Hobby horse pattern and tutorial

On a recent VIP night at my local Spotlight store, we created very cute Christmas Hobby Horses, so I thought I would share the project here, as an easy to make gift for the little ones in your life this Christmas.

Here is a photo from the event. I am wearing a dress made a few years ago from New Look 6457, view D, in some adorable carolling kitties fabric from Spotlight. Bub is wearing Kwik Sew 3730, view C, in a current season Australian Fauna Christmas fabric from Spotlight (there will be matching outfits for Hubby and I in the same fabric, as well as a blog post about them soon)

This template has been provided by one of the wonderful staff members who work at my local Spotlight, through her facebook page. Print the image to fill an A4 page and you should get the correct size.

Materials:

Approx 40cm of fabric (quilting cotton will do)

Safety eyes

Feather boa or trim

Polyfill stuffing

75cm dowel or curtain rod

Satin ribbon or trim

Sewing machine

Needle and thread

Hot glue gun and glue

Scissors

Instructions: 

1. Cut out the paper pattern, then trace around it onto your fabric, giving you a sewing line to follow. Fold your fabric in half so you get mirror images, and cut roughly 1cm/1/2" outside that sewing line, you will need 2 sides for the head and 4 ear pieces (2 for each ear).

2. With right sides together, machine sew along the sewing lines around the head and both ears, making sure to leave the bottoms open. Clip any curves, turn right side out and press. Fold the raw edges of the bottom of the ears inside themselves and press.

3. Fold the ears in half length ways, either hand sew or hot glue in place on the head, using pattern to help with placement. You can also attach the eyes at this stage, by glue or sewing, or you can firmly stuff the head with polyfill, then sew on the eyes, sewing between them through the head and pulling the thread so that it sinks the eyes slightly into the head.

4. Once the head is firmly stuffed, insert the end of the dowel into the neck and gather in the bottom edge of the fabric using a running stitch. Applying some hot glue around the dowel before inserting helps to create a ridge so that the dowel cannot be pulled out. A bit more hot glue to hold the fabric, then cover the gathered raw edge with some ribbon.

5. Glue or hand sew the feather boa or trim along the top and back of the neck for the mane. Wrap a piece of ribbon around the nose, up around the top of the head just behind the ears and then around the back of the head with plenty of slack to make the reigns, secure with glue or hand sewing under the chin.

The finished product should look a  bit like this!

Apologies for the lack of step by step photos, as I decided to type this up a few weeks after the event when I made mine. With University over for another year, I am hoping to get a few more blog posts up over the next few months, as well as finally getting more sewing done.

Dixie