DIY Beanbag Cube

If there's anything my parents taught me, it's to hoard grocery bags. But we never seem to be able to reuse them as quickly as they accumulate! A second problem - the lack of seating in my dorm room - created the solution. My roommate and I wanted a beanbag chair for our room, but they can be very expensive, so I promised to make one myself. However, beanbag filler is only marginally cheaper and usually needs to be replaced every few years to keep the beanbag fluffy. I had a wild hair and asked everyone I knew for their plastic bags. The response was overwhelmingly positive - so many people were happy to be relieved of their bags and our chair was quickly full enough to be comfortable.

The cube itself is measures 2"x2"x2" and while it's a little heavier than a normal beanbag chair, it's actually much quieter (many friends wanted to know it it sounded very 'plastic-y'). It's very easy to clean, since I used a white muslin fabric to make the body of the cube (with an 8" zipper for stuffing) and a purple canvas shell with a 6" zipper that goes around three seams to make the shell removable for washing. The dual zippers make it possible to continue to add bags as we accumulate them!

If you'd like to make your own, here's a little tutorial to get you started.