Tutorial Tuesday: Easy Stocking Stuffer (personalized beanbags!)

I wanted something fun, homemade, personalized and educational to put in Cutie Face's stocking this year.

Tough order? Nahhh...

...not when you can make (homemade) beanbags that spell her name (personalized) on one side and have numbers on the other side (educational) that can also be used as a game (fun).

This is a super easy tutorial if you have a sewing machine. If you don't have a sewing machine it will take you longer but it is totally doable.

What you'll need:

• Fabric--I used 4 different fabrics to give Cutie Face some variety...maybe she can even learn how to match them (more educational uses every time I think about it!)
• Sewing Machine (or needle and thread)
• Beans (BAKED--you don't want your beans to sprout or get moldy so make sure you BAKE them on low for about 20 minutes)
• Something to personalize your beanbags with. I used an applique on the letter/name side but felt it was a bit too time consuming so I used a permanent marker for the number sides
  

1) Cut out fabric for the beanbags. I wanted to make 9 beanbags (Cutie Face's name has 9 letters) so I cut 18 squares of fabric, 6x6. You can make them any size but I wanted it to be manageable with Cutie Face's small hands. (Side note: this step would have been much easier had I used my rotary cutter and healing mat. Oh well)

2) Personalize each side (or one side or NO sides). Make sure you do this before you do any sewing!

3) Once your fabric squares are ready, match them to each other (for example, Cutie Face's name starts with a "C" so I matched the "C" and "1" fabric squares). Put the "good" side of the fabric squares together, on the inside

4) Sew nearly all the way around (i used a straight stitch) making sure you leave a large enough space to turn the fabric rightside out. I made the mistake of making my hole too small in the beginning and turning the fabric was very difficult. So go easy on yourself and leave a nice big space!

5) Turn the fabric right side out

6) Sew a border around the square, making sure you leave that original hole open! Don't sew anything closed yet!

See? there's my hole!

7) Make a funnel. I tried using a cooking funnel but the hole was too small to allow the beans to pass through so I just used a rolled up piece of heavy magazine paper.

8) Place your funnel in the hole, allowing it to unfurl a bit once it is inside the bag.


9) Pour the beans into the beanbag. Make sure that you don't fill it too high--you need to be able to sew it closed!

10) Fold the opening of the hole under and sew it closed.

11) Voila! You now have one beanbag!


12) Repeat steps 1-10 until you've made all your beanbags:

Enjoy!