Detailed instructions for making the
Butterfly Bean Bag
     This is essentially a simple project, however, explaining how to go about it is a bit more complex than the actual project. In truth, the writing of this set of instructions took three times longer than it took to cut and sew these bean bags. Mostly the hard part is explaining how to sew the back-to-back technique. This design is based on a design from an article by Scott Fairbairn. The instructions on how to sew the double bean bag design seem a bit fuzzy. It took some head scratching to figure out how to do it the first time I tried it. Without a good sense of three-dimensional space, it can almost seem like a magic trick when you see it done. However, I will attempt to take the mystery out of it and make it seem nearly as simple as it actually is.

User Emails and Comments on the bean bag project:
Proof it's not so hard to make - Malaysian nature photographer Dr. A. R. Radzian shows off his version of the Butterfly Bean Bag --- Photo one (materials and printed pattern) ---- Photo Two (finished bean bag) --- link to full blog entry of June 2009 (scroll way down ) --- Dr. Radzian wrote: "I know a few of my friends also made the similar bean bag when I posted it at PhotoMalaysia.com."

Tested, reviewed and approved on safari - Gets highest rating - On the "Chobe Safari" website, for Chobe National Park in Botswana, author and photographer P. B. Eleazer tested 21 commercial and DIY bean bags and rated them in his web article ( http://www.chobesafari.com/photography-tips/finding-the-perfect-photo-bean-bag-for-safari.html ). I was pleased to find that my bean bag design received his highest rating along with two expensive commercial bean bags. In fact, he made two of my design for himself. Now that brought a smile to my face.

Here's another photographer's take on my Butterfly Beanbag. Roy Bertalotto posted his version of my beanbag design on his blog.

Butterfly Beanbag survives Hyena mauling ... some beans did not - Received this fun report from Mary Anne A. who made the Butterfly Beanbag for her Tanzania/Serengeti safari.


Reference image -
click for larger view
Step #1- Print the pattern onto paper so you can transfer it to the material.
     For this you will need the pattern files and a printer. The pattern is in two resolutions. Use this file at 72 dpi to view on your monitor for reference. The pattern at 150 dpi for printing on your printer comes in four parts because the pattern is slightly larger than 11x17. It has to be printed on four pieces of 8 1/2x11 paper, then overlapped to match up each section and taped together to make the full-sized pattern. Do not print the 72 dpi file meant for viewing. It will NOT print to actual size, and you will end up with a rather tiny and useless bean bag. So, save each of the four files below to your computer and print each on a standard letter sized sheet, or you could print them right from your browser. Just be sure the actual image area of each section measures 8x10 inches when printed. Once you assemble the four printouts, the white part of the pattern should just fit in an 11x17 space (the gray outside area will be a bit larger than that). If this is not the case when you've printed and assembled them, then the software program you are printing from is resizing them somehow and the pattern will not be the correct size. This is not to say you can't alter the size to suit your needs, but generally this would be as large as you should need.
Pattern section one
Pattern section two
Pattern section three
Pattern section four

      Now, assemble the four printouts, carefully overlapping and aligning the images so they match up, then tape the four sheets together into one large pattern. Now, cut out the paper pattern on the solid outline, which will remove the outer gray shaded edges. There are further instructions printed right on the pattern explaining the various dotted lines. Pay attention to those instructions.

Step #2- Cut out the two gray shaded parts of the rectangle, and cut out the small "V" shaped gray area as instructed on the pattern.
      DO NOT cut these holes in the material, only cut them on the paper pattern. They are there to help you transfer the pattern to the material when that step comes.

