Breaking in your cornhole bags is one of the most important steps to ensure a higher level of cornhole game play and to ensure a higher rate of success for your cornhole bags going into the hole. There are three main ways to break in your cornhole bags: the natural way, tossing them in the dryer, or by using fabric softener (this is the preferred way). We will outline all the steps below and go into the pros and cons of each option.
How to know whether or not your cornhole bags are broken in?
To test whether or not your cornhole bags are broken in, take one of your cornhole bags and place it on center of the hole of regulation cornhole boards. Regulation cornhole boards has a 6 inch diameter hole. If the corners of the bags catch and stick to the edge of the cornhole board’s hole and the bags do not fall into the hole, then the bags are not broken in. This means the fabric of the cornhole bags are too stiff and needs to be soften. Ways to soften (a.k.a. break-in) your cornhole bags are outlined below.
Why is it important to break-in your cornhole bags?
If you do not break-in your cornhole bags before playing in a cornhole game or tournament, other players/opponents that do break-in their bags will have a competitive advantage over you. Since their bags have softer fabric, this allows their bags to fall into the hole of the cornhole boards easier and they will more than likely make more bags in the hole than you will. Your opponent will also experience less bags being clogged in the hole where two or more bags get stuck inside the hole without falling in. You want to ensure your cornhole bags fall into the hole as often as possible so make sure you break-in your cornhole bags.
Cornhole Bag Break-in by Fabric Softener: The Preferred Method
We recommend breaking in your cornhole bags by using fabric softener. This softens the fabric of your cornhole bags while maintaining the new bag feel. You will perform the following steps:
- Place your cornhole bags into the washer machine.
- Add 1 cup of Mrs.Meyer’s Clean Day Fabric Softener directly into the washer machine.
- Place the washer on normal wash with hot water.
- Let the washer fill with hot water then pause the washer and let the bags soak for two hours.
- Be sure to remove any trapped air from the cornhole bags so that the cornhole bags sink to the bottom of the washer machine.
- Once the two hours is complete, continue the wash cycle on the washer machine.
- Once the wash cycle is completed, place the cornhole bags into the dryer on tumble dry low heat.
- Once the dryer cycle is complete, your cornhole bags should be dry and the bags should be broken in.
- Test your cornhole bags by performing the break-in test. If the cornhole bags pass the test, your cornhole bags are broken in. If they do not pass the test, repeat this process again until they are broken in.
This is one of the easy ways to help improve your cornhole play since your bags are now more likely to fall into the hole. The only downside to this method will depend on the washer and dryer you have and the type of cornhole bags you have. If your cornhole bags are not well stitched, it could rupture in either the washer or dryer so make sure your bags are strong enough. Some of the cornhole bags we recommend and know can withstand the washer or dryer are listed below.
Cornhole Bag Break-In by Dryer
In this method you will place your cornhole bags in the dryer on tumble dry low heat or no heat. Keep them in the dryer for 30 minutes at a time. This will toss your cornhole bags in the dryer and will break down the fabric of your cornhole bags making them softer. At the end of 30 minutes, check your cornhole bags to see how much they have broken in. Perform your break-in test. If the cornhole bags are not broken in or they are not to your desired softness, place them back into the dryer for another 30 minutes. If your cornhole bags still do not pass the break-in test, we recommend you try breaking in your cornhole bags using fabric softener.
Cornhole Bag Break-In the Natural Way
To break-in your cornhole bags the natural way, you simply use your cornhole bags in normal cornhole game play. Overtime, your cornhole bags will break in but your cornhole bags will not fall into the hole as much as a broken in cornhole bags. Depending on your cornhole bags, it could take days, even weeks to properly break-in your bags. To speed up the process, we recommend the fabric softener or the dryer break-in methods outlined above.
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