Stop in the name of the door!

The door to our living room has a series of hooks that hold all of our coats. There are a lot of coats because you need light ones and heavy ones and waterproof ones and dry ones. Wales is pretty much cold and rainy at the moment. It is why the grass is so green. But all those heavy coats make the door creep forward and never stay where you want it.

 “What we need is bloody doorstop,” Spiderman muttered every single time he walked into the room. Cue crafty Spidergrrl.

 I am like that old Asian mother on the show Goodness Gracious Me who claims she can make everything at home for cheaper--usually involving a small aubergine (eggplant to my American peeps)

 I just *knew* I could make us a doorstop using things we had at home. The first thing I did was consult my friend Mr Google who led me to pages and pages of online tutorials for making your own doorstop.

 Some were easy but looked lumpy (any one that tried to make an owl somehow made it look like the owl was bloated and misshapen--not a look I was going for).

 Some were tricky and involved putting in a zipper. Not something I know how to do. 

 Then I found this one--it was easy and straightforward and quick. I could do it. Plus it was in the shape of a square based pyramid!  http://bakeandsew.wordpress.com/2009/02/27/pyramid-doorstop-tutorial/ 

 

I used my trusty old a-bit-William-Morris-style-left-over-curtains from the Quaker Meeting House which has made us a whole host of things including a cooking apron for me and a set of placemats and napkins as well as eight shopping bags which we sold to raise money for our peace worker we sponsored in Burundi.

 It was done within the hour.

 

All I had to buy was a 40p bag of value rice from Tesco.

 It was recommended to put the rice or dried beans in a plastic bag to prevent it getting wet or mouldy or critters getting into it. So I did. To be honest--the sewing bit was a piece of cake. The filling with rice bit was a faff. Can you see all the spilled rice in the picture?

 

Then all I had to do was sew up the opening and we were good to go. I used this really amazingly clear tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CjOXMuTFXo  to sew a ladder stitch--you really couldn’t see the stitches!!  It looks gorgeous!!!

 Here it is holding the door open from one angle.

And here it is from another angle.

 

 See the cute little handle in case you should need to move it?

 And while I was on a sewing roll, I quickly whipped up a new case for my i-pod. I had made one previously, but the cords with the earbuds had to go round the outside of the cute little bag and were forever getting tangled and so I needed a cute little bag where the cords and earbuds could be protected by going inside the bag.

 

It is just a wee drawstring bag with a toggle closure. I used some other favourite curtain fabric for the exterior and then lined it with soft brushed cotton flannelette. Easy peasy lemon squeezy and it cost me nothing. Everything was stuff I had in my stash--fabric, ribbon and toggle.

 As for the doorstop--the cost was 40p for the rice.

 And a small aubergine.

 Just kidding.