Step #3- Transfer the pattern to the material.
     (a) In this step you first will cut four identical rectangular pieces of material about two inches larger than the length and width of the paper pattern, which should give you four rectangles about 13x19 inches each. This extra room will allow for error and for the seams. If your material has a printed-on pattern (as opposed to a woven pattern), one side of the material will have the full color pattern, and the other side will either be blank or will show only a faded bleed-through of the pattern. In this case the material has a distinct front and back side.
     (b) Next, stack and align the edges of the four basic rectangles you've cut out. Stack them so that you have two front sides facing up and two back sides facing up. The order doesn't matter so long as one of the pieces with the back side facing up is on top of the stack so you can trace the pattern onto it. It will be easier to see your tracing on the back side of a piece than on the side with a strong printed pattern.
      (c) Now pin these four aligned and stacked pieces together so they will not shift.
      (d) Next, center the paper pattern on the top of the stack and pin it in place with at least two pins so it will not shift. The idea here will be to cut out 4 identical pieces at the same time from one traced pattern. (Alternately, you could trace and cut out all four pieces individually if you preferred.)
     (e) Now it's time to trace the outer edge of the pattern onto the material. I used a ball point ink pen to do this, but you may have a better method, such as a fabric marking pencil, which would be good if your material is dark. Note: You will NOT cut on this outline you just traced.
     (f) With the pattern still pinned in place, go back and draw another outline around the pattern spaced about a half inch outside the paper pattern edge. This doesn't have to be perfect since it will be inside the finished bean bag and will not be seen, but you will need this extra half inch or so of material for the seam. The inner outline that conforms exactly to the pattern is where you will stitch the pieces together, following the line and stitching right over it. This second outer outline will be the one you actually cut the material on.
     (g) There is one more tracing operation to do before any cutting can be done. Remember the two ends of the rectangle you cut out of the paper pattern? Now you are ready to take advantage of that. The pattern is still pinned in place, so you should trace around the edge of the rectangle. Only the straight edges need be traced. You do NOT need to trace the curved edge of the elongated "football" shape now. That is for something else.
     Now you can unpin and remove the paper pattern. Lay it aside for later as you will need it again. You will note there is a gap at the top and bottom of the rectangle you just traced where the "football" shape area was in the way. Just for good measure, take your ballpoint and fill in this part of the line to complete marking in the whole rectangle. Now it's time to unpin the four pieces of material and separate them, but keep whichever side was facing up still facing up on each piece.

From now on I will refer to the printed pattern side of the material as the "outside", and the non-printed side as the "inside". If your material is a woven pattern, or simply a solid color, and both sides are exactly the same, this part of my instructions won't make any difference. But if you use a camo material as I did, you don't want the pale/blank side out, you want the camo side out, so pay attention to which side is which.

Step #4- Sewing the rectangle
     You're almost ready to do a little sewing. This is the easiest part. Take the pattern piece you just marked the rectangle on and place it on top of another pattern piece so that the two "outsides" are facing each other. Align their edges and pin them together around the edges, and also near the rectangle outline. You should now have two cut pieces pinned together with the "insides" facing out both ways when you flip it over. You are now ready to "join" the two bean bags back to back before you even sew the two bags themselves. It might seem illogical, but I assure you, this is the only way it can be done, and is part of the "magic". Refer to the first box in the Diagram for Steps #4 and #5 below to see the two pieces facing each other and stitched along the rectangle. This is what you will be doing.
     I will note here that unless you use a pretty heavy-duty material, you might want to reinforce this rectangular area where the two bags join. On mine, I cut two rectangles of fabric about a half inch larger all the way around than the rectangle. Then I used a ruler to extend the rectangle's lines outside the rectangle. I pinned the reinforcing material centered over the rectangle and then used the lines I added as a guide to transfer the rectangular marking back onto the reinforcing piece using my pen and a ruler. I did this for both pieces of material. Remember, this will end up "inside" the bean bag and won't show.
      Okay, fire up the sewing machine and sew along the rectangle outline, stitching directly over the line all around the rectangle. Then do it again, this time stitching inside the rectangle about 1/8 of an inch to create two seams side by side all the way around. Then stitch an "X" from corner to corner inside the rectangle. DO NOT SEW THE OUTSIDE EDGES OF THE MATERIAL, sew ONLY in the rectangle. Okay - you are now basically 1/3 finished.

