As the neighbor kid was helping us with the shed this summer there was talk of playing Corn Hole. If you’re unfamiliar with Corn Hole, it’s a lawn game that’s played using ramps with holes into which you try to toss your corn-filled bag without spilling the beer in your non-throwing hand. Points are awarded based on certain rules, unless you throw those rules out and create your own.

Jay decided that he was going to make his own corn hole boards, which meant that I would be making the tossing bags. I had only played corn hole once before so I had no clue where to start. Luckily I found a tutorial that I followed almost to the letter. I bought four different colors of Duck Cloth (this can be found at your local fabric store) in 1/2 yard cuts.

Okay, so I actually ended up buying seven or eight different colors. I made a set for the neighbor kid, a set for us, and I have enough left to make a few more sets for whoever wants them.

I cut the duck cloth into 7″ squares as instructed by the tutorial.

Then I sewed the squares together. This is where I deviated from the tutorial. They have you leave one side completely unsewn so that after you have filled the bags with corn you go back and sew the seam closed with the machine. I didn’t like that look, so being the particular person that I am, I left a smallish opening on one side to turn the bags inside out, fill them, and then I hand-stitched the seam to close it.

*WARNING* If you decide to follow my lead and just leave a little opening on one side be sure to leave the opening big enough to get all of the bag through without too much difficulty. I ended up having to snip some stitches to get the openings a little bigger after I had been too zealous in ensuring that I wouldn’t have too much hand-stitching to do.

As I was turning the bags inside-out I discovered that it helped a little to crunch the squares up a bit so that they weren’t so stiff. I also used a large knitting needle to help push the corners out a bit once the bag is completely turned. Again, I’m a bit picky and I wanted to make my corners as nice as possible. A big thank you goes out to Jay for helping me figure out the quickest and easiest way to get these done. My fingers were tremendously sore after doing the first set by myself!

Using Jay’s scale for weighing up glue and epoxy I weighed up the 14.5 oz of corn for each bag. I cut the top off of a pop bottle right above the label so that I could use the bottom for a scoop and the top as a funnel. Remember, I had little tiny openings through which the filling had to take place. I used whole kernel corn to fill them so that they would be as close to authentic corn hole bags as possible.

Oh! Here’s a cute story that you might enjoy…

When I ran to the farm supply store to get the corn I also picked up more dry cat food. Bob saw me bring in his bag of food, but he was eating when I put it away in the closet. Then I brought in the 50 pound bag of corn (“How many bags are you making??!!” Jay asked incredulously) and I left it in the dining room. Poor Bob thought that this was his bag of cat food. We have a routine that when I open the new bag of food to pour into their container Bob gets to eat the fresh stuff off of the top until he’s happy. Every time I walked into the dining room Bob would run over and sit by that bag. Finally the day came that I was going to open it. Oh happy day!! Bob was so happy that he did his Happy Kitty dance. I kept telling him that it wasn’t what he thought it was. When I picked him up so that he could look into the bag and sniff it you never saw such a DISGUSTED look in your life! He glared at me accusingly and disappeared after I placed him back on the floor. Poor Bob!

Once the bags are filled and sewn shut you are ready to play!

We’ve played with our bags quite a few times and the seams are still holding up nicely. Even if they start to pull apart it won’t take me too long to quickly stitch them up. Plus, I still have 34 pounds of corn on hand if I need to refill them!