The Making Of A Monster: a tutorial

There was a question about how hard these bean bags were to make, so I thought I'd give my hand at a little tutorial.

Start with a rectangular piece of scrap fabric, this one is roughly 9" x 6".



Fold it in half length wise and start creating a face using shapes cut out of felt or scrap material and things from your bag of tricks, like ric rac or ribbon.



Once you have them how you like, pin them in to place and start sewing! I used the zig zag stitch on the shortest stitch length to sew on the eyes and the straight stitch for the mouth. Don't forget to start and end with a back stitch!



For the hair placement, pin it facing down, right sides together.



Then you are going to fold the right sides of the rectangle together and sew around the edges with a straight stitch, being sure to leave an opening at the bottom that will be used to turn it right side out and for filling.



Clip your corners, just don't get the stitches! This will help make nice square corners when turned right side out.



Pull your little monster through the hole and Voilà! Sometimes you really have to wrangle it through, a chop stick or similar device is useful for this, just remember to ease, not force.



Now its time to fill it up. I prefer using plastic pellets or sand so that they are totally washable, not good for the dryer though. A great filling tool is the funnel, it helps keep spillage to a minimum. Bean bags don't need to be stuffed to the brim, around 3/4 is great. Using a thread and needle, stitch the hole closed. I like a whip stitch or a blind stitch, just be sure to keep the stitches close together.



Have fun making!