Fat Quarter Friday: Bean Bags - A great beginner project for kids

When we were little and my mom was teaching us to sew, we made a lot of bean bags. They're simple to make and then fun to play with afterwards. Using pinking shears makes this project even easier since you don't have to turn them and then worry about hand sewing.

Materials: 
1 fat quarter (makes 6 large-ish bean bags)
dry beans, rice, sand or something else to fill the bags with
pinking shears

Step 1: Cut out your shapes from your fat quarter. You can cut with the pinking shears right away as you are doing this first step, or you can do that later on if you want. I wanted some squares and some circles, but you could do any shape you want, or a variety to make them a teaching toy. To make the squares I cut six 5"x5" squares.

Then to make my circles, I folded over my leftover fabric and traced a cd. I could fit 3 cds, which gave me 6 total circles since my fabric was doubled up.

Step 2: Take your pairs and match them up with the right sides facing out.

Sew around your shapes leaving a 1/4"-1/2" seam around the edges leaving a 1"-2" opening to fill the bags with.

Step 3: Using a funnel (or a funnel made from a piece of paper and tape, pour your beans (or other small bean bag filling) into the bags. I filled mine about half full, but you can do as much or as little as you want. However, you don't want them too full since we'll need to sew the opening shut.

Sew the opening shut on your machine. If you haven't already, use your pinking shears around the outside edge (be careful not to clip the seams).

Enjoy!

Cornhole anyone? (I'm not being creepy, cornhole is apparently a very popular game here in the midwest, but being from CO, I had never heard of it until just recently. I guess it's just beanbag toss, but with a fancy name!)