Materials

• The beanbag chair is basically a stuffed bag. Traditionally, it is filled with polystyrene beans. If you have ever opened up (accidentally or otherwise) a beanbag chair, you will have seen that the beans look like tiny beads of Styrofoam. That is exactly what they are. You can buy bags of these, or you can stuff the chair with something else, such as feathers or cotton stuffing. It all depends on personal taste.
  
  For the outside of the beanbag chair, you have lots of options. Vinyl is a durable choice, but cotton, fake fur or velveteen work great, too.
  
  

The Form

• The soccer ball is made of 32 panels: 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons. Normally, the pentagons are black and the hexagons are white. Both the pentagons and hexagons have sides of equal length. Each side of each pentagon should be flush against sides of the hexagons. For the fabric patches for your beanbag chair, cut out the patches to have a little bit of extra fabric on each of the sides so that you can sew them together.
  
  

The Process

• Sew together your patches. Leave one seam open so that you can attach a zipper or other closure. If you want, make a plain muslin inner body to hold the beans themselves, so that the soccer ball outer covering can be washed more easily. Refer to the Resource section for step-by-step instructions.
  
  Fill the bag with the polystyrene pellets. It is a good idea to use a funnel. Fill the beanbag to about 80 percent capacity so that it molds to people's shapes, but is still comfortable and full.