A Use for Old Socks

Believe it or not - given that it's summer here - I've spent part of today making draught stoppers for the doors in our dining and living rooms. Not because those rooms are particularly draughty - yet - but because door handles in our house seem to have a tendency to attack the walls. With walls in the dining room freshly painted - even if we'll have to redo them in the near future due to a less that satisfactory job by the painters - DH is keen to keep them looking nice. And who can blame him?

He did spend a day fixing door stops to prevent holes appearing in our walls from over-enthusiastic door-openers but the bi-fold doors between dining and living presented a particular challenge. It all depends on whether they're fully open or part-way open where the door handle meets the wall. Unless one wants to have door stops lined up along the wall like soldiers about to go into battle - and we didn't - a draught stopper seemed to be the logical solution.

I had my machine out this morning to sew up a cute little toy for The Most Adorable Granddaughter#3's birthday (sorry, you'll have to wait until her birthday to see it - no previews) so decided to do the draught stoppers while I was at it. However, there was a slight problem. I didn't have any sand - or corn - or beans - or rice - to fill the stoppers. (Correction, I had some of each but certainly not enough for one, let alone four. Anyway, apart from sand, I'm not too keen on using any of those ingredients due to the attraction they would present to rats and mice.)

Not to be daunted - and not liking to not be able to finish a project - I decided to think outside the square. I had a bag of leftover batting from quilts - all the long pieces that are trimmed off and are not wide enough for any project but which I can't bear to throw out either - and I used this to fill two of the stoppers. It worked fine.

Then I ran out.

I looked around, and decided to try socks. That's right, socks. Son#5 had cleaned out his wardrobe of all his school uniforms (without even being asked - he was certainly keen to be done with that stage of his life) and there was a whole bag of socks that had too many holes in them to be good for anything and besides, what just-out-of-school-teen wants to wear school socks for everyday? So I used them to fill the stoppers and I actually prefer these as a filling to the batting. Granted the stoppers are lumpier than with other fillings, but the socks are also heavier than the batting and this is definitely an advantage (unless of course offspring decide to use them to swing at each other).

So now I'm the proud owner of four new draught stoppers and, I have one less bag of socks to get rid of, and more room in my sewing drawers for the next round of leftover batting.



(This is not the bi-fold door that created all the problems. This one was able to have a door stopper to prevent the door handle going through the wall but I thought it needed its own draught stopper all the same.)

Comments

Ohtawen said…
Jules, you are so clever! You killed three flies with one strike ;)
You managed to give those old socks a new purpose, and I must say, that incarnation looks charming!

The only uses for old sock I can think of are bun shapers for sock buns, and pouches for lavender.
SchnauzerMom said…
I like to recycle things. Using old socks is a great idea!
Unknown said…
What a creative way to use old socks! I have used my old socks to tie together to make dog toys. Not exactly as creative as your idea :).
Jules said…
Old socks are also great for washing with soap nuts. Just put 6-8 in an old sock and tie it off before throwing in the washing machine. I find this better than the little drawstring bags that come with soap nuts because there's no danger of them coming undo (and leaving flakes of soap nuts all through your laundry) and when they've been used several times, you can just throw the whole thing out - sock and all (no trying to undo tight strings to remove the soap nuts).

I'm going to have to try making lavender pouches - although perhaps not with old school socks. They're hardly the pretty variety.