Having successfully completed my dinosaur, I decided I'd go for broke with Issue 30 of Sew Hip and complete a couple of smaller projects too.
I was initially baffled by Philippa Harding's Horse Lavender Sachets project. I looked in vain for the horse-shaped template on the pattern page until I worked out that the horses were printed on the fabric. Doh!
The next challenge was to find some Kokka Dala Horse fabric. The recommended supplier in the magazine didn't have any and neither did any of the other places I know that stock Kokka. I know the project says you can use any animal print fabric but by this stage I had my heart set on horses!
Finally, I picked up a fat quarter on Ebay for, eek, £8.50 (it's "rare" now apparently). Having got that sorted, the technique was to roughly cut out a horse from the fabric and then cut a matching piece of backing fabric. I I used some dotty cotton I got in a fat quarter bundle from HobbyCraft. I attached the button on the front of each horse before machine sewing as it seemed easier than doing it at the end.
I put the right sides of the fabric together and then sandwiched a piece of ribbon for hanging inside. I then sewed carefully around the shape of the horse, which you could see clearly through the fabric, leaving a gap on the belly for turning.
I trimmed the horse shapes with pinking shears and then turned, which was no mean feat as you have to leave quite a small gap. On my first horse, I did exactly what it said not to in the project and caught my hanging ribbon in the machine sewing and had to rescue it with a seam ripper.
Stuffing the horses was quite time consuming as the shapes are quite small and I wanted to make sure I pushed the toy stuffing right into the corners. I did add some lavender but this was pretty challenging to get as the turning gap was so small. The project advises you to do the stuffing in a clear plastic bag and it's good advice!
Finally, I hand sewed the gap, but still felt there was a little something missing. A tail! My husband piped up with, "Do horses have tails?". He later alleged he meant carousel-type horses... Anyway, as a finishing touch I used some lengths of red yarn to make a little tail for each horse. Much better.
Cassie Ward's project in the same issue was Russian Doll Bunting, alternating little felt dolls with heart shapes. A whole string of bunting seemed like a lot of work, but whilst I was in the lavender-sachet-making-mood, I decided to make an individual doll.
The pattern was really easy and made entirely from stash. I used a yellow 100% wool felt from Blooming Felt for the body and various craft felts for the other pieces. I glued on the hair and cheeks as they were quite tiny but everything else was hand sewn with two strands of embroidery cotton.
I stuffed the doll with a combination of toy stuffing and lavender, which was much easier than with the horses as I had a nice big gap. I completely forgot to add a hanging ribbon when I sewed the front and back of the doll together, so used some felt ric rac, which wouldn't fray. Supercute and genuinely easy I thought.
So, a delightful smelling wardrobe awaits me...
Melx
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