Whether propping open an outside door to capture a cool breeze or holding open an uncooperative inside door, our weighted cube is a stylish way to keep the doors from slamming and the air circulating. We’ve created a simple box design made from standard cottons stiffened with ultra firm fusible interfacing. It would be a great ScrapBusters project as you need no more than ½ yard of either fabric. The wide webbing handle makes it easy to position the door stop as well to move it anywhere the wind blows. 

A Velcro® opening along the bottom is where you insert polyester fiberfill at the top, to fill the void, and a plastic bag of inexpensive dried beans at the bottom for weight. You could certainly experiment with other weighting options; the Velcro® opening is quite generous so it could even accommodate a block of wood or similar rather than a bag of weighted filler. 

When not in use, simply open the Velcro® and remove the fiberfill and bag o’ beans. The empty cube is super lightweight and can be easily stored for use next season. You could even open that bag of dried beans and whip up a yummy pot of soup. Now that’s recycling!

Our door stop finishes as an 8″ cube.

Sewing Tools You Need

• Sewing Machine and standard presser foot
• Quarter Inch Seam foot; optional, but helpful to keep all the topstitching super straight 
• Walking or Even Feed foot; optional, we did not actually use one for this project but if you are having any trouble working with the thick layers, it’s a good alternative. You could also engage your machine’s built-in fabric feeding system, such as the Janome AcuFeed™ Flex system.

Fabric and Other Supplies

• Scrap or ½ yard of 44″+quilting weight cotton for the main exterior panels
• Scrap or ½ yard of 44″+ quilting weight cotton for the bottom panels and base
• Scrap or ¾ yard of 1″ wide soft cotton webbing or similar
• Scrap or ¾ yard of heavyweight fusible interfacing; we used 20″ wide Pellon 71F Peltex® Ultra-Firm One-Sided Fusible
• Scrap or ¼ yard of ¾” wide Velcro®: we used tan
• All purpose thread to match fabrics
• See-through ruler
• Fabric pen or pencil
• Iron and ironing board
• Scissors or rotary cutter and mat
• Tape measure
• Seam gauge
• Seam ripper
• Straight pins

Filling

• Several handfuls of polyester fiberfill
• 2-3 cups of dried beans in a flexible plastic bag (Don’t use a rigid “Ziploc®” type of bag; a regular produce type bag is easier to insert through the bottom opening and sits better, settling flush against the floor of the cube.)

Getting Started

1. From the fabric for the main exterior panels, cut the following:
   ONE 9″ x 9″ square
   FOUR 9″ x 7″ rectangles
2. From the fabric for the bottom panels and base, cut the following:
   TWO 9″ x 6″ rectangles
   FOUR 9″ x 3″ rectangles
3. From the interfacing, cut the following:
   ONE 8″ x 8″ square
   FOUR 8″ x 6″ rectangles
   TWO 8″ x 4″ rectangles
   FOUR 8″ x 2″ rectangles
4. From the webbing, cut ONE 22″ length.
5. From the Velcro®, cut ONE 5″ length.

At Your Sewing Machine & Ironing Board

Fusing

1. Gather all the main fabric panels and interfacing. Set aside the TWO 9″ x 6″ base panels and the TWO 8″ x 4″ base interfacing pieces for now. Match up the remaining fabric panels with their coordinating interfacing pieces. Each interfacing piece should be centered on the wrong side of the fabric panel so there is ½” of fabric extending beyond the interfacing on all sides.
   
2. Following manufacturer’s instructions, fuse the interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric panels. It’s best to use a pressing cloth as this interfacing takes some consistent heat and pressure to properly fuse.
   

Joining the first set of panels (two sides and the top) and attaching the handle

1. Find the 9″ x 9″ top panel and two of the 9″ x 7″ side panels.
2. Pin one side panel, right sides together, to either side of the top panel.
   
3. Using a ½” seam allowance, stitch both seams.
   
4. Press the seam allowances toward the side panels.
5. Slightly length your stitch. Topstitch ¼” from the seam within the side panels. We used our Janome Quarter Inch Seam foot.
   
6. Place the three-part sewn panel right side up and flat on your work surface. Find the 22″ length of webbing.
7. Center the webbing across the three-part panel. The raw ends of the webbing should be flush with the raw edges of the panel and the outer edges of the webbing should be 3¾” in from each side. There will be excess webbing in the middle; this is correct as this excess will be what forms the handle. Make sure the webbing is not twisted at any point along its length. Pin the handle in place.
8. On each end, measure 5″ up from the bottom raw edge of the panel and draw a horizontal line or place a pin across the handle. This is where you will stop sewing and turn to go across and back down the opposite side.
   
9. We continued to use our Janome Quarter Inch seam foot. We also kept our lengthened stitch.
10. Topstitch each side of the handle in place, staying close to the edge. Start at the bottom, stitch up one side, stop at the 5″ mark, pivot, stitch across, pivot, and stitch down the opposite edge to complete.
    
11. Repeat to stitch the opposite end of the handle in place.

Attaching the bottom panels

1. Find the four 9″ x 3″ bottom panels.
2. Pin one panel to each end of the three-part panel you’ve been working with, sandwiching the handle ends between the layers. These seams will enclose the raw edges of the handle ends.
   
