First sewing project: Fabric doorstop

My new Brother and I have been working pretty hard (in my opinion) and I have been trying out some simple sewing projects, following tutorials from the internet.  There are so many cool sewing tutorials out there, once one starts looking. 

I have wanted to make some fabric doorstops, ever since I saw some gorgeous ones at Laura Ashley.  Red rubber doorstops from the market at cheap at $2 for a pack of three but they are ugly to look at and I think that they deform the bottom of the door and have a limited lifespan.  Additionally, fabric doorstops filled with beans are friendly towards clumsy people like myself who are prone to stubbed toes.

They did not look too difficult to make, so I searched around and found this great tutorial by CraftyClaire. 

I had to tweak the tutorial a little bit, because I'm such a fool that I took more than an hour to draw out the pattern on a piece of butcher paper, even with CraftyClaire's simple instructions. 

Here is what I used:

1. Leftover butcher paper (for pattern making)

2. 45cm x 40cm piece of upholstery weight cotton fabric (from IKEA)

3. 10cm length zip (from Art Friend)

4. 1kg of non-toxic plastic weighted beads to use as filling (also from Art Friend).  Some people use rice or wood pellets or green beans. 

I started out by drawing the above-pictured cross-shaped pattern on a piece of leftover butcher paper.  I then cut out the shape and used it as a template for the fabric.  

I traced the image onto the unprinted side of the fabric and cut it out.  From the leftover fabric, I cut out a rectangle of fabric measuring 5.5cm x 15 cm and put it aside to be used as the doorstop handle.

Then, I ironed the fabric so that it would have a 2.5cm border all around it. This 2.5cm border would be used for a nice thick seam (my sewing skills aren't that great, so I needed alot of space for accidents).

I started by sewing the zip into the fabric.  The zip was to go along one of the sides at the bottom of the doorstop.  This was the hardest part, which is why I did it first.  I pinned the zip into place using straight pins and sewed one side first, then the other.

After this was done, I sewed the rest of the bottom of the door stop and also the seam which would go along the side of the doorstop.  I left the top alone until I had made the door stop handle.

For the doorstop handle, I took the 5.5x15cm fabric that I had put aside earlier and folded it in half lengthwise with the printed side facing in.  Then I sewed down the length of the fabric leaving a 2.5cm seam, making a tube with both ends open.  I turned the tube inside out so that the printed side was facing out.  With the seam in the centre, I pressed the tube flat with a hot iron to make a nice flat rectangle-shaped handle.

I pinned the both ends of the handle loosely to the top of the doorstop and sewed the top shut.  The open ends of the handle would lie inside the doorstop once it was sewn shut.  The seam of the handle would be hidden from view.

I unzipped the zip and turned the whole thing inside out so that the printed side was facing out with the handle sitting pretty on top.  Then, I put the ziplock bag into the doorstop and filled it up to the brim with the plastic beads, zipping the ziplock bag carefully shut when I was done.  Voila!  One doorstop completed in an afternoon!

Take a look at what I made!  Aren't they cute?  I am so proud of myself for making them - thank you so much CraftyClaire for the tutorial!