Piggy door stop

In preparation for the warmer weather, when I love to have all the windows open in the house, but always end up with slamming doors, I thought I'd make us some door stops. I've seen loads of lovely ones in craft shops and websites, but thought it can't be too difficult so decided to have as go myself....if it turned out rubbish, who cares I'll use it in the utility room out of sight :0)

Anyway I thought while I was at it I'd follow Mel's lead and take some photo's for a tutorial...either this is how you do it or don't do it this way depending on the finished product.

So here goes..........

Decide on what size you want your finished door stop to be, and whether you want a cube or an oblong, then add 2 cm all round to make allowance for your seams. I used baking paper to draw my pattern.

I decided on an 8" cube, mainly because I'd already drawn and cut my motif out and need the cube to be big enough to take them.....note to self do things in the right order next time!


I had a remnant of a thick linen with a gold thread through it and thought that it would be a nice neutral base.

You need 6 sides, if you are doing a cube they will be all the same size, if your are doing an oblong the top and bottom will be the same size as the base and top and the side lengths what ever extra you have decided on.

You then need an oblong of fabric for the handle......mine was 8", the same as the finished top should be, by 4".

I'd already drawn and cut out my motif's. Lovely spotty pigs. For any pig connisseurs please excuse the design art was never my strong point ;0)

I did the motif's in the Polka dot, in linen and eau de nil to match my heart hanger.

Back to the handle...take 1/2" all the way around and iron the seams, basically because the handle is narrow it would have been impossible to sew right sides facing and then turn inside out with the thick fabric I used so I had to neaten as I would be sewing the correct way out.

Then fold in half and iron....this gives you your handle.

Sew along the long side, and then make into a handle shape and sew to fix onto the piece that will be the top.

Place your motif into the centre of a side and sew all the way round. A satin stitch would have been good, but my trusty old sewing machine is limited in it's offer of stitches so I had to make do with a close zigzag.

Once all the motifs, or as many as you are using are stitched in place, sew the seams of the sizes to make a box shape, and then sew this onto the base. This may be the wrong order, (I dropped sewing at school in place of woodwork!) but I found it worked ok.

Now sew your top on, leaving an opening so that you can turn the box the right way round. Fill with rice, and if you like, some lavender and there you have it (once I've been to the supermarket for a large pack of rice).

What do you think?