lucy @ Patina Paradise
OMG your draft dodger is too cute! As is your dog! I need to make a few of these for our home. A jean pant leg is a great idea! I may even get away with only hot gluing it since I don’t have sewing machine. ;o)
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, they are really handy especially as its started to get colder here.
Pam @Threading My Way
An awesome way to reuse denim jeans, Claire. The wind is howling outside and I could do with some draught excluders in my lounge room right now. I have piles of old jeans ready to be used. Featured today, both your tutorial and your blog…
Claire Armstrong
Thank you very much ! They do actually make a difference with draughts.
Marisa
Such a cute idea, and perfect for my winter friends up north!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you very much.
Mary-the boondocks blog
Claire this is such a practical idea. And more importantly you had it look so stylish.
Claire Armstrong
Thank you Mary. I have had some good suggestions for more pun stencils “Chill out”, “Gone with the Wind” and my favourite “Say No to Crack”.
DJ
So happy to see your instructions! I need these for old windows too. I once saw a double sided one. A plain piece of fabric ran under the doors and windows with the filled fabric tube on each side to double insulate. With your great tutorial I might try making one. Maybe roll each edge of the leg over and sew two smaller rolls leaving some fabric between them? Do you think that would work? I’m not much of a seamstress.
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, it’s worth a try. By the way I do find the window ones very effective.
Linda
Your draught dodger is awesome. Love the words, Mind the Gap! yes, we have been to London and we laughted everytime we stepped off the tube. Thanks for sharing your creativity at DI&DI.
Claire Armstrong
Thank you ! “Mind the gap” is a very London expression.
Name*
So creative Claire & I love the expressions you stenciled! Thanks for sharing @Vintage Charm–pinned!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you very much. I’ve had some more good expressions suggested since posting, such as “Chill Out” and “Gone with the Wind”.
Robyna | the mummy and the minx
These are so cool! We don’t tend to have this draught issue in Brisbane but if I made it weightier it could be a great door stop.
Claire Armstrong
Thanks they would make a good door stop. Draughts are probably more of a Northern hemisphere isssue !
Helen at Pleasures of the NW
What a great way to use an old pair of jeans!! Thanks for sharing on the Pleasures of the NW’s DIY party!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you very much!
creativejewishmom/sara
love love love these Claire! love the “chill out” idea as well as ‘last draft” but can’t think of any myself, sigh. thanks so much for sharing on craft schooling Sunday!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you very much, love “chill out” and “last draft”, have also had the suggestion “gone with the wind”.
Vineta @ The Handyman's Daughter
These are so cute! What a great idea!
Claire Armstrong
Cheers and thank you.
dawn
don’t want to rain on your parade, but drove me nuts until I figured out the N in MIND is backwards. might do one the same to see how many guests notice it. but I think I will put another saying on the opposite side so I can’t stare at that N and go quietly crazy… I know “my O.C.D. is showing!” might be what I put on the other side.
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, I never noticed that about the N. I’ll watch out for that next time. I am dislex and often get things the wrong way round.
Amalia
They are so unique. What a great idea. Will definitely try this. Thanks !
Claire Armstrong
Thank you glad you liked them.
MGM
Simple project, but clever. Without reading your bio, I knew you were from England due to the “mind the gap” saying. I have visited England (I live in CT, USA). It brings back the many times of riding the train during my visit. The double meanings of the sayings are fun. I think I will be making one of these before winter.
Mary
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, yes the “Mind the Gap”,is a very English thing and “Draft Dodger” very American.
Winterwolf57
Great idea, thank you. Another saying suggestion for the excluder, “Chill Out!”
Claire Armstrong
THank you very much, I like Chill Out. I will be putting that on my next one, cheers !
Toni | Small Home Soul
These are so cute, I love the added cuteness of the sayings especially. I’m glad that you love and keep your old windows!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you. I know my old windows aren’t the most efficient but I still love them and won’t definately be replacing them in the near future.
Glen Buchanan
An excluder for an authour
“This is my final draft”
Claire Armstrong
Thank you love the suggestion, that will be on my next one.
Grandmas House DIY
This is so much fun and smart! Love it! We would be really excited to have you at our link party called To grandma’s house we go!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you and thanks for the invite.
Lisa
What a stylish idea for such a common wintertime problem.
Super cute!
Claire Armstrong
Cheers and thank you!
Ivory
I sooo love these. You did a great job! Thank you so much for sharing these.
Claire Armstrong
Thank you glad you liked them.
Laura
These are so cute Claire- and practical.
Happy TOHOT-
Laura @White Spray Paint
Claire Armstrong
Cheers and thank you !