My first Tutorial, Fabric Door-stop

Well here it is, my very 1st tutorial. I have made quite a few of these. My cousins at university got them for Christmas and said they were one of the most usefull things they owned. All the doors in the uni halls of residence are the fire saftey ones, so they are big, heavy, and close automatically. So I have had to make my doorstop pretty hefty, most normal doors will only need a much smaller one.

First you need a tub or jar with a lid which is the size you want the door stop. Fill it with whatever you want as long as it is heavy. I have used all sorts, dried beans, rocks, sand etc. Gravel works well, and we have a garden full of it. Check that it is heavy enough to hold the door open, and put the lid on.

Next you need a piece of fabric about twice the height of your tub, and wide enough so there is a good pinch around the tub (You can tell tell I'm very exact about these things).

I sewed some different strips together (its a nice way to use up scraps, or a small piece of patchwork) to make my fabric more interesting, but you can just use one piece.

Fold it over width ways and sew up about a centimeter from the edge, leaving about an inch unsewn at the top (as you can see from the picture, I forgot this until later and had to unpick it).

Make a circular template by drawing round the base of your tub with about an inch extra round the edge, then cut this out of some fabric.Cut slits in your fabric tube around the bottom, slot it over your tub, and place the whole thing one you fabric circle. I find it helps with alignment to leave the tub there while you pin the flats to the base.

Sew over the flaps taking the pins out as you go, then sew another ring closer to the tube, and trim the edges to the outer row of stitch.

If you turn it the right way out now and put the tub in, it should loook like this. Don't worry if your circle is not perfect, mine never is and you can hardly tell. If it is really bad, now is the time to unpick and try again, or sew a smaller circle.

Next take the tub out, fold over the top edge of fabric, and sew. Leave enough space to thread a piece of ribbon through,

Turn it the right way out, put the tub inside, and it would loook like this

Now the final part, pin a safety pin to the end of a piece of ribbon, or whatever you want to use (I used a strand of fake leather stuff because it doesn't fray).

Thread it through the the seem at the top of the bag, pull it tight, knot, and tie a bow.

And there you have it, a completed door stop. They make great presents, because everyone has a door, and most people have lots of doors, and you can change the fabric to suit the person.

If you only need a very small one, you could use a smooth stone instead of a tub. Because the shape is so simple, they are a great as a blank canvas. They could be splatted with paint, embroidered on, maybe a transfer of a photograph, basically anything you can think of.