28.8.13

Hobby Horse


Trot trot to Boston, 
Trot trot to Lynn.
Trot trot to Salem, 
And home again!


My older son received a hobby horse for his third birthday. We named the horse Trusty, and for several happy years they galloped together near and far. Then Trusty retired to a closet.  Two days ago, I realized that my wee Bloom was the perfect age for a hobby horse and so Trusty came out of retirement. He was taken for a gleeful gallop through the house, but I quickly realized that Trusty needed a companion.  It's much more fun to go for a gallop with a friend (or older brother or mama) at your side.

 

Not wanting to lay out money to buy a new horse (a fine stallion, after all, can cost a pretty penny), I grabbed an old broomstick, some felt, some stuffing, my sewing machine, needle, thread and a glue gun.

 

A few hours later, Trusty had a new companion -- a handsome fellow named Ed to gallop at his side.


My pattern was not fancy (you can see it was cut from some scrappy drawing paper.)  I cut 2 of the main head pattern piece, 2 small ears, 1 gusset (the piece which is pointed at the top), and a 3" x 12" rectangle for the hair.


I stitched in the gusset from the chin down to the neck and then sewed over the top & back of the head with the hair sandwiched between.


Cut the hair into fringes, appliqued eyes and stitched on the ears... Stuffed the front of the head, inserted the broomstick and stuffed the neck around the stick. Used hot-glue to attach the bottom of the neck to the broomstick and finally, cut a wide strip of felt and hot-glued it around the base of the neck.

And then our new friend Ed was ready for a ride!!


For inspiration, I found a number of tutorials online. One of my favorites was this one here at Pink Stripy Socks -- a hobby horse made from a hocky stick (and there is a also a dragon design... brilliant!!)

My other favorite tutorial was for these sweet hobby horses at the blog Light Blue Grey.  I love their button eyes and irresistible grins!

Giddy-up!

5 comments:

  1. It looks great! :) Awesome job, mama!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cool Horse! Reminds me of the ones I made for our Steiner School fair, we made them out of old woollen sweater sleeves....

    ReplyDelete
  3. He is FABULOUS! We have an old well-loved hobby horse that has been through our 5 children. I'm now thinking that she too needs a horsey friend!

    ReplyDelete
  4. My mom made us all of ours when we were kids and they were amazing! I've been begging her for the pattern, but apparently it's top secret. This is so similar though, I'm thrilled you shared it! You've inspired a 4th b-day present! O--and glad to have a minute to browse through your beautiful space here. It's been tooo long!

    ReplyDelete

I know that word-verification makes it difficult to comment, and that, due to moderation, your comments seem to vanish into thin air once you've hit "submit," but your comments will appear after approval (really!) I read every comment and love hearing from you (truly!)