D.I.Y: Make a Mattress!

This project is a bit more involved than the blog's previous D.I.Y. projects, but well worth the effort... if you've been sleeping on the ground. Anyway, I just read an issue of Popular Science in which a guy made his own electron scanning microscope. If you're that guy, this'll be a piece of cake!

Materials: several (empty) 50 kg rice bags-the exact number of bags depends on how large you want your mattress, a sewing needle the size of a knitting needle, plastic thread slightly thinner than a laundry line, a lighter, a knife, armfuls of dried grass--exact quantity depends on how thick you want your mattress 

Step 1: Use the knife to cut open the rice bags so that each is a flat sheet.

Step 2: Decide on the dimensions of your mattress. Arrange some of the flattened rice bags so that they form the size and shape of your mattress as it would be viewed from above.

Step 3: Sew the rice bags arranged in Step 2 together. Thread the sewing needle the size of a knitting needle with the plastic thread slightly thinner than a laundry line. Give yourself about a 1.5 inch seam allowance. Sew together whatever sides are necessary to sew together in order to form a large rectangle. To cut your thread, melt it apart with the lighter.

Step 4: Repeat Step 3. Now you have a top and bottom to your mattress.

Step 5: Place the top and bottom pieces of the mattress on top of one another, right sides together. Sew the two pieces together around the perimeter, leaving about 18 inches unsewn. Seam allowance again is 1.5 inches.

Step 6: Turn the mattress inside-out, so that right sides are facing out. Stuff the mattress with the armfuls of dried grass.

Step 7: Sew the opening closed. Mattress complete!

Your rice bag mattress will look
nothing like this.

(Optional) Step 8: I didn't watch how this was done, but if you're feeling fancy and know how, you can make the surface of your mattress look like the one at right. Google tells me this is called a "pillowtop mattress"