i felt a draft

oh the bitter irony--nashville is colder than freezing but we will once again be deprived of snow.

our house has what was advertised as the largest residential front door in nashville--a total exaggeration but fun to say anyway.  it is 48" wide, and it is less than 1.5" thick.  it is original to the house which was built in 1925.  for this reason, we can never just run out and buy a screen door or a deadbolt lock.  anything to go to or with or on this door has to be custom made. 

which is why i spent time and money to make a draft stopper.  the gap under the door is really big, and the draft coming under the door was even bigger.  you could literally feel the wind blowing around your ankles.  but i wanted a draft stopper that i wouldn't have to pick up and move every time i opened the door--the way i had been for the past 8 years with the blankets and towels we had been using--and one that would stay against the door when i left the house--and the blankets and towels stubbornly refused to place themselves accordingly.  then one late night when i should have been asleep instead of watching another episode of "unwrapped", i saw the perfect thing:  the twin draft guard.

but the amazing patented twin draft guard only comes in 35" lengths, and due to the afore-mentioned extra wide/extra skinny door, i was forced to totally engineer something that already exists.  which kind of ticked me off, which accounts for the fact that i didn't finish any of the raw edges.

   

i used 1/4 yard of ripstop nylon (slick stuff, so it will slide over our carpet), and two foam thingies that are used to insulate pipes.  the foam thingies came from the home depot, they come in different sizes but each piece is 6 feet long, i got 1" diameter and it cost $1.65 each.  so the whole thing cost about what it would cost to buy one, which isn't bad in crafting terms.

i cut the nylon a little wider than the door, and i cut each foam thingie to the exact width of the door.  i folded the nylon in half  the "hot dog" way, then on each long side i folded over a pocket big enough to slide the foam thingies in, with a space between the pockets just wide enough to accomodate the door.   i actually took a tuck in this one to make it even snugger--but don't make the pockets themselves too tight or the foam thingies won't slide in.

when the door is closed, the little excess on each end tucks up around the opening and fills the ends.

if/when i make another one, i think i will put batting in to fatten up the part under the door.

so now we're ready for winter!  anybody who wants to ship some of their excess snow to nashville, please let me know, i'll chip in on the postage.