Back to the Bean Bag....

OK. Enough fooling around. I decided that it would be better to make another chair and take photos, rather than hunt the old one up. It didn't match Tessie's decor anyway.

I opted for the fatter one this time. Here's how it went.

I "fussy cut", as quilters call it, the fabric so that the circle pattern of dots came in the widest part of the panel. Very Op Art.

I cut out each piece with a seam allowance. I marked the seam line with a pencil, on the wrong side of the fabric, so that I would have an accurate match.

I pinned the side pieces together, one at a time and sewed them all into a tube.

Then I sewed the bottom panel in place, matching sides and corners.

I usually leave one of the bottom panels open for filling. This time I tried sewing them all together and leaving the top open for filling to see what would happen. I definitely like doing it the bottom way better. The top is more easily fit into place if you do it first and sew all of the sides.

When I finished the bottom, I used a funnel and filled it through the top. I used salt. We can get away with that here. I would recommend sand for anyone that lives in a damper climate.

Next, I pinned the top piece in place and hand stitched it all around with a blind stitch.

Tessie helped by pulling out the pins as needed. She only poked me once, when she thought I wasn't finishing it fast enough.

I wrestled the pins away from her and finished the last stitches.

She wiggled her butt around in it and got comfy. Approval was granted.

She had Zar drag it up to the second floor of the townhouse, with the promise that he could have the privilege of being only the second one to try it out. Of course she stipulated....."You may only sit in it for three minutes. I wouldn't want you to conform to your body and have to start all over."

Zar took me aside and requested one for the Clockwork cottage. He says it's very Steampunk to be sitting on Styrofoam pellets. I am not following his train of thought. I think he just got comfortable in it and wants one of his own, whether it fits into the Steampunk decor or not.

I guess I could find some clockwork fabric to make it fit in.

These are one of those things that, once you get started on, you cant stop. They are fast and fun.

I am going to have to go get some sand or salt. I have the feeling that everyone is going to want one.

See you tomorrow.

Rocky Raccoon is in the House.....

I promised you the pattern for the beanbag chairs today. Here you go! If you enlarge it to the point that the length of the narrower pattern is 4 1/4" long and the wider one is 4 1/2", you will have two different shapes. I have always preferred the narrower one, but someone may want a larger one. Take your choice.

I haven't had a chance to hunt up the example yet....It's somewhere around here. I will try to get a photo by tomorrow.

Meanwhile, have at it. It is simple enough to do and you can refer to the photos from yesterday, if need be.

First you cut out the pattern pieces. Be sure to leave a seam allowance. It isn't included in the pattern. I usually do it 1/8" if I am doing the stitching by hand and 1/4" if by machine.

First stitch all of the long seams into a tube. Then starting with the top, pin and sew the piece to the smaller neck of the tube, wrong sides together. Do the same with the larger end leaving at least one section of the panels open. You have to turn it right side out, fill it and then stitch the last of the seam by hand. Not my favorite part.

I usually use either salt or sand to fill pillows and beanbags in miniature. Be sure to fill it enough so that it will have a nice shape when someone sits in it. Don't over stuff it. If you do that, you won't be able to wiggle around and make a nest in it. I would say maybe about 2/3 full. You may have to experiment a bit. Just sit it on the table upside down, with the opening at the top and start filling....You should be able to tell when there is enough.

Rosanna of La Stanza Di Guiggiola http://lastanzadigiuggiola.blogspot.com/ helped me out with a comment yesterday. The correct name for this chair is a Fracchia chair. It's from a popular comic movie in Italy. I am going to go look around for some more info now that I have a clue where to look. Thanks for the lead Rosanna!

Now....About that title. I finally got even with Tessie for all of her harassing. I brought home a raccoon for her to contend with this morning.

I found him running around Target and asked if he liked tomatoes.....He does!

That should keep Tessie busy until I can find the Fraccia chair example. Wish me luck.

