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Cushion made from reusable shopping bag with scenes of London on it sitting on a bench.
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DIY Sit-Upon Cushion from a Reusable Shopping Bag

Grab your DIY Sit-Upon Cushion from a Reusable Shopping Bag by the handles and take it outside. Waterproof to sit-upon, and easy to make!
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time1 hour 30 minutes
Course: Craft, Nature craft/activity, Sewing Craft
Cuisine: Craft
Keyword: backpacking sit pad, camping sit pad, camping sit upon, diy sit upon, diy sit upons for outdoor classroom, duct tape sit upon, easy sit upons, hiking seat pad, hiking sit pad, homemade sit upons, making a sit upon, newspaper sit upon, no sew sit upon, outdoor sit upon, sit upon, sit upon craft, sit upon cushion, sit upon cushion diy, sit upon diy, sit upon pattern, sit upons for classroom, waterproof cushion, waterproof sit upon
Servings: 1 Sit-upon cushion
Author: Shelly
Cost: $2.50

Equipment

  • Ruler
  • Hole punch
  • Binder clips
  • Scissors

Ingredients

Instructions

  • We want to make our sit upon as large as possible. My bag allow me to make a 17 x 17“ square. That is a good size. Make it larger if you want. But don’t go too much smaller.
    Use a ruler and use a permanent marker to draw lines on the three sides of the bag that do not have handles. Draw them as close to the seamed edges of the bag as possible.
  • Cut along the lines that you just drew.
    Remember, do not cut the edge of the reusable shopping bag with the handle on it.
    This will cut off the sides of the bag and leave only the front and back of the bag. So don’t be surprised when that happens. :-)
    Use a binder clip on each of the four sides of the bag. This will hold it together nicely while you do the next couple steps.
  • Use a hole punch to punch all the way around all four edges of the bag.
    Make the holes about 1 inch apart and about ¾ of an inch from the edge of the bag.
    Do your best to get a hole in each corner- ¾ inch from both edges of that corner.
  • Cut a piece of your plastic string, yarn, or string that’s at least twice the distance around your bag. If you need to use a yarn needle, go ahead and thread the needle.
  • We are going to tie our string on the top handle edge of the bag, one hole from one end.
    Pull your string through the hole and leave about a 3 inch tail. Tie a square knot through this hole with the string. Leave the dangling tail of the string because we will use it when we finish off the sewing.
  • Begin your stitching and move around the corner going down the side of the bag.
    When making the whipstitch, you always bring your plastic lacing or yarn needle to the back of the bag and come up through the hole. Pull all the string through that hole. 
    Once you’ve pulled the thread all the way through, take the string around to the back of the bag and coming up through the next hole. Pull the thread through.
    Pull each stitch tight before making the next stitch.
    Go all the way down the side of the bag, across the bottom of the bag, and then up the third side of the bag with the whipstitch.
    When you come to a binder clip, just take it out off. It will no longer be needed after the bag is stitched together
    If you run out of string, just cut another piece of string and tie it onto the end of the one that you finished off. Then keep sewing.
    When you get back to the top edge of the bag, make one stitch in on the top edge of the bag.
  • Before we sew the top edge of the reusable shopping bag, we are going to stuff it with a recyclable material (preferably).
    When I was young, we used folded up newspaper inside our sit upon cushions.
    We will need another option now because very few people take the newspaper any more.
    I chose to use some of the plastic bags that come from the grocery store or discount store.
    Gently wad up your bags and stuff them into your reusable shopping bag.
    When you are content with how thick and cushioned the bag is, you will finish sewing the fourth edge of the bag.
  • Continue your sewing stitch across the top of the bag where the handles are attached.
    When you get to a handle, just go around the back and come up on the other side of the handle. Then continue your stitch just as you’ve done before.
  • When you get back to where you tied the knot to begin your stitching, you are going to tie the ends of the strings together.
    Use the tail that you left on your string and tie it to the other end of the string. Use a square knot (over under then under over). I made an extra knot in it just for good measure.
    Good job!!

Video

Notes

Note: You can make a no sew sit upon by duck taping these three edges and later duct taping the handled edge as well. Just use a piece of duct tape to run along each side of the bag. Fold the tape over so half is on the front side and half is on the back side. Don't make any cuts in the bag.
Note: You can make a sit-upon from a vinyl tablecloth. If you are using a vinyl tablecloth, cut your pieces of vinyl into an 18 x 18" square. You can make it larger if you’d like, but I wouldn’t make it too much smaller.