Bean bag chairs are comfortable and fun to sit on. It’s tempting to get one for yourself or your kids and just lounge on it all day, but you might not find the perfect bean bag chair. Don’t worry as making your very own bean bag chair is possible.
This article will give you a good look at how to make a bean bag chair and the steps and tools involved. It might seem like a difficult task at first, but after the first few attempts, it will become easy.
What Do I Need for My Bean Bag Chair?
To make your bean bag chair, you will primarily need three things. These are:
Filling
Bean bag chairs consist of some form of fillings inside them. There are specially made bean bag fillers but some common materials used for bean bag filling.
Expanding foam is a common choice but can be a bit difficult to work with initially. Another option is packing peanuts, though make sure your workspace is clean and dry when using packing peanuts. They can dissolve in contact with water.
Fabric for the Interior
A bean bag consists of two bags. An inner bag holds the filling. There’s no hard rule for what the fabric for this interior can be. Since the interior fabric won’t be available to see usually, you can go for cheaper fabric as you only need it to hold the filling. An old blanket can even suffice.
Fabric for the Cover
The other bag used is for the cover of the bean bag. It is used to cover the bean bag and then tied in with a zipper. You have a variety of materials to choose from for the cover, but generally, you want something comfy and appealing to look at. Some options include denim, flannel, or fleece.
What Tools Do I Need to Make My Bean Bag Chair?
Aside from materials, you’ll need some tools to help you with making your bean bag chair. These tools are:
Measuring Tools
Rulers and a compass will help to measure the amount of fabric you’re cutting. Measuring this will prove helpful as not only will it help prevent wastage of fabric, it also makes constructing the bean bag chair easier. A pencil is also needed to mark spots.
Scissors
You’ll need something to cut out the fabric. It doesn’t particularly matter what type of scissor you use as long as it’s strong enough to cut the fabric.
Sewing Machine
A sewing machine is needed to sew some parts of the bean bag chair. A cheap sewing machine will work fine as the sewing task is not too difficult.
Pins and Zipper
A zipper and pins are needed to close the cover. It also makes it easy to separate the cover when you need to wash your bean bag.
How Do I Plan out My Bean Bag Chair?
Before you can go about making your beanbag chair, you must plan out the measurements a bit. Assuming you’re making a bean bag for an adult, your bean bag will generally have a diameter of around 50 inches. To make this, you’ll need 5 feet by 18 feet of the fabric of your choice for both the interior and the cover.
If you’re making a bean bag chair for kids, the diameter of your bean bag chair will usually be 30 inches. You’ll need less fabric in that case. It will be around 3 feet by 12 feet.
Typically you need a lot of filling for your bean bag chairs. For an adult-sized bean bag chair, 100 liters of bean bag filling of your choice is needed. If your bean bag chair is 50 inches in diameter, you’ll want your zipper to be 48 inches long.
How to Make a Bean Bag Chair
The steps to making a bean bag chair aren’t difficult, but there are several steps. So this article will separate some parts of the process to make it easier to follow. For this guide, we’ll be assuming you’re making a bean bag chair for adults. And for toddlers, you will only want to change the measurements.
Preparing the Two Covers
First, let’s begin by making the two covers.
- Lay out the fabric you’ll use for your covers.
- Using a ruler or measuring tape, measure a straight line of 50 inches in the center of the fabric. Then using a pencil, make a mark right in the middle, about 25 inches. This is the center of your circle.
- Get a compass and place it on the marked center. Now draw a circle with a radius of 25 inches (diameter of 50 inches) on the fabric.
- Cut out the circle using scissors. Repeat these measurements and cut out another circle on the same fabric.
- Repeat these steps for the other fabric. At the end of this, you’ll have two circular cut-outs from both fabrics.
- Unroll more of the fabric. Using a pencil or chalk, mark out a rectangle, which is 85 inches by 30 inches.
- Cut out the rectangle and repeat this for the same fabric.
- Draw a rectangle of the same size on the other fabric and cut it out.
- At the end of these steps, you’ll have four circular cut-outs and four rectangular cut-outs.
Sewing
- Pair the rectangular fabrics together. While it usually does not matter for the interior fabric, make sure when you pair up the cover fabric in such a way that the prettier or decorated side is visible for both.
- Sew the two rectangular fabrics on one of the shorter sides. This will make a much longer rectangle. Do this for the other fabric.
- Pair a circular fabric with the sewn rectangular one. Use pins to connect the circle to the longer side of the rectangle.
- Once connected, you can begin sewing the two together. Remove the pins as you sew the two together.
- Take the second circle of the same fabric and repeat the process, attaching it to the bottom of the cover. When sewing, do not completely sew it shut as you need to leave space for the zipper.
- Repeat this process for the other set of fabric and cover.
Attaching the Zipper
- First, close the opening you left previously tightly. After a while, unzip it and leave it open to the length of a finger.
- Add in the pins to help make the zipper.
- Use your sewing machine’s zipper foot to attach the zipper. The seam allowance should be one-fourth of an inch.
- Repeat this step for the other bag.
Filling the Bag
- Take the interior bag as you will only need to do this step for one bag.
- If you’re using packing peanuts, simply open the zipper of the bag and pour the filling into it, and then zip it shut.
- For expanding foam, place the sealed package inside the bag and then open it from inside the bag. Close the zipper of your inner bag before the foam expands too much.
- Once this is done, take the other bag and insert the inner bag into it. Zip the bag shut. This will complete your bean bag chair.
Conclusion
I would personally recommend having another person help you with making a beanbag chair, especially if you haven’t tried to make one before. The extra helping hand is appreciated and makes the process faster and certain tasks less strenuous.
Don’t worry, as with some practice and the help of this guide, you’ll soon be an expert at knowing how to make a bean bag chair.