How to make a fabric doorstop

It's been a while since I tackled any sewing projects, but  a few days ago I went into our local fabric store and saw some lovely heavy linen in a dark mushroom colour and thought it would be perfect for a doorstop for the bathroom.  The fabric had quite a French feel about it, a bit like an old sack, so I thought it would work really well with a French graphic transferred on.

I had in my stash some Lazertran transfer paper for fabric, so I used an old french perfume label from The Graphics Fairy, printed it on, made up the doorstop (not without a bit of unpicking and resewing along the way) and 'Hey Presto', a fabulous vintage looking doorstop.  I think the biggest compliment was when my husband came home and thought I'd bought it!

So this is how I made it...

I cut out 3 pieces.  The main body was 22cm x 52cm.  The top and bottom pieces were 15cm x 11cm and then I just cut out a strip for the handle.  This measured 32cm x 7cm but I cut it long as I wasn't sure how much I'd need, once sewn.

I then printed the image onto the fabric transfer paper (remember to reverse the image, otherwise it will come out back to front).  The image was then ironed on for about 2 minutes and allowed to cool before peeling off the backing paper.  I used Lazertran paper as I happened to have some lying around, but there are many products out there that would be suitable and The Graphics Fairy has some great tutorials on transferring images.

I then sewed together the ends of my long piece for the main body of the doorstop and ironed open the seam.

I then turned in the fabric edges of the handles and ironed them then sewed close to the edge on both sides, partly because it looked nice and also because it gave some body to the handle.  I then took the top piece of the doorstop and zig zagged around the edge to stop it fraying.  I sewed one end of the handle onto the top and then did another line of stitching about an inch in to strengthen it.  Allow enough room for you to pick the handle up and then sew the other side, once by the edge and then again an inch in.  Cut off the excess fabric, as in the photo.

This is the tricky bit, as you need to fit your main fabric body around the top rectangle.  It's worth pinning to fit into place before sewing as stretching can create a bad fit.  I have to confess that I had to unpick and sew this 3 times before I got it right!  I'm sure there's a better way out there......  Make sure you sew right sides together so that when you turn it out, everything is the right way round.

I then did eaxctly the same thing for the bottom rectangle but on this one, you need to leave a gap to turn the fabric right way out.

With the piece turned the right way, fill the gap with rice until you are about  two quarters full, maybe a little more.  I used a 2kg bag of rice plus a tiny bit more.  You can use sand instead.  Once full, stitch up the hole.  I hand stitched mine but you can do it on the machine.

And here's the finished doorstop!