Draft Stopper

• 1/3 yard polyester fleece
• 5"-long piece of cording or heavy-duty braid
• Filling: your choice of crushed walnut shells, styrene beads, polyester fiberfill, uncooked rice, dry beans, flaxseed

Finished size: 38" long

Yardages and cutting instructions are based on 42" of usable fabric width. Measurements include 1/2" seam allowances. Sew with wrong (unprinted) sides together.

From fleece, cut:

• 2--6x39" strips

1. Layer and pin the fleece strips with wrong sides together. (Note: Fleece does not ravel so there is no need to turn seams to inside.) Fold 5"-long cording in half. Insert cord raw ends between layered short end of strips, about 1-1/2" from outer edges; pin.

2. Using a 1/2" seam allowance, sew around three edges, leaving a short edge open, to make a tube. To avoid stopping as you sew the edges, each time you get 1/2" from the end of a seam, simply take your foot off the foot control, leave the needle in the down position, and lift the machine's presser foot. Turn the fabric (as shown in photo), return presser foot to down position, and continue sewing.

3. Using a 1/4" seam allowance, sew around three edges, as previously done. (This extra row of stitching helps keep filler inside the tube.)

4. Fill tube with desired filling. We used a combination of fiberfill and uncooked rice.

5. Topstitch the short open edged closed with a 1/2" seam. Stitch again 1/4" from outer edge to complete the draft dodger.