See you tomorrow.

Casey and the Bean Bag.....

No....This tale is nothing like "Jack and the Beanstalk". This one is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

It all started back in 1970. I was living on my own here in Tucson. Yup. It was before Walter and I were married. I lived in an apartment and had neighbors that were really good friends.

They moved to Palm Beach, Florida. After they settled in, they invited me to come down there for a vacation. The agreement was they would furnish all the entertainment and a place to stay if I would paint them a large nude to hang over their new sofa. It was a bit of a joke. They wanted a painting on black velvet, like the ones from Mexico that were popular at the time. Nothing really showed. It was a girl laying on her side with her back turned, looking over her shoulder, with artfully draped fabric in the important places....

Anyway, that took only one morning. After that Joan, knowing that I loved unusual furniture, talked me into a trip to one of the high end decorator shops to see a chair. She was sure that I had never seen another one like it and she assured me that I would want one. Very mysterious. It was much better than watching paint dry.

When we got there, she led me to the aforementioned chair and I was instantly in love with it. It was bright red plush and the largest "pillow" I had ever seen. Not a pillow. My very first beanbag sighting! We took turns plopping down in it and wiggling to get comfy. I definitely wanted one. There were a couple of catches. I didn't think that a six foot beanbag would fit in my carry on luggage and the price tag turned me a nice shade of that lime green that we were talking about yesterday. It was six hundred dollars and a few more! It was imported from Italy.

There was nothing like it in Tucson. Believe me, I looked everywhere. And then I looked some more.

I knew what they had used for "stuffing" because Joan had kept a look out whilst I discretely unzipped the zipper on the bottom and peeked inside. There was a lining, but I could feel the little Styrofoam pellets. Again, I looked all over Tucson for someone that sold those....Nowhere.

I had no doubt that I could sew the lining and the outside. I was just unsure of the measurements.

Then a few months later, one of the magazines came out with a one page article on how to make one. It was complete with diagram and instructions. One problem solved.(The instructions are to the left. Poke the photo to make them larger.)

This long story has a purpose. Stick with me....What to use for the pellets? I was in Walgreen's Drugstore one afternoon and noticed that they were doing and end of summer close out on Styrofoam surfboards. I examined them. They were made of the very pellets that I was looking for, but they were all stuck together. Not far away, there were some Styrofoam ice chests...Also on clearance. I bought one of each and took them home.

How to get them apart? I first tried chopping them up with a steak knife. Too big.

Hmmmm.....I had a blender that I seldom used. Mad scientist that I am, I chopped off a couple of hunks of the surf board and popped them in the blender. It worked. In a matter of minutes, I had a half cup of little balls.

I ran back to Walgreen's and wiped them out of surfboards. I think that there were eight left. The lady at the check out looked at me strangely, shook her head, and rang them up. She didn't ask and I didn't offer to tell her why I needed eight surfboards and five ice chests. I think that they were something like a dollar a piece on sale.

Did I mention that all I could find in plush was brown? Not quite like the original, but close enough.

After a couple of weeks of chopping and blending surfboards, I could see that there wasn't going to be enough pellets. I started begging friends and co-workers to save packing peanuts for me.

Meanwhile, my blender(plastic model) had a sandblasted finish on the interior. It was no longer clear and every time I turned it on, full or not, it would spit out little white balls from beneath.

After a month or so of full time blending, I had enough. I sewed the outer skins and started stuffing.

My apartment looked like there had been a blizzard, but I could proudly say that I had, as far as I knew, the very first beanbag chair in Tucson.

That particular chair lasted until April was about 5 or 6 years old. That would make it about 10 years.

Over the years I have made others from that same pattern, including several in miniature.

Tomorrow I will give you a tutorial for that size. I don't know where I put the mini pattern and am going to have to draw up another one. Until then, I am consulting with Widget.....He wants a cat sized one. It can be done!

See you tomorrow.