Bolster Pillow Tutorial

Today I'm going to show you how to make a bolster pillow AKA lumbar pillow, AKA long roundish pillow.

This was pretty easy.The most difficult part was the math, but I've taken care of that for you.

So first, gather your materials. You'll need:

1 piece of fabric 18" x 25 5/8"

2 fabric circles 8" in diameter

1 bag of poly-fil (12 oz.)

sewing machine

scissors

iron

To make the circles, grab a bowl, dish or something round that has an 8" diameter. If you have a compass, that would work too. If you don't have an 8" bowl or a compass, you can try this technique by holding your thumb 4" from the point of the pencil, you will end up with an 8" circle.

I traced an 8" bowl and cut it out.

Take the large rectangle and fold it so that the shorter ends meet, right sides together.

Sew along the short end with a 1/4" seam.

Press the seam open

Center the seam and mark the other side of the fabric directly across from it.

Fold one circle in half and mark both ends.

Line up the marks on the circle with the marks on the rectangle, and pin in both places. Make sure the right sides are facing each other.

The top and bottom of the circle will be anchored, and now you can easily pin all the way around.

Repeat with the other circle.

Now sew around the edges of each circle with a 1/4" seam. Sewing curves is pretty tricky, but just go slow and guide the circle through the machine.

This is what you should have now:

After the circles are sewn, notch around the corners, being careful not to clip the stitches you just made.

I forgot to take pictures of this step, so I drew it for you in Paint.

The triangles indicate where to cut.

Now take your seam ripper, and open up the seam down the middle, making a gap just big enough for your hand to fit through.

 Turn the whole thing inside out through the hole you just made.

Start stuffing the pillow with the poly-fil. I used an entire 12 oz. bag. Work it around so it all feels evenly distributed.

Once the pillow is stuffed, sew up the gap with a whip stitch.

And now you're finished!

Optional: Add piping around the edges of the circles! I think I'll try that next time.

Now add your lovely new bolster pillow to your collection!

A note about the fabric: These are repurposed tablecloths and dinner napkins from the Dwell Studios collection for Target. They were on clearance!

I hope you enjoyed this DIY project. Let me know if you have any questions!

I'm linking to Blogger's Pillow Party!