California Snow Man Draft Stop

I was at my aunts house and happened to see that she had recently purchased this funny little snow globe , but it had water in it so I was curious. I picked it up and  read it. LOL, it was a California snowman.(pictured above) I thought it was the cutest thing since we are known for warm weather in  California. I had been wanting to make my dad a draft stop and I thought this was perfect for him. He has always been a bit of a jokester. So this is how I made it.  :)

2 sheets of black felt
1 sheet of orange felt
1 sheet of red felt
hole punch
sewing machine
needle and thread to hand sew
measuring tape 
scissors and/or rotary cutter and mat
pins
about 4 lbs. of beans
fluffy white material - about 1 yard
polyester fiber fill
fabric glue
green felt or cut out a piece of a patterned fabric to decorate the hat a little (see step 4)

First I made the draft stop part. I wanted it to be pretty sturdy so i made the inside of it.the part that holds the beans out of a piece of old bed skirt. I cut a piece that was 8 x 42. sewed all the edges except one of the short edges.Then  I turned it inside out. I also cut a 9 x 42 inch piece of the fluffy white fabric. Sew all three edges. Turn it inside out. Now put the thinner fabric tune into the fluffy tube and fill it with beans. Sew it closed. Then you can sew the fluffy one closed also. 

Now to start the fun decorations of the draft stop. For the eyes I cut 2 circles and used a hole punch to make the holes to make it look like it has button eyes.

Now take your orange felt and fold it over to make a long triangle. Then sew it  on the long side.  Now cut off the excess and flip the carrot inside out.Lightly fill with polyester fiber fill and sew closed.

The coal for the front of the snowman:  Cut a piece of black felt 4 x 9  inches fold it over long ways. and cut 3 x 2 inch squares. It is actually going to be 2 inch squares. The extra inch is for seam allowance. Sew up the 2 sides and leave one side open. Flip them inside out, but don't poke the corners out really well, this will give the coals a more realistic look. Sew up the final edge of the coal.

Draw a rough draft of what you want the hat to look like. It doesn't have to be perfect. Cut it out and pin it to your black felt. Cut it out.

Cut a red strip of felt and pin it on your hat.Sew it on and then trim the edges.

For the mistletoe, I happened to have an applique that my aunt gave me. But you can make it out of green felt and the leftover red felt.I carefully cut the applique out.(that took a lot of patience) and glued it on with fabric glue. The hat is my favorite part.  :)

Fold the fluffy material over so that it is doubled, pin it. Draw a shape similar to mine. Basically its a misshapen snowman head that is melting into the draft stop. so measure your finished draft stop so you can  match it up. Be creative.After I drew what I wanted it to look like , I went back and drew in a seam allowance. Pin it in a lot of places and cut it out. I only had remnant pieces of this fluffy material so that is why in the pics below you see more steps. I had to piece together the length of the draft stop.

Sew all around except leave a 5 inch gap on the bottom. Flip it inside out and lightly stuff with your fiber fill. You want it more flat like. once you achieve your desired look. Sew the gap closed. 

Now its time to connect your 2 pieces.  Pinch the 2 seams(the bottom of the snowman and the seam of the draft stop part.) Use your hand needle and sew all along the 2 pieces to connect them. I lined them up and started at the middle and worked my way over. Then did the other side. For a more rounded look on the 2 ends I grabbed the stop of the point and tacked it down with a couple of stitches.

Use white thread to sew on your snowman pieces. Place the hat on so you can kind of get an idea of where you want the carrot nose to be. Sew it on. then just sew on the hat, button eyes and pieces of coal. remember it is not meant to look perfect. the snow man lives in sunny California and is melting.    :)