Bean Bag Tutorial

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Materials we used:

2 whole hides – we used tan colored Goucho Whole Hides from Tandy Leather 

Long Zipper

Ecoweld Water Based Contact Adhesive  (from Tandy)

Reusable Glue Spreaders(from Tandy)

Leather Scissors (from Tandy)

Leather Marking Pen (from Tandy)

Measuring Tape

Clips to hold your leather together

Bean Bag Fill – we used 2 Big Joe Bean Fill packs of 100L

Sewing Machine or Needles/thread

Fabric and zipper if you plan to make a fabric liner


Our process

Gather your materials

Make a template the size you want your bean bag chair. We made a rectangle 24” x 54” by taping big pieces of paper together and then cut it into a football shape. Here’s how you do it:

The left side is the football shape. The right side is how you start off with a rectangle.

Fold the paper up

Fold the paper to the right. Then cut from the bottom right corner to the top left corner in a curved line to make the football shape.

Once you have your big template lay it out on your hides and cut out 6 football shapes

Lay two pieces grain side to grain side and then sew half of it, from one tip to the other.

When you’ve finished, flip it rightside out where the grain sides are facing out. Then place the third piece on it and sew grain side to grain side. Then you’ll have half of your chair done!

For the fourth and fifth pieces, you’ll want to do exactly like you did for the first two pieces but also sew in your zipper.

Once you’ve sewn in your zipper you can add the 6th piece by flipping the 4th and 5th pieces rightside out and sewing the 6th piece on, grain side to grain side. Now you’ll have two halves. Take both halves and place them grain side to grain side and sew the perimeter. Don’t forget to unzip the zipper so that you can flip it rightside out.

If you decide to make a fabric lining, just repeat all the steps.

Fill the bean bag liner and then you have your chair!

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