Foam Beanbags

Beanbags have been incredibly popular for a number of years with adults, teenagers and children alike. Often praised as a modern and portable comfort solution, beanbags have evolved from spherical chairs to a range of more advanced seating solutions including 'recliner' style seats. However, though they are excellent when they are new and intact, a broken beanbag can cause chaos. Filled with thousands of small polystyrene balls that are often static, this very filling is a nightmare should a beanbag split. Aside from accidental damage, this makes conventional beanbags a risky option for children who are often wanting to jump and play on them.

Many people make use of quilt and pillow stuffing for bean bag filling, but the recommended alternative to the traditional bean bag filling and conventional shape is a beanbag made using foam stuffing. Foam beanbags can be made using foam offcuts, offering a solution that is incredibly comfortable. Furthermore, using foam offcuts instead of polystyrene ball filling ensures a beanbag that is less prone to making a mess should it break and a seat that is far quieter when sat on and moved about.

Creating your own foam-based bean bag is a fun creative activity that is simple and can be done by the most novice of sewers and DIY-ers. When deciding on your design, the first thing you must consider is the size of your product. Would you like to create a spherical seat or a longer sofa-style lounger? Would you like your seat to incorporate a supported, stitched-in shape or be one malleable shape? These factors influence how to measure up the fabric for your item.

To make a simple seat-style bean bag you will require two sets of fabric, from which you will make two ‘bags’. Ensure to buy cheap fabric for the interior as this will only be holding the foam offcuts in place – white cotton quilted fabric works best. For the outer material, choose something that is more durable and of higher quality, such as corduroy, denim, flannel or fleece. Both pieces of fabric must measure 45 inches by 32 inches.

Firstly, lay out the two pieces of fabric by turning the right sides together. Alongside the longer raw edges, use a zigzag stitch to fix them together. Then fold the material in half long ways and round off one end by folding in 6 inches from the top right-hand corner of the material and cut to create a symmetrical curve. Use a zigzag stitch to fix this raw edge before opening the fabric back up.

Next, open the remaining unsewn edge and turn the long side up and so it is positioned in the middle of the fabric when lay flat on the floor. With this open edge, stitch your zip into the centre of this opening and close the zip edge with a straight stitch. Repeat the above steps to create the inner bag which will hold the foam offcuts. Once complete, place the inner sack inside the outer sack once the outer beanbag has been turned the correct way around.

To prepare your foam offcuts, cut these into smaller pieces so that they resemble 2-inch cubes (where possible!). Proceed with filling your beanbag to your desired firmness and zip tight before zipping the outer bag.

For further guidance, we recommend consulting YouTube for various visual step by step tutorials. Alternatively, we are more than happy to provide guidance for your own personal DIY projects. Please contact one of our friendly advisers.