Recommended
Tools And Supplies:
felt fabric
toy stuffing
doll eyes
pipe cleaners
needle and thread
small scissors
Make Your Own Felt Stuffed Horse with Saddle!
Begin by cutting each pattern piece from the felt provided with your kit. For the best results in cutting felt it is recommended to tape the pattern to the pieces of felt using wide clear tape. See the diagram to the left for how to arrange pattern pieces on the felt. For more detailed instructions on cutting felt check out our felt cutting tutorial.
Start by Installing doll eyes on the horse. To do so, make a small hole where you will place the eye. Use the black embroidery thread to create eye-lashes by stitching simple short straight stitches facing away from the eye. Place the post of the plastic doll eye through the hole and then press the washers down over the back of the post with your fingers. Trim the back part of the ear using dotted line as a guide. Fold the ear forward on the inside of the horse. Place a stitch or two to hold in place.
Place stitches along the tops of the legs on the “Under Body” piece. Simply fold each leg under and stitch along the top of each leg.
Begin Sewing! Start by pinning the underside “Middle Body” piece to one of the “Main Body” pieces by pinning at the legs and underside. Beginning at the bottom of one legs, secure your thread on the inside of the felt by sewing several stitches on top of each other in one spot. Then pass the needle to the outside of the felt and begin sewing the pieces together. Sew from the back of the leg upwards across the back of the leg and down again to the front of the back hoof. Secure your thread on the inside of the felt.
Attach and sew the “Bottom Hoof” piece to the bottom of the leg/hoof. Sew all the way around the hoof so that the bottom is completely attached. At the back of the hoof begin sewing upward attaching the “Middle Body” piece to the back of the leg. When the end of the “Middle Body” piece is attached at the rear, secure your threads and tie off. Repeat the above steps on the opposite side of the horse.
Begin sewing the front of the horse again, attaching a front hoof and moving upward toward the chest. At the end of the “Under Body” piece tie off the thread at the chest.
Attach the Main Body piece to the opposite side of the horse and begin sewing at the top of the red towards the back leg. Sew in the same manner as you began the horse, sewing hooves in place and ending at the front of the chest moving upward towards the face.
Stitch the white marking onto the Face/Head piece for added detail to the horse. Sew moving upwards past the chest and attaching the “Middle Face” piece as you reach the bottom tip of the face. Continue sewing until you reach the end of the Face piece, switching to a running stitch when you pass over the ears. Continue stitching until the bottom of the face piece is sewn on. Tie off your thread.
Return to the front of the face, this time stitching the opposite side of the face into place, ending just past the ear about 3/4 down the neck.
Now to add some stability and pose-ability to your horse! Take one of your pipe cleaners and fold it in at the ends by about a 1/8 – 1/4” inch. Hold the pipe cleaner up to the sewn legs of the horse and fold the ends up to size the wire to fit correctly into the legs. Shape the wire to bend down at the legs to fit inside of the horse. Repeat for the other set of legs.
Stuff the hooves only on the horse. I like to use a popsicle stick or similar object to help push the filling firmly into place. Once the hooves are stuffed insert the pipe cleaner into the legs in front and back of the horse. Stuff the rest of the legs and bottom of the horse. Begin sewing again at the back of the horse. When you have only about 1-2 inches of an opening left stuff the horse completely and stitch the opening shut.
Attach a Mane! Lay several pieces of embroidery floss over the horse’s neck from the ears to about 3/4 down the neck. Stitch a straight line from the top of the floss to the end. I like to use a back stitch.
(For yarn mane instructions scroll to the bottom of the page)
Fold the bunch of embroidery floss in half. Pin to the back of the horse and stitch into place onto the back of the horse by stitching through the knot onto the horse.
Make a few stitches to secure your thread into the back of the horse where the tail would be located. Send the needle and thread through the knot you just created holding the strands together. Sew back through the horse and over again to secure another stitch through the end of the tail. Repeat this until the tail feels secure. Tie of the stitches under the tail.
Now To create the Saddle and saddle blanket!
Start by stitching the small saddle blanket to the larger blanket, centering the pieces as best as you can
Stitch the two saddle pieces together. Stitch the front of saddle together only across the curves top, leaving the straight bottom edges open. Pin the front of the saddle at the front of the sewn together saddle pieces. Stitch the front of the saddle to the bottom of the saddle.
Center the finished saddle over the saddle strap and stitch it into place onto the bottom of the saddle. Sew in a snap at the ends of the straps, taking care to make sure the snaps are facing the right direction to snap the pieces together.
Dress your horse by putting the saddle blanket across it’s back then adding the saddle and snapping the strap together underneath. You’re done! Great Job!
Instructions for Yarn Mane and Tail
Attach a Mane! Lay several pieces of yarn over the horse’s neck from the ears to about 3/4 down the neck. Stitch a straight line from the top of the yarn to the end. I like to use a back stitch.
To create a tail fold a strand or two of yarn in half and lay flat. Lay several other pieces (not folded) over the strand that is folded in half facing in the opposite direction across the folded yarn. Fold the loose ends of the folded yarn across, up and over the other pieces of yarn, and tuck back through the loop that the folded end made. (see pics – I know it’s sooo confusing to explain with words only!). Pull the loop tight to crate a knot to hold the other lengths of yarn.
To create a wispy mane and tail as shown in my picture use a stiff bristle brush to gently brush out the yarn. Hold the yarn in place at the stitching and brush from the bottoms moving upwards until the yarn strands are deconstructed. You will lose from fiber through brushing! To smooth it out run a hot iron over the strands to flatten them.
Make a few stitches to secure your thread into the back of the horse where the tail would be located. Send the needle and thread through the loop you just created holding the yarns together. Sew bac