How to: Sew Bean Bags

I am just going to go ahead and christen this "Lego Batman Week" on the good ol' blog here. I made the invitations and mailed them out. Now on to the fun and games!

I found some amazingly awesome fabric at Jo Ann's when I was getting stuff for Thomas' party today.

Source: joann.com via Laura on Pinterest

Is this perfect or what?

I knew I had to figure out some way to use it. But at $9.99/yard I couldn't use a lot of it. I decided it would be perfect to make some bean bags to use for my son's party.

Let me go ahead and preface this by saying I am no seamstress. I can sew. I don't know if I do it the "right" way. I am self taught. I just do what works and what makes sense to me. So if you have a better way to do this, by all means use your sewing skills to your advantage.

Supplies needed:

• Fabric {1/8 yard}
• Sewing machine and coordinating thread
• Beans {small, roundish varieties work best}

Step One:

Cut your fabric squares. I used fabric that was 44" wide. I was able to cut 5 sets {2 squares each} of 4" squares. You can make whatever size you want. {Mine are for a five year old boy. He doesn't need anything bigger than this to arm himself with!}

Step Two:

Place your fabric squares right sides together. Sew a straight stitch around three sides of the square. I used a 1/4" seam allowance. {I tried a 1/2" allowance on the first one I made and it really made the bean bag too small.}

When I reach the end of one side, I simply lift the presser foot, pull the thread a little bit, and then just turn my fabric and continue sewing. All the threads will be cut off when you trim it up.

Step Three:

Cut the corners on a diagonal. This reduces bulk when you turn the fabric right side out.

Step Four:

Trim the excess fabric next to your stitching. You could iron the seams flat, but I am lazy and this works just as well. I used pinking shears, but you can just cut it with regular scissors as well.

Step Five:

Turn the square right side out.

Step Six:

Fill bag with beans. I used a little more than 1/4 cup of beans for each bean bag.

I used black eyed peas because it is what I had on hand and they were the right size and shape. Any small round-ish bean will work. Larger beans, such as kidney beans, would only work if you were making a larger bean bag.

Step Seven:

Fold over your top fabric by folding the fabric towards the inside. Again, here I just eyeball it. I just make sure enough is down into the opening so that when I sew, it does not come undone.

{This next part was learned by trial and error. Trust me when I say you will want to do this.} I ended up sort of pushing the beans down towards the bottom and then placing pins at the very edge of where the beans are. This helps to keep them from falling out all over the place while you are trying to sew.

You could also hand stitch the bean bag closed, but I didn't want to spend that kind of time and I needed these to be sturdy. I felt the sewing machine would do a better job.

Step Eight:
Stitch the top of the bag closed.

Best part about this project: It was cheap and easy. {Oops. That sounded kind of dirty!}

Cost of materials:

• 1/8 yard of super cool action word fabric - $1.25
• Bag of blackeye peas - $1.25
• Coordinating thread - on hand

TOTAL - $2.50 + hours and hours of fun = priceless

My plan for our bean bag toss game: Help Batman knock out the bat serum from Man Bat's hand/wing by throwing bean bags at him. You can read all about how Man Bat changes from a bat to a human here if you are so inclined.

I will post pictures of the game itself once I get it completed!

And now all I can think is: Holy projects, Batman! 

{But at least one is done} 

:)

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