How to Make Cornhole Bags

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Ever wonder how to make cornhole bags for the popular toss game? These DIY Regulation Cornhole Bags are not only easy to make, they're perfect for tailgating and football season. In the south, we always pull out the cornhole boards...especially at a tailgate par-tay! These would be fun to make in your team's colors, too. Learn how to make cornhole bags of your own below.

All of the commercially-made cornhole or tossable bean bags I've found to use with our cornhole boards were a little on the blah side (I need bright, fun pattern in my life...like all the time!). Since I gave our actual cornhole boards a colorful and fun makeover at the beginning of the summer (see that post here), I wanted to make some adorable (yet, still in game play regulation) cornhole bags to coordinate. Check out this tutorial and learn how to make cornhole bags for yourself below.

Cornhole Bag and Board Makeovers

Aqua is slowly creeping out of my home's interior decor and all the way into the yard. I mean...our newly made-over cornhole boards were just screaming for cute bags, no? I created a tutorial over painting cornhole boards, too, if you're looking to spiff up your actual boards, as well.

How to Make Cornhole Bags

Since I wanted them to be as bright and cute as can be, I had to go with a cotton fabric (kind of a no-no when you make cornhole bags). However, I used a nifty product to stiffen them up to that legitimate cornhole duck fabric feel. If you want to stay within the realms of "normal" cornhole fabric, duck cloth is a popular (well, standard) choice. 

This tutorial makes eight, regulation-weight cornhole bags.

Please note, to keep these inexpensive, I used dry corn as the filler. You'll need to take care not to leave these outside overnight. Critters will find them in a heartbeat if they're left out. Been there, done that.

Cornhole Bag Supplies 

For this particular tutorial, I used some fabric scraps from a colorful Riley Blake fat quarter set that I had on hand. Sadly, I don't believe this set is in print anymore (sniff, sniff).

• 16-7.5" squares of fabric (this is a great scrap buster project)
• Please note: 8 squares should be in one fabric pattern and the other 8 should be in another pattern to differentiate for your cornhole teams.
• Duck fabric is the standard for cornhole, but doesn't always come in fun patterns. If you opt to use duck fabric, though, you won't need to treat it with a stiffner, like I did with my cotton fabric.
• coordinating thread (you'll have an exterior seam, so your thread will definitely show on these cornhole bags)
• fabric stiffner (again, only for cotton fabric)
• I used Mod Podge Stiffy for my stiffner. Before you even begin putting your bags together, lightly brush this over your cut squares and allow to dry overnight. You can dilute it, if you want to, as well, so your fabric is still workable. Grab Mod Podge Stiffy here on Amazon.
• 8 pounds of dry corn

Putting Your Cornhole Bags Together

• Take two of your 7.5" squares in the same fabric and sandwich them together.
• Your two "pretty sides" of fabric should be touching each other (as pictured above).
• If you're using directional-patterned fabric, you'll need to take that into account when you're sandwiching your pieces together.

• Continuously sew only THREE sides of your two squares together using a basic stitch on your machine (as pictured above). I kept my stitch fairly tight, too. 
• Clip your two corners that are sewn on both sides (this makes for cleaner corners once we flip this thing right side out). Be careful not to cut into your stitching.

• Turn your sewn piece right side out.
• Gently push out your corners. I use the slanted end of a cuticle stick (be super careful when doing this, you don't want to poke right through your sewing) and poke out the corners to a nice, crisp point.
• If you prefer, you can press your squares to really make those corners crisp.

• Place your bag into your kitchen scale and fill with your dry corn. 
• The entire bag (fabric and contents) should weigh exactly 16 ounces. 

• Once your bag is filled, turn in the open seam 1/2" to sew. 
• You'll actually sew that side closed (on the outside or top of your bag) and then sew around the entire perimeter with 1/2" seam allowance (see below photo for how this will look).

• Be sure to start and stop with a small backstitch. If you look closely, you can see in the above photo where I stopped and started in the upper left corner of my cornhole bag.
• Repeat the process with the rest of your fabric squares until you have 8 cornhole bags in all: 4 of one pattern and 4 of another pattern. 

• To protect your bags even more (sometimes they land in wet grass or even puddles), be sure to give them a coat of Scotchgard to protect them a bit further.
• I grab Scotchgard here on Amazon.
• And, remember not to leave these cornhole bags outside when not in use...critters love these. 

These homemade cornhole bags are so much more bright and fun than the standard cornhole bags from the sports store.

More DIY Games

• My DIY Ring Toss Game is another popular post here on I Should Be Mopping the Floor. You'll end up with the cutest ring toss around. And no sewing skills are required to put it together!
• If you're more for an indoor game, I have free BUNCO printables, as well as cute BINGO printables (also free). Both equal a wonderfully good time.
• This neat Bean Bag Toss Game from Thrift Diving is like an upright version of Cornhole. Super fun!
• I'm loving this Laundry Basket Skee Ball Game (perfect for rainy days inside!) from Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls.

Let's play, y'all!