Sewing a cover for a bolster from recycled upholstery samples

My friend Leanne, the only Iyengar yoga instructor in my area, showed me a heavy bolster or tube-shaped cushion that she uses in her classes. One of the covers on the bolster had torn, and it was torn in a way that would not be nice to fix. She asked if I had ideas on how to make a cover. We talked about using recycled materials, making a cover with more personality, and making a very strong cover that would not tear.

It reminded me that I had four boxes of upholstery samples. I got these a few years ago from Freecycle. An interior decorator was updating her stock or leaving the business – I’m not sure which. I asked Leanne if she would mind a cover made from many different fabrics and she thought that sounded cool!

So now I made the cover and I’m very pleased with it!

First I sorted through my samples to see what color palettes were predominant in the collection. The main palettes were gold, yellow, burgundy, green, blue and pink/white. I took photos of fabrics from these palettes. Leanne chose the burgundy sample.

Burgundy and olive green fabrics from my upholstery sample collection

I made a rectangle quilt that wrapped around the bolster snugly but not too tightly.

The pieced burgundy quilt for the bolster cover

Then I thought – there are a lot of seams in this. Even if I double sewed all the seams, I was worried they would tear. So then I had an idea to make another rectangle quilt, the same size, and sew them together, back to front. I would make the second quilt in a way so that the seams didn’t match up, and it would be very strong.

I made the second quilt from fabrics I didn’t love so much. I then machine quilted the quilts together, tracing the insides of the burgundy side.

At one end, we wanted a pull string. To make this, I folded over a tube of fabric. Along the edges, I sewed some fabric to cover the raw edges. The string is recycled from Koko FitClub where I work out. People use these to hold their security keys, and when you earn points working out, you get a new color lanyard. I asked the gym to collect the old ones for me.

To make the bottom of the bolster, I eye-balled the size and made an oval shape. Again, I doubled the fabric. I made a thick strap and attached it.

I basted the bottom on to the tube shape of the cover because I’m not comfortable machine sewing in a circle without basting. I zig-zagged it to make it stronger.