A fabric door draught stopper is one of the most practical things you can sew for your home. It blocks cold air from sliding under doors in winter, cuts the noise between rooms, and uses up fabric cuts that are too good to bin. It's also a project that sells well at markets and makes a genuinely useful handmade gift. If you've already tackled something like a fabric tea towel, a draught stopper is a natural next step: same basic skills, slightly more stuffing.
What you'll need
The materials list is short. You need a rectangle of fabric, a filler, and a way to close the ends. Specifically:
- Outer fabric: one rectangle cut to 90 cm × 25 cm (adjust the length to match your door width)
- Filler: rice, lentils, sand, or polyester toy fill (more on this below)
- Thread to match
- A sewing machine or needle for hand sewing
- Pins or clips
For the outer fabric, a medium-weight cotton or a canvas works best. Lightweight fabrics let rice work through the seams over time. If you're ordering custom digital printed fabric, a fabric GSM of around 180–220 g/m² is the sweet spot: heavy enough to hold the filler, but still easy to fold and sew.
Choosing the right filler
The filler affects how the draught stopper sits against the floor. Get this wrong and it won't seal the gap properly.
Rice is the classic choice. It's heavy, cheap, and conforms to uneven floor surfaces well. The downside: it can attract moisture if the room is very humid, so don't use it in bathrooms. Lentils behave similarly and are slightly lighter. Sand gives the most weight and the best seal against large gaps, but it's harder to pour cleanly and adds significant weight to the finished piece. Polyester toy fill is the lightest option. It won't block cold air as effectively, but it's the right choice if the draught stopper is decorative or you want it easy to move.
For most doors in an Australian home, rice or a rice-and-lentil mix is ideal.
Cutting and preparing the fabric
Measure your door before you cut. Standard interior doors in Australia are typically 820 mm wide, so a 90 cm cut gives you a little extra on each side, which you'll lose to seam allowance and end closures. For wider external doors, cut to 100 cm.
Pre-wash your fabric before you sew. Rice expands very slightly in humid conditions, and a draught stopper made from unshrunk fabric may pucker after its first season. If you're unsure how your chosen fabric behaves, the guide on fabric shrinkage and how to prevent it is worth reading before you cut.
Fold the rectangle in half lengthwise, right sides together. You'll have a long tube shape, roughly 90 cm × 12 cm when folded.
Sewing the draught stopper
Sew along the long open edge with a 1 cm seam allowance. Backstitch at the start and end. This is the main seam and it needs to hold the weight of the filler, so don't rush it.
Sew one short end closed with the same 1 cm seam allowance. Clip the corners at a 45-degree angle to reduce bulk, then turn the whole tube right side out through the open short end. Press it flat.
Now fill the tube. Use a funnel or a piece of paper rolled into a cone to pour the rice or lentils in without too much mess. Fill to about 80 percent capacity. A fully packed draught stopper won't flex enough to sit flush against the floor. Tuck the raw edges of the open end inward by 1 cm, pin or clip shut, and sew a neat line across the end. You can topstitch 2–3 mm from the edge for a tidy finish.
Optional: a removable cover
A removable outer cover makes the draught stopper much easier to launder. The inner tube (the filler bag) stays in place; the cover slips off for washing. To make a simple cover, cut a second rectangle of your feature fabric to the same dimensions, sew it into a tube on three sides, fold the open end under, and close it with a few press studs or a hand-sewn slip stitch. This approach also lets you swap covers seasonally, which is useful if you like to refresh your home décor without resewing from scratch.
A removable cover is also the smarter option if you're making draught stoppers to sell. Buyers can wash the cover without worrying about damp rice or lentils.
Tips for a polished finish
A few small details separate a tidy draught stopper from one that looks homemade in the wrong way. Press every seam before you turn the piece right side out. Fill to 80 percent, not more. If you're using a bold or directional print, check that it reads the right way up when the piece sits on the floor, not when it's lying on your cutting table.
For gifting or selling, a paper tag tied with twine and a note about the filler inside gives buyers confidence and adds a professional touch. If you're looking to scale up, this project batches exceptionally well: cut 10 tubes in one session, sew them all, then fill them in a second session.
It's a small make. It solves a real problem. And it looks excellent in a custom print.