Choosing a bean bag - Quality
Posted by karen | Filed under Design & Manufacture, General News
We thought we’d do an in-depth guide to choosing bean bags out of the millions of options out there. This will make it easier for you to select the right bean bag for you and your family. BeanBagBazaar believes the perfect bean bag is a combination of quality, style, safety, comfort and most importantly value for money.
PART 1: Bean bag quality
What makes a quality bean bag and why is it important?
Fabric
First and foremost is fabric. Traditionally bean bags were made from cotton or denim however, these fabrics have been overtaken by others that are harder wearing and wipe clean thus avoiding the need to empty the bean bag to wash it.
The most popular fabrics are faux leather, woven polyester suitable for outdoor use, or faux suede. See our guide on choosing the right bean bag fabric coming up later this week.
Seams and Manufacture
The next element of quality is the stitching of the bean bags because there is nothing worse than a bean bags splitting and showering beans all over your home. Without getting too technical the strength of the thread and the distance between the stitching is very important.
The number of times a seam is sewn is the most useful element of keeping the beans safely inside your bean bag and this is something you can easily check by speaking to potential sellers when shopping around. At the very least, all seams should be flat stitched together and the two edges of the fabric inside the beanbag should also be overlocked together. At BeanBagBazaar we go further than this (although each product is manufactured to its own specification) many have an additional row of over stitching for strength and style. Our larger products have decorative panelling or piping and the Bazaar Bag is sewn four times (!) around its perimeter so it looks fantastic and is “bomb proof”.
It really is worth understanding how your bean bag is made as the cost of manufacture is a major part of the cost of the product so make sure the product you choose is made to the highest standard so it will last longer and look better.
Inner Lining
People often ask about an inner lining for bean bags because they (very sensibly) think this will safely contain the beans and it will easier to empty the product for washing. The reality is that with modern day structured bean bags is that most are wipe clean and don’t need washing. Therefore often an inner lining actually stops the beans freely moving round inside the bag to perfectly fit the contours of your body. Instead, good stitching means that you can be safe in the knowledge that your bean bag is secure without compromising your comfort.
The exceptions to this rule are sofa or lounger style bean bags which are basically big slabs beans. So to make sure that the beans don’t all get stuck up in one end of the bag we encase them in three stretchy nets which help to plump up your bed-style-beanbag as well as significantly improving the comfort. As well as being very comfortable this netting is also expensive, so make sure you really are getting added value with your sofa bean bag.
Zips and bits and pieces
Two other points to consider are zips and breather eyelets. Any top quality beanbag should have two zips - in particular, an inner zip that seals up a pocket inside the beanbag to provide extra security for the beans if little fingers manage to undo the outer zip. Also check that the outer zip slider can be tucked under when it is closed, this small but important bit of detail will stop kids exploring and save the slider from catching on fabrics or scratching wood or tiled floors. Breather eyelets should be small and unobtrusive and are basically mesh covered metal rivets that allow the air to flow gently out of the bean bag as it is sat in. This ensures it moulds perfectly to the contours of your body while taking the pressure off the seams where the air would otherwise escape.
Next time we’ll review the ideal fabric selection for bean bags.
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Tags: Bean Bags, design, fabric, manufacture, quality
