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Easy Upcycled Denim DIY Draught Excluder (Door and Window)

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How To Make A Personalized Denim DIY Draught Excluder

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 these DIY draught excluders.
 
 
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 make my own DIY 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.
 
 
Fun stenciled upcycled denim DIY draught excluder to keep out the cold from both doors and windows.
 
 
 
 
This post contains Amazon affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to see my disclosure policy.
 
 

What you need for a DIY Draught Excluder

 
Jeans for DIY draught excluder
 
 

 
 
 

How to make a Denim DIY Draught Excluder

  1. 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).
     
     
    Upcycled denim draught excluder

    2.  
     
     

  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 sewed the leg up approximately five inches from the seam.
     
    I made the window DIY draught excluder much thinner (about 1.5 inches from the seam).
     
     
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    3.  
     
     

  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 and iron and a 50/50 vinegar/water mixture (like I did with my doily stenciled pillows).
     
     
    stenciling-denim-draft-draught-excluder-sm
     
     
    upcycled-denim-stenciled-draught-exclude-2

    4.  
     
     

  4. 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.
     
     
    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.
     
     
    door-draught-excluder-stuffing
     

 
 
window-and-door-diy-draught-excluders-sm
 
window-and-door-diy-draught-excluders-2sm
 
 
Window Diy draught excluder - made from upcycled jeans, great for sash windows.
 
I have quite a few doors and sash windows in my house so have a number of draught excluders. If you have anymore draught related puns I could use, I would love to hear them. Please put them in the comments below.
 
Fun stenciled upcycled denim DIY draught excluder to keep out the cold from door gaps.
 
 
Fun stenciled upcycled denim DIY draught excluder to keep out the cold from door gaps.
 
 
Fun stenciled upcycled denim DIY draught excluder to keep out the cold from door gaps.
 
 
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 needle point 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
 
 
Cool upcycled denim crafts for the home
 
 

DIY draught excluder from old jeans

 
 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. 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!

    Reply

  4. 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.

    Reply

  5. 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,

    Reply

  7. 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…

    Reply

  10. 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.

    Reply

  11. 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.

    Reply

  17. 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.

    Reply

  19. 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

    Reply

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