Saturday, April 18, 2009
Bean Bag Tutorial & other Handmade Gift ideas
I've been neglecting my blog lately, sorry! My excuse? The usual. The kids, work, my sewing projects, and my Sparkle and Charm Boutique bow orders have been keeping me busy.
I took Boo and Snuggle Bug to a library story time not long ago and as part of the activities they got to pick bean bags out of a bin and play with them as they marched to music. They LOVED the bean bag activity, almost as much as the story time reading itself!
I grabbed one of the bean bags and inspected it closely, thinking to myself, 'I wonder where I could buy some of these at?' But wait, then I thought, 'I could make these at home!'
I thought I'd share a brief Bean Bag Tutorial with you, in case you want to make some for your kids. If you don't have a sewing machine, I don't think it'd be hard to hand sew these together.
1) Get some scrap material, fold it in half and then trace out 4 squares to make 4 bean bags. I made each of my squares approximately 4 1/2" x 4 1/2". As you can see, I used a Sharpie to measure out my squares (draw the lines on the "wrong side" of your material). Don't worry, you trim away the black lines.
2) Take two of the 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" squares and make sure the that "right" sides of your material are facing each other on the inside. Sew a 3/8" straight stitch seam around three of the four sides. The fourth side you leave open so that you can turn the bean bag material inside out and fill.
3) Trim the material off, close to the edge of the hem, as shown in the picture above.
4) Go back and sew a zig zag stitch around those three seams for reinforcement.
5) Turn the bean bag material inside out so that the "right" side of the material is now on the outside. Fill approximately 2/3 full of rice. You can use beans too but the rice works great!
6) Tuck in the open ends of the bean bag and secure with two stick pins to prepare for sewing.
7) Sew a final straight stitch seam as close as possible to the folded in opening of your bean bag.
Viola! You have a bean bag! This really takes no time at all!
I made a bunch for kids, and their favorite ones are the ones I made out of fleece scrap material because they're super soft!
For some more fun and easy homemade gift ideas, check out:
I took Boo and Snuggle Bug to a library story time not long ago and as part of the activities they got to pick bean bags out of a bin and play with them as they marched to music. They LOVED the bean bag activity, almost as much as the story time reading itself!
I grabbed one of the bean bags and inspected it closely, thinking to myself, 'I wonder where I could buy some of these at?' But wait, then I thought, 'I could make these at home!'
I thought I'd share a brief Bean Bag Tutorial with you, in case you want to make some for your kids. If you don't have a sewing machine, I don't think it'd be hard to hand sew these together.
1) Get some scrap material, fold it in half and then trace out 4 squares to make 4 bean bags. I made each of my squares approximately 4 1/2" x 4 1/2". As you can see, I used a Sharpie to measure out my squares (draw the lines on the "wrong side" of your material). Don't worry, you trim away the black lines.
2) Take two of the 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" squares and make sure the that "right" sides of your material are facing each other on the inside. Sew a 3/8" straight stitch seam around three of the four sides. The fourth side you leave open so that you can turn the bean bag material inside out and fill.
3) Trim the material off, close to the edge of the hem, as shown in the picture above.
4) Go back and sew a zig zag stitch around those three seams for reinforcement.
5) Turn the bean bag material inside out so that the "right" side of the material is now on the outside. Fill approximately 2/3 full of rice. You can use beans too but the rice works great!
6) Tuck in the open ends of the bean bag and secure with two stick pins to prepare for sewing.
7) Sew a final straight stitch seam as close as possible to the folded in opening of your bean bag.
Viola! You have a bean bag! This really takes no time at all!
I made a bunch for kids, and their favorite ones are the ones I made out of fleece scrap material because they're super soft!
For some more fun and easy homemade gift ideas, check out:
Skip to My Lou has a few great sewing projects that even I think I can handle with my basic sewing skills!
The two I'm going to try to make for the kids are these:
1) Crayon Roll: These will be perfect to keep stowed in my purse for the times that we eat out with the kids. They love to color and not all restaurants have colors. I know they'd love it if I made one for each of them!
2) Dolly Diapers: I could really use these right now! Lately Boo and Snuggle Bug have been pulling Boo's diapers out and putting them on her dollies. Usually they break the diaper tabs in the process, thus wasting the diaper. I know they'll love these!! I'll make them in different colors.
Well, that's all for now. Have a great weekend!
The two I'm going to try to make for the kids are these:
1) Crayon Roll: These will be perfect to keep stowed in my purse for the times that we eat out with the kids. They love to color and not all restaurants have colors. I know they'd love it if I made one for each of them!
2) Dolly Diapers: I could really use these right now! Lately Boo and Snuggle Bug have been pulling Boo's diapers out and putting them on her dollies. Usually they break the diaper tabs in the process, thus wasting the diaper. I know they'll love these!! I'll make them in different colors.
Well, that's all for now. Have a great weekend!
Labels: craft ideas, sewing
3 Comments:
neat! I looked at your links and I LOVE the crayon roll- that is SO cool. I wish I could sew!
This is EXCELLENT, owj! Bean bags are virtually universally perfect in every play activity.
Well done!
Barbara
Looks like an easy gift for Alexys! Thanks for sharing!
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