Easy DIY Bean Bags

A few weeks ago a woman in my neighborhood asked if anyone knew where to buy bean bags.  Her grandchildren were coming to visit and they were going to build a bean bag toss game for the kids to play.  I thought about it and couldn't remember seeing any bean bags at any stores.  I told her I would make her some.  I thought it would be a great project to make a tutorial for since they are so easy to sew.

I decided to use two different cotton fabrics for this project.  These were both cotton fat quarters that I bought and had in my fabric stash.  For those of you not sure what a fat quarter is, I will explain.  If you go to the fabric store and ask them to cut you 1/4 yard, you will get a long skinny piece of fabric that is 9" x 44".  With a Fat Quarter, you will get a piece of fabric that is 18" x 22".  See here for a visual diagram.

Next your iron your piece of fabric.  I wanted these beanbags to be 5" x 3".  The size that you make them all depends on who you are making them for.  If they were for toddlers, I would make them 3" x 3" instead.  I cut my fabric pieces to be 5.25" x 6.25" so there would be enough fabric to make a .25 inch seam.

This is what the fabric looks like spread out.  Next I folded the fabric in half lengthwise so the pattern was on the inside.

Because of the folded fabric, I only had to sew 3 sides.  I placed the folded side toward the top (I am right handed) and used a straight stitch to start sewing the short side of the fabric that would be on the right side. I continued to stitch the long side as well. Remember when you start your stitch and also when you end it to back-stitch to make sure the thread does not start to unravel.

For the last short side you can do this 2 ways.  You can stitch the side and leave a small opening (seen in the picture above) for you to turn your fabric right side out, or you can just leave the whole side un-sewn at this step and turn the fabric right side out.

After you have turned your fabric right side out, you can then fill the bag with beans.  I used about 1 cup of beans for each bag.  The amount you use will depend on the size of the bean bag you are making and how big your beans are.  You need to leave enough space empty so you have room to sew the bag closed.  Fold the un-sewn side in so the edge will be smooth.

Last you sew the final side closed.  If you decided to use option one for the last side (sew partially and leave a small opening before turning right side out), I would sew along the whole last side so it looks nice and even.

Here is the finished project.  From start to finish, making 6 of these took me about an hour.  That is with the ironing, cutting, sewing, filling, and finishing sewing.  It's a fast project that is fun to do and then you can have a game for the kids.

I made some of these a few years ago with extra fleece fabric that I had.  I didn't have a bean bag toss game built, so we just used side walk chalk and made different sized circles on the driveway and the girls would try to get them in the circles for different points.