Homemade Bean Bag Chair Instructions

Choose Your Style

• Begin your project by deciding on the size of chair you want to create. Is it for an adult or child? Do you want it to seat two or more? For a bean bag chair that seats one teen-ager or adult, you need about 5 yards of 45-inch fabric. For a bean bag chair for a child, you need 3 yards of 45-inch fabric. For a bigger chair, you need double the amount of yardage.

  The possibilities are almost endless when it comes to selecting fabric for your bean bag creation. Online and brick-and-mortar fabric stores offer a huge variety of fabric styles and colors. You can make a chair that features the colors and logo of your favorite sports team or a favorite cartoon character, or you can make a chair that matches a particular color theme. It can be one solid color, two colors or even a solid and pattern combination. As long as it matches your space and your personality, anything goes.

  Select fabric that will stand up to a lot of use. Avoid thin fabrics in favor of non-stretch, thicker fabrics, such as denim, corduroy or upholstery fabrics. Fabric that is extremely heavy is difficult to sew with an ordinary sewing machine. Choose machine needles and spools of thread that are appropriate for your fabric type. If you are unsure, ask a store assistant for help. Increase the durability and strength of your chair by making an inner liner. The inner liner can be made of a thinner, less expensive fabric. Buy the same number of yards for the liner as you buy for the bean bag chair's exterior material.

  Other items you need to purchase from a fabric store include two 22-inch zippers (18-inch zippers for child-size chairs) and a cutting mat marked in a 1-inch grid. Purchase polystyrene pellets or waterproof packing peanuts from a packing supply company or an upholstery store. You can buy the pellets online at uline.com, linked below in References. For a child-size chair, you need about 4 cubic feet of filler. For an adult chair, you need 6 cubic feet of filler material.

Cut and Construct

• Now comes the really fun part, putting form and shape to your new bean bag chair. Choose a large, flat and hard surface for cutting. Make the chair's top and bottom circle pieces by folding a large piece of newspaper in half. From the fold, draw a large half circle with a diameter of 5½ inches. For a child’s chair, make the diameter 4½ inches. Unfold the newspaper, and you have your circle pattern for the top and bottom of the chair. Cut one circle in half and sew an invisible zipper down the middle.

  Make the chair's side pieces in a shape that resembles large wedges. Make the bottom of the wedge slightly wider than the wedge's top. Lay a newspaper out flat, and then draw a horizontal line the same measurement as the bottom width you want for each section. For an adult chair, 21 inches is a good width. Mark the center of the line, and then draw a 41-inch long vertical line straight up. Center an 18-inch horizontal line over the top point of the vertical line. Draw arch shapes to form the sides and connect the top and bottom lines together. Use your pattern to cut out six pieces of material. Sew them together along side edges. Finish the chair by sewing the top circle to one end opening and the bottom circle to the other end opening. Open the zipper and fill the chair with polystyrene pellets or waterproof packing peanuts.

  For a bean bag chair with an inner lining, create the lining in the same manner as the outer shell and fit the lining into bean bag shell before stuffing the chair.