A home made hobby horse

For a real cowboy...



A Birthday Invitation - Check

A cowboy costume put together - Check

 A hobby horse?

Croc:  "But what do cowboys have mummy - a sword like Pirates"

Me:  "No, they have horses"

Croc: "I need a horse"

And that's how I got making our very own hobby horse.

Firstly I´d like to apologise to any professional or even just good sewers out there, I´ve never written instructions for a sew/no sew project.  I hope it is easy to follow for any non-sewers like myself!

I checked out several web sites, no-sew options, all-sew options.  In the end I went with a mix of the two with a few made-up bits thrown in. 

The head is a cut off length of jean and the nose (this is one of the bits I made-up!) is a cut off length of brown cord from an old pair of Croc`s trousers. I left the bottom seam on so as to save on sewing and finishing the nose part (and it is probably much neater than anything I could have done).   

Using a smaller trouser leg for the nose helps as it will fit inside the jean leg easier.

Slot the brown cord leg into the jean and tie together.  Turn the legs the right way round and straighten the brown cord nose over the  jean.

 

Next for the ears. 

Make two ear templates, one outer and one slightly smaller inner.

Cut out four outer ear and two inner ear.(Remember to leave a hem allowance)

Iron down the edges of the inner ear to neaten . 

Sew the inner ear onto one of the outer ears, then place two outer ears wrong side up and sew together.  Fold out the ear and gather in a little at the bottom, sew over the folds and hey-presto your ear.

Sorry no-photos for this next part.

The hair:  Using any yarn, wind it round the lid of a shoe-box (or similar sized card) until it covers it twice (Better to over do it and have plenty of hair then under do-it and have a balding horse).

Carefully remove the yarn from the card (trying to keep its shape) and sew a straight line down the middle.

Repeat for the fringe but shorten the amount of yarn to cover only half of the box.


Adding the Hair and Ears

Measure where the hair will go (Check from the nose, leaving room for eyes and ears) and cut a straight strip length ways.

Push the hair through the slit.  Gather the edges of the slit up and sew the yarn into the fold.

Turn the jeans right side up and cut a horizontal strip just where the hair line finishes.  Push through the ears and fringe and secure in the same way

Stuff the head with padding.

The eyes are glued on, but I may eventually sew them on to secure them better.  I used buttons for the eyes but felt cut-out ones would also look good.  I made two small dark brown nostrils from felt and stuck them on.

And that's the head finished

Take a stick or pole (check the height of it and cut it if its too long) and cover with duck tape, then with your chosen material wrap the pole in it.

Secure with sellotape to stop the material sliding whilst you role.

Iron down the edge to achieve a neat and straight finish.

Then using a strip of no-sew iron hem tape secure the material around the pole.



Insert the pole into the head and then tie it secure, cover the joint with some ribbon.  I used a cut-off from the same materials as the pole and then tied a ribbon round it.