Diagram for Steps #4 and #5
Click this diagram for a larger view
of the directions.
Step #5- Preparing to complete one of the bean bags
     Look over the Diagram for Steps #4 and #5 again. Now you will fold over the top material piece, overlapping the four "corners" and folding them into a small, tight bunch over the rectangular area you just stitched. Now pin this "bunched" material together to keep it out of your way. You need to do this so it does not get caught in the outer edge stitching in the next step.
     Next you take another of the cutout pieces and turn it with the "inside" facing up. Place the paper pattern on top of this piece, center the pattern and pin it so it won't slip. Now trace around the outer edge with your ink pen (or fabric pencil) as you did before. This will provide you the outer sewing line, leaving the 1/2 inch of seam area as before. With the pattern still pinned in place, trace the "football" shaped guidelines onto this piece of material.
     To accomplish this, trace around the "football" shaped area inside the rectangle. Now note the two "reference points" C and D printed on the pattern. If you like, you can poke a hole in the paper pattern at reference points C and D and make a mark or dot on the material so you can find these points. Now remove the paper pattern and fill in the missing parts of the "football" shape guidelines.
      Next you need to trace the "V" sewing guidelines onto the other half of this bean bag (refer again to the Diagram for Steps #4 and #5). Line up the lower end of the paper pattern and make a mark at the outer edge of the material at reference points A and B where the dashed sewing guidelines meet the outer edge. Now trace inside the small triangular cutout hole you made in the paper pattern. This now provides you with the "V" point and the two ends of these lines, and you can use a ruler to finish connecting these ends to complete the "V" guidelines. For the time being this will be covered and sewn inside the bag, but you will use this "V" guideline later. If you have nylon webbing straps or other material to use for handles, get that out and have it ready. I made my handles from the same material as the bean bag.
     Now you must align the two pieces that you've added the guidelines to as shown in the diagram box labeled "Step #5- part two". At this point you should insert any handles you desire as shown in the "Optional step" box of the diagram. Now pin the two pieces together around the outer edge, and be sure the handles are pinned as well. Insure the ends of the handles hang across the stitching area so they will be caught by the outer stitching. Okay, it's time to sew again.

Diagram for Step #6
Step #6- Sewing the first bean bag
     Stitch around the outer edge of the bean bag, following and stitching right on the line you traced a half inch in from the material edge, but DO NOT stitch all the way around. Leave a section about three to four inches long unstitched near the top of the bag. This is where you will turn the finished bag inside out, and it's also where you will pour in the beans. (Optionally you might wish to sew in a zipper in this area instead of leaving an opening that will need stitching by hand later to close it. I couldn't find a zipper shorter than 7 inches, which I felt was too long, so I opted for the more permanent hand stitched closure.)
     When you get to the handle ends, stitch across them two or three times between the guideline and the edge of the material for strength. It would even be a good idea to lay a strip of material along the edge on both sides of the bag, stretching across the handle ends to "double up" on the material thickness and reinforce it. I didn't do this, but it's still a good idea. Be especially careful at the "top" of the bag where the upper "corners" dip down in the middle. There isn't much space between the "dip" and the rectanglar stitching area where all the material is folded up and pinned. If you happen to catch some of that material in the stitching, you will NOT be able to turn the finished bag inside out.
     Now that you've stitched all around the edge (except for the 3-4 inch opening), there is one more bit if stitching to do. Look at the "Diagram for Step #6" . It shows how to pinch together the material where the "football" shaped guidelines are, squeezing them together and stitching them. Be sure you do NOT catch anything from inside the bag in this stitching. This stitching will have the effect of drawing the upper part of the bag tighter and making it stand taller without bulging and flopping. This flap of material you've created will be on the inside of the bag, so it's not seen. There is no need to cut it off. If you do cut it, and the stitches should come out, you would have a hole in your bag!
The tubular bottom design improves rigidity and cuts the weight by 4 pounds.
     Time to take out your pins, then pull the inside bundle of pinned fabric to the opening and take out those pins as well. Now you can patiently work the finished half of the bag inside out, pulling a bit at a time until you have it all pulled through the opening. You will find that you now magically have one finished bean bag attached to half of the other bean bag yet to be sewn. You are now 2/3 finished.
     It's time to do the other bag. The great part about this is that I don't have to write more instructions. You only need to go back to Step #5 and follow the instructions all over again to complete the other side of the project. Fold up and bundle the finished bag and pin it over the rectangular area as before, mark the guidelines for the "V", for the "football" shape area, and the outer guidelines on your last piece of material, then insert the handle, pin it all together, and sew. When done, remove the pins and turn it inside out, and you will have two bean bags attached back to back.

Step #7- One last bit of stitching
     Now it's time to stitch those "V's" you traced onto the outside of both bags. Don't sew the two bags together now and ruin your project. Each bag has a "V" sewn into it to connect the two halves of each bag as clearly shown in the photo at the left. This is the real secret to this design, though it's not much of a secret now. Once you've sewn these two "V's", you can fill the bags with beans or other filler material and stitch the opening shut. Voila. You're done.