What a serendipitous discovery!
I’ve been doing a great deal of organizing, cleaning, and culling over the month of January. It’s a pretty regular event for me. I get the Christmas tree off to the kindling heap and holiday decorations packed up and out of the way. This activity almost always instills in me the burning desire to bring order to my ever chaotic household.
I love scarves of all kinds and I’ve collected quite a few. There are several I no longer reach for when heading out in need of a little extra warmth. We have a very small, 1940’s home with modest closet space and no room for superfluous furniture. My limited drawer allowance makes keeping things I seldom use irrational. But I’ve had a hard time parting with one scarf in particular. I really do like it. It’s black and soft – but I never wear it. I’ve had it set aside for relocation for a while now. I considered donation, yard sale, and re-gifting but really couldn’t seem to let go. Then I saw a pin on the “My Green Birmingham” Pinterest board. It’s an idea for taking old scarves and turning them into draft stoppers. Genius!
We’ve had record-breaking cold weather for the past couple of weeks, and I’ve been wadding up a big beach towel against the bottom of the door in an effort to stop drafts. Yes, it works, but the look is definitely not what I would call “deluxe”. Now I’ve got the solution to both my draft problem and my hesitance to let go of a perfectly good but seldom used item. The scarf in question will be reincarnated as my first draft stopper!
The suggestion was to use dry beans or sand. I’ve purchased a couple of big bags of pintos. The scarf is ready to go and I’ve got a supply of needles and thread. This project is on!
First, I trim off the fringe from my scarf headed for its new life. It is twice the length of the door so I’ll cut it down to size, leaving enough to extend just beyond the width of the door frame in question. Next, I fold the scarf in half longways and pin down a half inch on either side. I then begin to work the long stretch of side seam with a tight whip stitch.
I’ve sewn together all but the remaining end. My inventive nephew has suggested we use a funnel. We create one out of a heavy stock sales paper, and he helps me pour all the beans into the sewn together scarf. I’ll turn in the remaining end and whip stitch the two sides together.
Yay! I can wash and store my beach towel for summer fun and feel good about turning something old into something new! As I write this post sitting by my drafty window, I wonder how many other scarves I’ve got I no longer use.
