Upcycled Challenge: Denim to bean bags #freefromtrash

For years, many a saturday afternoon was spent with good friends playing one of our favorite competitive games, Baggo.  Since we've moved to CA, my husband and I have been jonsin' for some real Baggo action and we decided that we need to build our own boards.  If you are unfamiliar with Baggo (aka Cornhole aka Bean bags), you can check out the The American Cornhole Organization
The Governing Body For Sport of Cornhole for information on game play.

While my husband is in the process of construction a set of Baggo boards, I thought I would make a set of bean bags.  I've made them before from duck cloth (heavy duty canvas) but since we are doing an upcycling challenge I thought I would use this scrap of old jeans that i've had hanging around forever.  Denim is usually pretty heavy duty so this will be a perfect fabric for bean bags as they get some serious abuse being tossed and slamming against plywood boards.  Here is my easy 4- bag tutorial.

1. Cut one leg off of a pair of old jeans
2. Using a 6.5 inch square template or a ruler, mark off 4X adjacent 6.5 inch sections using the seam on one edge as your "straight edge."  Using an already sewed seam reduced your sewing workload!!
3. Sew the squares with about a 0.5 inch seam allowance on each side of your drawn line.  These don't have to be perfectly square! They are just beans bags!  On one edge, leave about a 2 inch opening for turning and filling purposes.  Make sure to reinforce the stitching (I usually run over it back and forth a few times with my stitch) on each side of the hole for good measure.  I like to leave the hole in the middle of a straight section rather than at a corner because it makes stitching the hole closed a lot easier.
4. Cut the squares apart on the drawn lines (I used pinking shears but you don't have to)
5. Turn each bag, fill with feed corn or pop corn (use the super cheapo stuff that you can get in large bags...) and closed the hole (hand or machine stitch).

Official regulations are that cornhole bags are 6 inches square and weigh 15-16oz.  I usually just fill up the bags to my desired fullness and close.  You could even use iron-ons or paint to decorate your bags!  HAve fun!! 

This post is part of the Upcycled Crafting Challenge (#freefromtrash) hosted by Calley, The Eco Chic, and is part of a one month challenge to create from trash.  This challenge will hopefully open your eyes to the number of items that we still end up trashing every day that could be used by ourselves or our kids to create fun and useful items.  To find out more about the challenge and to see other projects click on over to Calley’s announcement post.