Many years ago I was awestruck as I watched friends make beautiful lace from string.  I had the opportunity to take a class teaching the basic techniques of Bobbin Lace and I was hooked.  Since taking that first class, a friend sat with me and showed me, step by step, a torchon pattern and I worked that lace at available moments.  My biggest frustration was moving the pattern up to continue the lace.  Even early on I decided that I really wanted a Roller Pillow.

I researched Roller Pillows online and found some beauties but they were outside of my budget.  I had some books to instruct me how to make one and I even found this holder clearanced at a craft shop and purchased two in the hopes of integrating it into my own Roller Pillow design some day.  Typical for me, however, I got sidetracked with other projects and activities and my bobbin lace hobby was relegated to a corner.

Recently I have been re-inspired to learn bobbin lace again and picked up that torchon pattern from long ago. Soon I was ready to work on another pattern and had the good fortune of spending time with another friend who showed me a different pattern and taught me how to read patterns, thus opening the way for me to continue creating lace.  This latest pattern goes quickly and I am finding the need to move the lace up more frequently, which brought me back to my original need of a Roller Pillow.

Tonight I decided to make use of materials and create my first Roller Pillow.  I started with floral desert foam mug plugs, which come 2 to a package.  I glued 3 of them end to end to create a 12" long pillow whose core is 9" around.  Because floral foam tends to be delicate from time to time, I covered the foam in a single layer of cotton sewn relatively tight over it.  I followed that with 4+ layers of cotton batting and then a cotton cover.


End result is a pillow that is 12" long and 11" around.  As you can see, it fits well into the wooden stand previously purchased and the entire thing is really light weight.  Now I just need to transfer my lace to it and duplicate my pattern so that it can go all the way around the pillow.

When I have some more time, I hope to create a Block Pillow next.  If I do it correctly, I can remove a few blocks and place my roller pillow stand in the box thus creating my own type of French Roller Pillow.  Additionally, I have taken a look through my research and books and think I may try for a Bolster Pillow, which is a larger diameter of roller Pillow.  For right now though, I am looking forward to putting the new piece of equipment into use.