Being the only person I know in possession of a sewing machine, I have obliged two different people in the last two days now in their requests for a homemade set of corn hole bags. I’m relatively new to the world of sewing (hadn’t done anything more complicated than a straight stitch yet) so I figured it would be good practice. Here’s what I learned:
Traditional corn hole bags are made from “duck cotton” or “duck cloth,” which is a type of canvas. The type I got was initially pretty stiff, which actually made it easier to work with, but once game play started the cloth became much softer and more pliable. At my local fabric store it was $7.99/yard, and you really only need about 14-15 inches each of two different colors. Including a two minute online search for a printable 40% off coupon, the fabric for one set of corn hole bags cost me less than $4.00! Sweet!
To start off, I cut eight 7″x7″ squares from each color (16 squares total). Alternatively, you could just cut four 7″x14″ rectangles from each color. Putting two pieces of fabric together (or folding each rectangle in half), I ran a straight stitch along most of the perimeter of each square (leaving about an inch unstitched). Then, using a chopstick I carefully turned each bag inside out and pushed the corners out as best as I could.
In the first set of bags that I made, I started filling at this point, but after a few rounds of game play it became apparent that a more robust level of stitching was required. Mostly because several (I think five of eight) bags ripped at small points and started leaking kernels. Sigh.
This the second set I made, completed with the addition of a zigzag stitch around already stitched perimeter:
Filling the bags was a little more complicated of a step than I imagined. Preferred fill is feed-grade corn available at any local farm supply store. Unfortunately, living in a small city makes finding a suitable farm supply store a little tricky, as some only carry cracked corn feed (for birds) versus whole corn feed (for cattle/horses). I’m sure that beans or beads of some sort would probably also work, but I was very concerned with authenticity! Either way, each bag needs about one pound, or two cups worth of whole corn feed as filler. I used a rolled up piece of junk mail as a makeshift funnel, then straight-stitched the bags closed. I then went over the rest of the edge with more zigzag stitch (in retrospect perhaps the entire zigzag could have been done at this point?).
Finished! Haven’t used these in game play yet, but they already feel much sturdier than the first set. Yay cornhole!
A year ago, I made the decision to leave a relatively comfortable, stable, and regionally lucrative job to join a small startup green engineering company. The risks are always high with this sort of venture, but the chance to be part of something brand new in a growing field sounded very promising. There was a lot to learn, little time to learn it, and work aplenty. My kind of challenge.
Work started off well; I earned a professional certification in a few months, and was beginning to make a difference in some projects. I was learning a lot, and felt ready to take on any more work they could throw at me. The problem: there wasn’t any more work to throw at me. Most of the potential projects dried up, as clients began to start worrying about up-front engineering costs. Seven months after I started, most of the workers had to be put on some form of involuntary furlough. Three months later, 40% of us got The Talk.
This was my first time ever getting The Talk. It was pretty rough. The higher-ups all carefully explained that I had done nothing wrong, that they really appreciated my work, and that the company was struggling to stay afloat and needed to make cuts. I’m not sure if it would have been any easier if they had given me some personal flaw to focus on or not. I wished everyone good luck and went on my way, then spent the next couple of weeks in a despondent funk. I really liked my boss, and he tried to be as accommodating and nice about it as possible. But nice doesn’t make money, and I’m officially adrift now, for the first time in my life.
So, for the past month, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. It’s a scary time. And I’d never realized just how much of my self-worth had really been wrapped up into being professionally successful. And although I’ve enjoyed my time at all of my previous employers and liked all the work that I have done, I don’t think that I have necessarily been passionate about it. And isn’t that what people are supposed to be about their work? Or is that just a pipe dream that my generation has grown up with?
I’ve spent a third of my life exploring the field of engineering, but am still conflicted about it. I like the way that any problem can be analytically broken down and solved. I like logic, reason, and figuring things out using them. And although we can indeed be a strange bunch, I do identify with and like engineers in general, a good sign that I at least am of a similar temperament. But I’m not a very precise person. And although I’ve been known to be very detail-oriented and meticulous, I need to believe in what I’m doing to be properly motivated; it doesn’t come naturally. Perhaps I’m a born engineer, I just need to find the right industry. Perhaps I’m a born something else, but can bring a technically minded background to it. I have always tried exploring/developing different hobbies and skills – with all this extra time now, maybe I’ll turn out to be good enough at something to make a new career out of it. Here’s to hoping.
