Homemade Corn Hole Bags: Tips and Tricks

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!