Tetrahedral bean bag for the living room

The pattern for this tetrahedral bean bag came from my mother’s blog. Our old bean bag was too big and was spitting out little round polystyrene beads. Here is the English tutorial for you to make this nice seat yourself!

I spend a lot of time looking for a right kind of fabric for this. I did not want to have a fabric that would show all the dust and fluff that generally collects on the floor. The previous beanbag had a material that seemed to repel dirt, so I wanted something very similar. However, the local fabric shops did not have anything like that. Finally, some online advice from fellow sewers directed me to Ompelijanmaailma. I ordered 2 m of this polyester canvas fabric with a PU coating on the wrong side and when it arrived I was very happy. It was very similar (although a bit lighter) to the fabric of the old bean bag.

The pattern for this bag is super simple, although the folding stage may boggle your mind before you try it. (It is best to try it with a piece of paper if you aren’t sure!) Check out my mother’s blog for the measurements for the kid’s size bean bag and to find the Finnish instructions.

You’ll only need a rectangular piece like this:

You’ll need to fold it along the middle. Sew a 80 cm long zipper to the other short side and sew the other short side.

Now the magic happens. Pull the open edges apart and join the dots A and B in the picture above. Two of the corners of the tetrahedral bean bag are formed in the middle of the previously open edges. Pin the edge and sew. Turn the whole thing open through the zipper edge and fill.

I decided to make a separate lining out of unbleached Ikea Bomull cotton. My mother had a little difficulties in getting the filled bag inside the cover, so she suggested putting the lining inside the cover before filling but I wasn’t sure that I would be able to get the filling into the right place if I did so. So I did like my mother originally did and decided to fill the inner bag and worry about the cover later.

It was a challenge to get the styrofoam beads from the old bean bag to the new one. The polystyrene beads fly everywhere, stick to anything and seem to have a life of their own. I was alone when I moved the filling and could have used another pair of hands. After the job was done the whole living room floor was covered with the beads. I have since been vacuuming like crazy and still the beads pop up every time I move a piece of furniture. Luckily the old bean bag was bigger than the new one so I did not really miss the beads that did not end inside the new bean bag.

It finally wasn’t too hard getting the cover on although I wished I would have enforced the ends of the zipper better. There was some slight ripping of the stitches but nothing major.

The kid’s have really taken into the new seat. The only problem is that there is only one of them so it’s usually a race toward the seating area to see who gets to sit on it!

Thank you for visiting my blog and see you soon! Happy sewing!

 

Katja