3. Pin the two remaining bottom panels to the two un-sewn 9″ x 7″ side panels.
   
4. Stitch all four seams, using a ½” seam allowance.
5. Press the seam allowances toward the bottom panels.
6. On each of the four panels, topstitch ¼” from each seam within the bottom panel, keeping the same lengthened stitch as above.
   
7. Then topstitch a second seam ¼” from the first.
   

Attaching the second set of side panels to the first set and the top

1. Pin one side panel to each remaining raw edge of the top panel. Since the first two side panels are already sewn in place, you will need to mark ½” in from both edges (use a seam gauge as well as the edge of the interfacing to help with your measurements). These marks are where you should start and stop sewing your seam, giving you a free edge to use to accomplish the final corner matching.
   
2. Switch to a standard presser foot and re-set the stitch length to normal. Pin each side panel in place, then sew together, using a ½” seam allowance.
   
3. Remember, start and stop at those ½” marks,
   
4. Press the seam allowance down towards the side and topstitch ¼” from the seam within the side panel. We switched back to our Janome Quarter Inch Seam foot and lengthened the stitch again. Start and stop your topstitching ½” from each end as well.
   
5. You now have a large cross of pretty panels.
   

Final side seams

1. Fold down the sides of the “cross” down to form a cube (well… a bottomless cube at this point). Align the raw edges of each pair of sides, placing them right sides together. Pin in place. At the top corner, the seam will form a kind of triangle, simply folding together on itself. This is just what you want it to do.
   
2. Carefully align the topstitching on all the bottom sections.
   
3. Using a ½” seams allowance, stitch each side seam. Start each seam ½” from the bottom raw edge (the bottom panel). Backstitch several times to reinforce the stitching at this point.
   
4. Here’s a view looking down into the cube from the open bottom with all the side seams sewn.
   

Base panels

1. Find the two 9″ x 6″ base panels and the two 8″ x 4″ interfacing pieces.
2. Along one 9″ raw edge of each base panel, make a simple hem. To do this, fold back the raw edge ¼” and press. Fold an additional ¾” and press again, concealing the raw edge within the two folds. Pin in place.
3. Place an interfacing piece against the wrong side of each fabric panel. There should be 1½” of fabric extending beyond the interfacing along both sides and the 9″ raw edge. Once these measurements are correct, the final edge of the interfacing should slip just under the folded hem.
4. Following manufacturer’s instructions, fuse in place. We again used a pressing cloth.
   
5. Find the 5″ Velcro® strip and separate it into two pieces.
6. Find one hemmed panel. Flip it over so the right side is facing up. Unfold one fold of the hem. Place the loop side of the Velcro® along this edge, centering it side to side and placing the outer edge just in from the folded edge of the fabric. Lightly pin in place.
   
   NOTE: Our apologies; in our photos we inadvertently show the hook side of the Velcro® in both photos. Please follow along with the steps in the instructions: first apply the loop side to the back of one panel, then – as outlined below – apply the hook side to the top of the other panel.
7. Re-fold the hem, which will bring the Velcro® to the back.
8. Edgestitch right along the folded edge. Then, topstitch ½” from the first seam. These two seams secure the hem and attach the first half of Velcro® in place.
   
9. Find the remaining hemmed panel. Do NOT unfold the hem on this piece. You will apply the Velcro® to the top so the two pieces will adhere correctly when the panels overlap.
10. Center the hook side of the Velcro® in the same position (to match the opposite side) and edgestitch and topstitch as above, again securing both the hem itself as well as the Velcro®.
    
11. Overlap the two base panels so the Velcro® strips match up and adhere. The base should now measure as a 9″ x 9″ square.
12. In each corner mark a ½” square. Don’t cut out the square, you will simply use the lines as a guide for pinning and knowing where to start and stop your seams.
    
13. Find the upper part of the cube. It should be wrong side out – as shown in the photo above.
14. Flip over the base panel so the wrong side is facing up and set it down into the cube, aligning the corners. Match up the sides of the base with the bottom edges of the cube, right sides together. Pin in place along all four sides.
    
15. As you remember from above, you left the bottom ½” of each cube side seam unsewn. These seams should flare out at the bottom, allowing you to match them right sides together with the corners of the base panel. Use that ½” drawn square as an alignment guide.
    
16. Using a ½” seam allowance, stitch each side seam.
    
17. Stop and start ½” from each corner. Stop and lock your seam. Pivot to reposition for the next side. Drop your needle back in at the exact end point of the previous seam and stitch the new seam.
    
    
18. Turn the cube right side out through the bottom opening and gently push out the corners with your finger.

Fillers to weight the door stop

1. We added a few handfuls of polyester fiberfill to take up some volume at the top of the cube. This is totally optional.
2. For weight, we put about 2½ – 3 cups of dried navy beans into a plastic produce bag and secured it with a twist tie.
3. The bag easily slips in through the opening in the base.
   
4. Flip over the cube and and just gently tug across the Velcro® to help it seal shut.
5. The beans settle nicely against the base. As we mentioned in the supply list above, using a flexible produce bag is better than a stiff zippered bag. You want the beans to shift and flatten against the base of the cube.

Project Design: Alicia Thommas
Sample Creation and Instructional Outline: Debbie Guild