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C00002 00002	BEAN-BAG CHAIR by Bruce Anderson
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BEAN-BAG CHAIR by Bruce Anderson

These instructions describe the  making of a bean-bag chair  like the
ones  at  Xerox  PARC.    The  measurements  were  made  and  initial
instructions written  up  by  Dick  Sweet of  that  same  prestigious
institution.

Materials
6 yds of 44"-45" corduroy ($1 - $2 per yd)
2 18" metal zippers
15 - 20 cu.ft. polystyrene pellets (about $1/cu.ft., 1 cu.ft. = 1 lb)
thread

Pattern
[see diagram, though these descriptions should be enough]
These measurements include the 5/8" seam allowance.
Top piece:	circle 10.25" diameter.  Cut 1
Bottom piece:	semicircle 22" diam with 5/8" extra strip along
		diameter.  Cut 4
Side piece:	is 60" long and bilaterally symmetric.  The widths at
		various heights are
	height	width
	0	12 1/8		base
	10	17 5/8
	20	21 3/8
	25	22		widest point.  dw/dh=0
	30	21 3/8
	40	17 3/4
	50	12 3/4
	60	6		top
		Cut 6

Procedure
All seams are 5/8" wide, made by sewing  the right sides together and
then opening out, turning the flaps to one side and top stitching.
0  Make a  pattern,  preferably  out  of cardboard.    An  opened-out
LPT-paper box is not quite long enough.
1 Mark out the pieces to be cut.  Using  44" material you can lay out
two bases  and three sides on each half of  the cloth and fit the top
somewhere in the middle.  ( Corduroy has a nap ie the texture  is not
the same  going both  ways along  the cloth, so  all the  side panels
must  be marked out  parallel and  with the asymmetry  going the same
way. )
2 Sew the sides of the side panels together into a tube.
3 Make two rounds, each by sewing a zipper between  two of the bottom
pieces, and  then sewing  these two together  with the zips  at right
angles to make the base.  (Don't top stitch in this step!)
4 Sew the top onto the tube.  This is the most difficult part.
5 Partially open  the zippers and  sew on the  base, turning  through
the opened zippers to top stitch.
6 Fill with  about 16 cu.ft of beans.   They compress down  with time
and more will have to be added.

Usage
0 Pick up the bag by the top and shake it a few times
1  Put it  down, dropping the  top onto  the body  of the bag  with a
slight twist.
2 Sit on the bag about 1/3rd across from the edge.
3 Wiggle around until you are comfortable.
This way you can get  the chair to support  your back, ie you sit  IN
it, not ON it.

If you have a  pattern the job should take 4 - 5  hours.

As mentioned above, the  beans compress down and more  must be added.
My bag  to the above pattern has  had a total of about  30 cu. ft. of
beans put in and even now could do with a few more.

This file is SU-AI;DSK:BEANBG.DBA[UP,DOC].  Comments to DBA@SU-AI.