Simply Thrifty

Quick Bean Bag

by Noel on November 11th, 2006

If you’re on a budget and you need something to spruce up your interiors, a homemade beanbag chair may just be the thing for you. The upside to this is that you can choose your own material. Why stop at a beanbag chair? You can even make a beanbag bed if you like, the perfect place for friends to get comfy whenver they’re around.

For this do-it-yourself project, you’ll need the following:

• Sturdy cloth of your preferred pattern/design
• Ample beanbag beans
• Three feet of velcro
• Sewing Machine
• Cardboard tube

The first thing to do is to lay out patterns on the cloth. The simplest design would be to have a round beanbag, although it’s not uncommon to have other patterns incorporated to at least maintain some shape. Measure out the material, and make sure that it can fit through the doorway.

Speaking of measuring, make sure you’ve got enough styrofoam beans to fill the bean bag 80%, not bursting at the seams. You’re looking for “expanded polystyrene beads” — the regrind kind if you’re looking to save some money. “Virgin beads” cost too much. You are most likely to find these beads at a packaging store.

After you’ve laid out the patterns and cut out the cloth, use your trusty sewing machine put them together. You wouldn’t want those beans spilling out at obscure places, sew a double seam just to make sure. Leave a space for a filling hole. Make sure the inside of the beanbag faces out so you don’t see the seams in the finished product. Soon as you’ve left the hole, flip the beanbag inside out, fill with the beans, sew the filling hole shut using the velco strips, and you’re good to go.

via instructables

(image from roommatedecor.com)

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POSTED IN: Doing it Yourself, Finances, General