How I made my coffee bean bags.

I am a big fan of a local company that recycles pretty much everything that they can get their hands on purely with the arts in mind. They have a great selection of things that come from all over the world and come to that place to get recycled and turned into art, the owner dabbles in it herself with great examples exhibited throughout, sometimes I go just for inspiration. I got these coffee bean bags from sam and the reeked when I got them of like rotten bananas so I left them in my dad’s garage for a month to air them out.

I wasn’t exactly thinking of bean bags and cushions from the start but maybe using them for upholstering or weaving into a carpet but they are not very comphy and I would only use for astectic reasons. That’s why I made different and weird size cushions to show the impracticalness off them and how they aren’t really for your couch.

To make the cushions I cut across in three shapes, one with a wide and big size and two others with slim but long sizes. Then I used an industrial sewing machine to sew where I needed to make them like sacks ready to fill. I sewed from the inside out like a pouch so when you turn it inside out you wouldn’t see the sewn seems. Keeping with the upcycle theme I decided to use some of the old insulation I used to upholster my chair but because it quite hard and thick I decided to shred the insulation so it became weak and softer, the reason for not using this method with my shopping trolley hair was because it was in keeping with the strong structure and making it all cushy and not as hard would tar the strong and stable look I wanted to achieve which is quite the contrast with these bean bags.  I shredded it using a cutting mat and knife slicing the front and them ripping the many many many…layers away, tedious it was but became clear it was worth it. To finish I sewed the seems to complete the bean bag and keep the insolation inside using the industrial sewing machine.

I am really pleased with the outcome bearing in mind the material I used, hessian isn’t the softest material but for bean bags and placing your butt on they are quite comphy. I tried my best to keep it shabby but neat and believe I kept with the colours when sewing. I love the difference in sizes because it matches their individuality and quirkiness. I believe I kept to my upcycle/recycle theme to a cue with this one and using the only new material was the sewing string.