This unique door stop is a great addition to your home's decor. Make it yours by personalizing it with your favorite embroidery designs!
Read below for these free project instructions.
Supplies & Materials:
Supplies Needed:
- 1 yard (total) sturdy fabric - we used denim and canvas (1/2 yard solid color fabric and 1/2 yard print fabric)
- Medium weight cutaway stabilizer
- Temporary spray adhesive
- Polyester fiberfill
- Air-erase pen or other marking tool
- 2 or 3 handfuls of rocks (we used decorative rocks we found at Target)
- 2 pounds dried peas or beans
- 10 3/4 inch wide by 10 3/4 inch high piece of thick cardboard
- Large piece of paper or tag board
- Needle and thread for some hand sewing
Designs used:
American Folk Flowers Pot (Medium)
American Folk Flowers Basket (Medium)
These designs are available in the following design packs:
A American Folk Flowers Design Pack - Lg
Gather Materials:
First, we will prepare the pattern for the side panels of the door stop. Near the top edge of the large piece of paper, draw a 2 inch horizontal line. Then, measure and mark the center by measuring the line and dividing by two.
Draw a 10 inch vertical line down from the center mark of the top line.
Draw 5 3/4 inch horizontal lines out from the bottom end of the vertical line.
Draw lines connecting the ends of the top and bottom lines.
Add a seam allowance by first measuring and marking 1/2 inch out from each outer edge of the shape. Then, draw lines connecting the marks starting and stopping 1/2 inch from each corner of the shape. Now draw lines connecting the ends of the lines you just drew with the corners of the shape.
Cut out the shape.
Cut two pieces of fabric a couple of inches bigger than the pattern piece. Lay the pattern piece on the fabric and trace the shape. Also, mark the vertical center line at the top and bottom. Do this on both pieces of fabric.
Remove the pattern piece and using an air-erase pen or other marking tool, draw a line connecting the top and bottom center marks. Then, create a paper template of the design by printing it at full size using embroidery software. If you don't have embroidery software, you can cut a piece of paper the shape and dimensions of the designs to help with placement and centering.
Poke a hole in the center of the template and align it with the center line. Position the template how you want it - leave at least 1 1/2 inch of space between the edges of the design and the edges of the shape. Then, mark the horizontal axis points.
Remove the template and draw a line connecting the horizontal axis points. The lines will be used for hooping.
Start Embroidering:
Spray a piece of cutaway stabilizer with temporary adhesive and smooth the fabric on top. Hoop the fabric and stabilizer together by aligning the marks on the hoop with the lines on the fabric. Attach the hoop to the machine and load the design. Move the hoop so that the needle is directly over the center point on the fabric and embroider the design.
Repeat the hooping and embroidering process for both pieces of fabric. When the designs have finished, trim away the excess stabilizer on the backside of the fabric. Then, cut out the shapes.
Cut two more pieces using the pattern piece. We chose a print canvas for the remaining two sides.
Now it is time to assemble the door stop! Lay one of the embroidered side panels flat with the right side facing up. Then, align one of the print fabric sides on top, right sides together and pin in place. Sew a 1/2 inch seam along the pinned side only.
Next, lay the sewn pieces flat and press the seam on the backside. Then, align the remaining embroidered piece on top of the print fabric piece and pin along the outer raw edge. Sew a 1/2 inch seam along the pinned side only.
Add the remaining print fabric side to the second embroidered side as you did earlier. Then, align the side panels of the ends together, right sides together, pin in place, and sew a 1/2 inch seam along the pinned edge.
To prepare the fabric for the top and bottom of the door stop, cut a piece of fabric to 3 1/4 inches high by 3 1/4 inches wide for the top and 12 1/2 inches high by 12 1/2 inches wide for the bottom. Then, measure in 1/2 inch diagonally from each corner of the top and bottom of the fabric and trim off the corners.
With the assembled side portion turned wrong side out, align the top fabric with the top of the side portion, pin in place, and sew a 1/2 inch seam around the entire top section.
To create the handle loop, first cut a piece of fabric to 11 inches long by 4 inches wide. Then, fold in the short ends 1/2 inch and press. Fold the long sides in to meet in the center of the fabric and press.
Fold the fabric again bringing the folded long edges together and press. Then, sew a 1/4 inch seam around the entire outer edge of the handle.
Turn the assembled side/top portion right side out and pin the ends of the handles about 2 inches down from the top edges on opposite sides. Then, sew a 1/4 inch seam around the ends of the handle to secure it in place. We sewed a 1 inch box at the ends of the handle to strengthen the hold.
Turn the side/top portion inside out and align the bottom fabric piece to the bottoms of the side panels and pin in place. Sew a 1/2 inch seam along three of the sides - leave one side open for turning and filling of the door stop.
Turn the door stop right side out. Cut a piece of heavy cardboard to 10 3/4 inch by 10 3/4 inch and insert it through the opening at the bottom (align it with the bottom fabric). Then, fill the door stop with a few handfuls of rocks. Add as few or as many as you like depending on how heavy you would like the door stop to be. We also added two pounds of dried peas on top of the rocks. We kept the peas inside their bags and inserted them inside.
Fill the remaining space with polyester fiberfill.
To finish the door stop, hand stitch the opening closed.
