Cornhole Bags - DIY

Spence asked me today how my blog is going. Umm...!?! Guess it's time for post #2!

And since I've been quite the domestic housewife these days, I figured I would share a sewing project I recently finished and had lots of fun creating...almost too much fun! A few years ago my brother Mike handmade my parents the most awesome Steeler's cornhole boards ever! Each board looks like Heinz field and he burned the yardage markers in the wood. They're pretty awesome, I'll have to share a picture later.

Anyways, back to the point of the project. My step-father, Bill bought official Steeler NFL cornhole bags online that literally wore out after playing with them over the last couple years. They were once filled with sand and over time they were barely heavy enough to throw. It seemed every time we played we would have to hand sew them just to keep our game going. So before we went on our vacation to Delaware for Mike's wedding and a family vaca, my mom decided to throw them out. But...the boards got loaded on the Debo's (my parent's) truck to DE. I already knew I wanted to make him new ones for Father's Day, but now the pressure was on. No bags, no family cornhole competition in DE. (Oh, and for those of you who know my family, we're just A LITTLE competitive....but that's another blog post to follow!)

So, I went online and searched for fabric. But I was concerned about the quality of my bags. They couldn't just fall apart like the last ones. So, I text my super savvy sewing friend, Laura to ask for advice on how to make these the most durable bags possible. Laura suggested nylon for lining and fleece interfacing. Side note, Laura owns MosaicFlower and sews the cutest bags! You can check out some of her bags on her facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/MosaicFlower.

So, I found two awesome Steeler fabrics (you need to different fabrics/colors to distinguish the teams) and ordered the nylon and interfacing.

Found the Steeler fabric on Fabric.com. It shipped in 2 days!

I also found a "how to" on Pinterest to make "official" corn hole bags. Another little side note here. In my search, I found out that there's a legit American Cornhole Association (ACA) with official rules on the court layout, the equipment, scoring and much more. FYI, we play by Debo Rules where rule 1 is you must have a cold beer in your hand to play. If you want official rules, you're probably a little crazy, but I won't judge. www.playcornhole.org can get you lined out.

First project was to cut the squares. Each square needed to be 7inx7in. Each cornhole bag bag needed two squares of each fabric; the Steeler print, the nylon, and the fleece.

2 squares of each fabric for each bag.

Next was to sew together the squares. The nylon needed to be in the inner most fabric, followed by the fleece, and of course the Steeler fabric on the outside. I put just the nylon and fleece together first and left an opening for the corn.

Nylon on the outside, fleece on the inside.

Flipped before filling so the nylon is now on the inside.

Now came time to fill the bags with corn. I have a kitchen food scale that worked perfect for this project. Official cornhole bags are 14-16 oz each. I should note that I used popcorn kernels instead of corn feed. It worked great! First I zeroed out the scale, then added the corn.

Zeroed out the scale then added 14 oz of popcorn to each bag.

I don't have pictures for the final steps so I will just explain. I sewed the bags with the beans together. Then I sewed the Steeler print fabrics (right sides together) on 3 sides and a little on each side of the 4th and flipped them so the right sides were facing out (just enough to put the finished squares with the beans inside). Lastly, I hand sewed the final bags together with a blind stitch where the opening was. Note, I was super intimidated by the blind stitch at first, but it was so easy and you can't see any stitches or thread! I became really good at it after my first attempt. I made two extra bags for spares since I didn't like my first one. If you need help on how to blind stitch, let me know!

And voilà! Here is the final product!

Finished product!

Made two extra bags. No sewing during games anymore!

That's it! Well, sort of. I had these pretty bags all put together, but now I had to get them on a plane to Washington, DC for the drive to Delaware. I couldn't just throw them in my suitcase. They needed a carrying bag! So...I whipped this together!

Cornhole bag carrying case!

I didn't follow a pattern for the bag. I simply stacked 4 bags and 4 bags next to each other and started cutting and sewing fabric. I had the idea in my head and somehow or another, it actually came together!

Well, that's all for this post. If you want to make your own cornhole bags but don't know how to get started, let me know and I'd be glad to help! It was so fun and easy. It was the perfect Father's Day present for my perfect step-father!

Until next time,
Nicole

BHAG's

Ok, so I think post 1 is probably the most intimidating. I mean everyone that blogs has to start it off with a cool blog, right!? Or why on earth would people return? Well, to be honest, I created this blog account last August. Yes, it told on me when I signed in that it has been...well, awhile! See, I've been wanting, meaning, hoping to start writing a blog and I even pulled out my super awesome writings from a Creative Writing class I took in high school and read every one of them to Spencer. He thinks I have talent in writing. Or maybe he's just really good at collecting brownie points, I haven't decided. 

So...last night we were reviewing our BHAG's (pronounced bee-hag). For those of you who don't know, BHAG stands for BIG, HAIRY, AUDACIOUS, GOALS. Who wouldn't know that?! Well perhaps everyone, cause I will put money on it that Spencer made that up! So as we were reviewing, I realized that one of my BHAG's is to begin a blog by 2015 (I think it was on last year's BHAG list and somehow got postponed...oops!). So here it is, my blog. Welcome to it.

Since our BHAG review is what sparked me to start writing again, I will share with you a little about our BHAG's and why they are important. First off, I personally think it is a good idea for everyone to set goals. Why? Well for me, it's because setting goals is what pushes me to do the task. And the journey towards accomplishing the goal is less painful when the prize is in front of you. When you accomplish something, then you it perpetuates into wanting to accomplish something more...and more...and more. Well, you get the picture.

On our personal BHAG list, Spencer and I write our goals for each of the following categories: Career. Financial. Spiritual. Physical. Intellectual. Family. & here it comes...Recreational! Yes, that last one means fun! We review our BHAG list every couple months to check our progress and if there's anything additional we want to work on, it's gets added to the list. And...every once in awhile, we get to check something off! WOOHOO! "Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music." Oops, got a little off track there. 

Anyways, setting goals gives us confidence, motivation, and makes us happy when we accomplish them. Setting goals helps us accomplish BIG things! And guess what? A BHAG can never be TOO BIG. It can't even be too HAIRY. But...it will take AUDACITY to complete. So buckle up, get your pen out and begin your BHAG list. I dare you!

Perhaps I'll share additional BHAG's on my list with you in the coming posts, but you'll have to stay tuned to find out!

So...what are you going to put on your BHAG list? I'd love to hear! :)