Hillarys blinds country crafts competition entry

The lovely Hannah and Rosie, over at The New Craft Society, told me about the Hillarys craft competition and I decided to take the challenge! Hillarys sent me a 100 x 100cm  piece of their fabric and I had to make an original craft design and I could use any other craft materials necessary. Now, it just so happens that the competition coincides with Mothers’ Day so I decided to make something special for my mum because mums always prefer homemade gifts, don’t they? So I designed an embroidered bolster cushion…

How to make a bolster cushion to store a duvet www.apartmentapothecary.com

I knew I wanted to try embroidery for the first time and the fabric has beautiful peacocks on it so the first thing I did was try out some basic embroidery stitches to emphasise the peacocks.

How to make a bolster cushion to store a duvet www.apartmentapothecary.com

How to make a bolster cushion to store a duvet www.apartmentapothecary.com

How to make a bolster cushion to store a duvet www.apartmentapothecary.com

I decided to make a bolster cushion as I know my mum needs new cushions for her bed. The added bonus of this particular cushion is that you can use it to store your winter or summer duvet – so no under bed or on top of cupboard storage needed. I cut the 100 x 100cm piece into two equal sized pieces of 50 x 50cm. This wasn’t quite enough to make a kingsize duvet bolster cushion so I added a 12cm fabric panel in the middle and at the ends.

How to make a bolster cushion to store a duvet www.apartmentapothecary.com

Once I had sewn the five panels together I made a channel at either end of the bolster for the ribbon to be fed through.

How to make a bolster cushion to store a duvet www.apartmentapothecary.com

Pop a safety pin on the end of the ribbon to help feed it through the channel. Each piece of ribbon will need to be about 60cm long. I chose this lovely purple velvet to pick out the purple flourishes in the birds’ tails.

How to make a bolster cushion to store a duvet www.apartmentapothecary.com

Feed the ribbon through. It’s good to have a lighter weight fabric at the ends as this draws closed more easily.

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Fold your kingsize duvet in half, half again and then half again and stuff into the bolster (good to have someone to help push it in from one end and pull it from the other!)

How to make a bolster cushion to store a duvet www.apartmentapothecary.com

Once the duvet is in you can tie up your ribbons.

How to make a bolster cushion to store a duvet www.apartmentapothecary.com

How to make a bolster cushion to store a duvet www.apartmentapothecary.com

I hope my mum likes it – both practical and beautiful!

I am definitely going to make another one of these for myself; I have two duvets on top of my wardrobe that take up so much space and this is such a comfy addition to the bed as it’s all lovely and squidgy – perfect for reading in bed.

Thank you very much to Hillarys for the fabric (and the challenge) and fingers crossed for the competition!!

Katy x

 

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14 Comments

  1. Becky
    27th March 2014 / 8:50 am

    Wowee that’s so pretty – I wish Emilia was old enough to make me such a lovely present!!…..Mummy Orme will love it!!

    Good luck for the competition xx

    • katy
      27th March 2014 / 12:56 pm

      Thank you, Betty! I think you’re going to have to wait a while until Emilia is ready to learn to sew but I’m sure you’ll be given pasta shell drawings in no time!! 😉 xx

  2. 27th March 2014 / 10:59 am

    it’s gorgeous!!!!
    I want one …xxx

    • katy
      27th March 2014 / 12:55 pm

      Ah, thanks Sophs! SO easy to make and the best storage idea ever! x

  3. Claire
    27th March 2014 / 6:15 pm

    Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous 🙂

    • katy
      27th March 2014 / 8:56 pm

      Thank you, Claire!

  4. Maeve
    27th March 2014 / 6:16 pm

    I need to make myself one of these right now!

    • katy
      27th March 2014 / 8:57 pm

      Me too, Maeve!

  5. Agnes
    27th March 2014 / 6:28 pm

    That is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen!
    X

    • katy
      27th March 2014 / 8:58 pm

      A house warming pressie for you perhaps, Agnes? X

  6. Penny
    27th March 2014 / 6:42 pm

    Great idea….clever girl….good luck for the competition.

  7. katy
    27th March 2014 / 8:59 pm

    Thank you, Penny! Fingers crossed!!! Xx

  8. 7th April 2014 / 8:51 am

    A gorgeous make and especially loving the embroidery. Great idea to use it as storage too!

    • katy
      8th April 2014 / 9:33 am

      Thank you, Claire. My embroidery skills definitely need a lot more practise though 🙂 x

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