How To Make Your Own Draught Excluder

The bottom of doors and window ledges can really be a black hole of heat inefficiency and it can be frustrating to know that you’re wasting money on heating bills, when a lot of that heat is escaping and warming up the outside of your home! The good news is you don’t have to go to the expense of investing in new windows or doors. This is particularly good news for people who are renting and are at the mercy of how helpful their landlord is (or isn’t). It’s surprisingly easy to make your own draught excluder (a sausage dawg or a snake!), yet the results are absolutely huge and will definitely help you ensure the heat stays in your house, where it’s supposed to! STUFF YOU'LL NEED - A rectangular piece of material, preferably with a funky pattern! It needs to be about 40-50cm wide and should be a little bit longer than the space it’s going to be placed in. - Ideally a sewing machine, but a good old needle and thread will work fine. Alternatively, some adhesive film like SewFree will also work. - A pair of tights - Stuffing. Ideally should be waterproof, so try and avoid rice or lentils. Fishtank gravel or crushed shells work extremely well. - Pins - Iron (and ironing board or flat surface) - Ribbons and buttons if you want to be fancy and add a tongue and eyes! HOW TO DO IT 1. Make sure your piece of material is a few cms longer than the space it is going in (doorway or window ledge) and give it an iron. 2. With the pattern on the inside, fold the material in half lengthways and use the pins to pin it together. 3. Using your sewing machine, needle and thread or adhesive film, sew up the length of the rectangular piece of material. Stitch it up as close as you can to where the two edges meet. 4. Now turn the material inside out. The funky pattern should now be on the outside. At this stage the material should look like a long cylindrical shape with openings at each end. 5. Fold over one of the ends of the material and stitch it up 6. Take the tights and cut one of the legs off. Then stuff it full of gravel, shells or whatever you have decided to use as a filling. Make sure to stop filling up the tights before it gets longer than the material cylinder. 7. Tie a strong knot in the open end of the tights and push it into the draught excluder. 8. Stitch the end together and...voila!! (If you decided to give the draught excluder a bit of character then you can add two buttons for eyes and some ribbon for a tongue!) Alternatively, if you want to cheat and pretend you made your own, a great range of interesting draught excluders are available on Amazon UK. Article by Benjamin Clarke