Bolster Tutorial

I have just completed making the ideal bolster for our Ra. I wanted to achieve a specific look for this bolster. I loved the gathered ends and piping. There are heaps of tutorials on the net for bolsters but none that I could find covered the look that I wanted to achieve.

Most of the tutorials for bolsters fall into one of two categories.
1. the feature a gathered end and the bolster is inserted through that gathered end.
2. they feature a flat circle end and piping. The bolster is inserted via a zip inset in the side or is sewn on meaning it isn't removable for washing.
All these other ways work and look good. None of them met my needs.

I had an extra long bolster cushion and it is made of foam and not fibre-fill like most of these cushions.
The cover needed to be easily removed for washing. If the cushion were inserted through the long end it would be a battle to get the cover to go all the way up the length of the foam; it would grip too much.

 I liked the look of the gathered end but I wanted to add piping and I also needed a zipper to make it easier to get the cover on and off of my monster bolster.

The solution was to create my own way of making a cover which featured a gathered end with cute buttons, piping and a side zip.

This tutorial by Jessica of Sew Homegrown covers how to make a bolster with piping including how to make the piping. It features a flat end but no zip. 

Having never done anything like this before I figured I would work it out as I went. Just to up the anti, I thought I would photograph my progress and make a tutorial. ;) I will focus on the aspects that I have done differently to the other tutorials as they are excellent and i see no need to duplicate those steps.

Here goes:

1. Measure the bolster:
length (end to end),
girth (wrap tape measure around the bolster)
end diameter (across the end of the circle through the centre point).

2. Cut 1 rectangle (length + 2 x seam allowances) x (girth + 2x seam allowances).
Cut 2 rectangles (girth + 2 x seam allowances) x radius (half diameter + 1 x seam allowance).

Does that sound confusing?
I will break it down a bit more with an example of my bolster's measurements.
length = 83cm
girth = 54.5cm
diameter = 17cm
radius = 8.5cm
I use 1cm seam allowances but you can use whatever works for you.

my single cut rectangle was 85cm x 56.5cm
my two rectangles were 56.5 x 9.5cm

3. Sandwich the piping (raw edge outwards) between the short end of the single rectangle and the long end of one of the two small rectangles (right sides together). It will be easy to see which ones to use because they are the two same sized ends.  Sew this straight seam.

4. Repeat for the other end.

5. Sew a gathering stitch (longest stitch length) on the raw edge opposite the piped edge.

pic below is what you will have at both ends of the longer rectangle.

 7. If you happen to use a zipper that is the same length as your bolster you may skip this step.

Measure along the long side of the cover and mark it for the length of your zipper. My zipper was 55cm. RST (right sides together) sew the long side of the cushion together up to the marked point.

8.  Press seam open and press the seam allowance of the part not sewn.
     It should look like the pic below.

 9. Pin zip right side down onto folded and pressed seam allowance. Make sure that the edge of the zip lines up with the folded edge of the fabric.
If your zipper isn't the full length of your bolster, make sure the top opening end of the zipper is at the end nearest to the opening.
pic below of zipper pined in place and ready for sewing.  You can see where the zip and the folded edge line up.

 10.  Sew the zip in place. Provided your seam allowance is the width of the zipper tape you can sew as close or as far away from the zip teeth as you prefer.

 sewn tube with zip inserted.

 below is how it will look from the right side, you can barely tell there is a zip there.

11. We now need to finish off the ends as they are currently still flapping round. I was going to give details of how to close off the piping at this point. There are multiple excellent tutorials on how to do this. May I refer you back to the excellent bolster one which I referenced at the beginning. It is the bolster tutorial on Sew Homegrown's blog.  

The only thing that needs to be added to this step is to sew the ends together once the piping is sorted.

12. Pull on the gathering threads until the centre of the bolster end is all pulled in and even up the gathers. I like to pull the middle of the circle in nice and tight.  I use the long gathering threads then to sew over the centre a few times to make it nice and tight. I was sewing at night and the colour and focus is a bit off. Hopefully you can get the idea despite the slightly blurry pic.

 13. Time to choose a nice big button for each end. My girl had fun rummaging through my button jars (yes plural) and auditioning several buttons. (again sad night time photos). She chose to stack a bright blue button on a big white one. It was neat how it mimicked the pattern on the fabric.

 Buttons all sewn on.

 14. Snip all hanging threads and put the cover on the bolster. Cuddle it and admire your hard work. :)

 Our girl was so excited with her bolster. After cuddling and admiring it she rushed off to put it on her bed. She staged it and photographed it herself.

 Now we can tick another item off the list of her room. Not too much more to do now until we can call this room done.

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