Saddle up
You will Need
✿ Tracing paper and pencil
✿ Wooden broom handle
✿ Hacksaw
✿ 10 x 30cm rectangle of wadding
✿ Drill with 4mm drill bit
✿ Fabric glue
✿ Two 6cm diameter wooden wheels
✿ One 6.5cm M4 machine screw
✿ Two nuts and plastic washers to fit machine screw
✿ 50cm of 112cm wide yellow patterned cotton fabric
✿ 15 x 25cm rectangle of coordinating turquoise patterned cotton fabric
✿ Black stranded cotton embroidery thread
✿ Two 2.1cm black toy safety eyes
✿ Matching sewing threads
✿ Dressmaker’s pencil
✿ 9 x 36cm strip of thin card
✿ 50g cream chunky knitting wool
✿ 4cm of 6mm wide white cotton tape
✿ Washable toy stuffing
✿ 220cm of 2cm wide fringe trim
✿ 85cm of 2cm wide turquoise grosgrain ribbon
✿ Four 2cm cream buttons
Suppliers: 6cm wooden toy wheels, 95p each, Hobby’s (020 8761 4244; hobby.uk.com). Cloud 9 we are all stars in clear turquoise, £4.18 per fat quarter from Habby Days (habbydays.co.uk). 2.1cm black toy safety eyes, £2.49 per pair, CelloExpress (028 9446 7679; celloexpress.co.uk). Fancy fringe trim, £4.35 per metre, My Fabrics (020 3319 1375; myfabrics.co.uk).
Cutting out
1 Use a photocopier to enlarge the templates by 265%. Trace the patterns on to tracing paper. Mark the nostril, dots, cross and broken line. Cut out the pattern pieces.
2 Ensure that arrows run in the same direction as the grain of the fabric. Cut 1 pair of heads, two 4.5 x 33.5cm rectangles for the back gussets, one 7 x 50cm rectangle for the front gusset and one pair of ears for the outer ears from yellow patterned fabric. Cut one pair of ears for the inner ears from turquoise patterned fabric.
3 Mark the cross and dots on the wrong side of the heads and draw the nostrils on the right side with a dressmaker’s pencil.
Preparing the pole
1 Saw the broomstick to 90cm long. Glue the wadding rectangle around the sawn end.
2 Drill a 4mm hole 2.5cm above the other end of the pole. Thread a wheel and a washer onto the machine screw. Insert the screw through the hole. Thread on a washer, wheel and two nuts. Adjust the nuts so the wheels turn freely.
Embroidering the nostrils and fixing the eyes
1 Using three strands of black embroidery thread, embroider the nostrils with stem stitch.
2 Snip a tiny hole at the crosses and insert the toy safety eye shanks through to the wrong side. Fix in place by pushing the locking washer down as far as it will go.
Making the mane and fringe
1 Bind wool around the card strip starting and finishing 1cm in from the short ends. Spread the wool out evenly. Run a line of glue along the wound wool on one long edge. Position the cotton tape on top and leave to set.
2 Cut through the wool at the opposite edge to the tape. Remove the card. Stitch along the centre of the tape. Fold the tape lengthwise in half.
3 Cut off a 3cm length of tape for the forelock, the remaining piece will be the mane. Pin and tack the mane centrally to the right side of one back gusset along one long edge and the forelock to one short edge of the front gusset, 2cm inside the long edges on the right side.
Making the horse
1 Pin and stitch the tacked edge of the back of the gusset to one long edge of the other back gusset, finishing 1cm from the lower short edge. Press the seam open. 2 Pin and stitch the tacked edge of the front gusset to the upper short edge of the back gusset. Press the seam toward the back gusset.
3 Carefully snip the heads to just inside the dot at B. Matching the lower edges, pin one long edge of the back gusset to the back edge of one head, matching the seam to the dot at A. Continue by pinning the front gusset to the front edge of the head, pivoting the head at B. Snip the seam allowance of the front gusset when pinning to the muzzle of the head to help the seam allowance lay flat. Stitch the gusset to the head. Snip the curves and press the seam open. Repeat to stitch the other long edge of the gusset to the other head. 4 Pin the lower edges together matching the seams. Stitch the lower edge starting at the end of the centre seam of the back gusset, leaving a 10.5cm gap centrally to turn through. Snip the corners.
5 Turn the head right side out. Stuff the muzzle and top of the head firmly. With the wheels side on, push the padded end of the pole into the head and continue stuffing firmly. With the pole centred, slipstitch the lower edge closed, oversewing securely either side of the pole.
Making the ears
1 Press under 1cm on the lower straight edge of the ears. Pin and stitch each inner ear to an outer ear, leaving the straight edge open. Trim the seam allowance to 5mm. Clip the corners and snip the curves. Turn right side out and press. Slipstitch the gap closed and then fold in half with the inner ears inside. Oversew the lower straight edges together.
2 With ears facing forward, refer to the pattern to pin the lower edges of the ears to the head along the broken lines. Handsew securely and discretely to the head.
Making the bridle and reins
1 Using the picture as a guide, pin fringe trim around the nose, overlapping the ends on one side of the head, cut off the excess. Part the mane and slip the cheek strap over the head, pinning the ends to the noseband. Pin the neck and headbands in position, pinning the ends to the cheek strap. 2 Press under 1cm at the ends of the ribbon. Stitch the fringe trim on top of the ribbon to make the reins. Pin the rein ends to the intersection of the noseband.
3 Sew the pinned intersections of the bride and rein ends to the head. Sew a button securely to the intersections.