I wanted to do something special, and memorable, for Stavros and his party guests for his upcoming birthday party; so I decided to make a hobby horse for the kids! In all, I made 28 horses! Each horse took me about 45 minutes to complete. It was really a fun and simple project, so I decided to make a tutorial! Your little one is sure to love this handmade, old-school toy!
Items you will need:
- Poly-Fil
- Felt
- Scissors
- Brown and/or Cream Yarn
- Red Heel Sock
- 1″ Wood Dowel
- Glue Gun
- Knitting Needle
Step 1: Fill the sock with poly-fil. Use ample poly-fil to ensure the “head” will not be floppy. Tie yarn or a rubber band around the opening of the sock to make sure the poly-fil remains in place while you’re working!
Step 2: Sew a “mouth” along the toe-seam of the sock using a piece of yarn. Above the mouth, loop two small piece of yarn for a “nose”. This step can be left out, but I think the horse looks quite friendly with his big smile!
Step 3: Use your glue gun to apply two small, round eyes made of felt. (I used felt, but buttons or “animal eyes” found at the craft store would probably be even cuter!)
Step 4: Pull your yarn through the sock with your needle and tie a knot in the middle to make the mane–this yields two strands of “hair”. I pre-cut about 40 pieces of yarn, each about 8 inches long, for this step. I started at the edge of the heel and continued about half way down the “neck”… This is the longest, most tedious step.
Step 5: Cut “ears” from your felt at your desired shape and size. Pinch the ear and glue one ear on each side of the heel–just behind where you started the mane.
Step 8: Insert your dowel into the sock, as far as possible. (It may be necessary to rearrange some of the poly-fil after doing this.) Fold back the sock at the opening and apply glue around the stick. Press the sock to the glue to secure the head. For an added detail, tie some yarn around the stick, where you added the glue.
Step 9: Use a long piece of yarn to make a bridle. I wrapped the yarn between the nose and eyes then tied a knot under the “chin”. To secure the bridle to the horse, I applied a small dot of glue where I made the knot.
That’s it! So simple, even I could do it! I hope the kids at Stavros’ party are as excited about receiving these as I was about making them!
That’s fantastic! What a nice, old-timey, gift the kids will just love and I love the tutorial. I hope others are able to make these, too, and share their photo’s. That would be fun.
The kids will love these!! Absolutely ‘LOVE’ them! You did an amazing job sis! I’m so proud of the Mommy you’ve become! Stavros is so blessed to have the wonderful parents he has versus other children in this world that have not been as fortunate as Little Man. I love you baby!
There is perceptibly a bundle to identify about this. I feel you made some good points in features also.
Hi, LOVE this tutorial, found it on Chickabug. Your party was fabulous, awesome job! I am going to attempt these for my daughter’s Western/Cowgirl party! Just curious, did you use a 1″ wooden dowel or something different. Your sticks look like real wooden sticks, different shapes, knots, etc. Does that make sense? Hope you can help! Thank you!!
Thank you for the kind words! I did use 1″ sticks, but the difficult part is… I live in Brazil and the bark from each stick was removed by hand! I think it may be difficult for you to find someone willing to do such work. I recently made 27 more horses (to donate to a local orphanage). I used standard broom sticks for each horse! I was completely satisfied with the broom sticks! The look was not as rustic, but some people may prefer the more polished look of a broom! Please do not hesitate to ask if you have anymore questions! Chickabug is a wealth of information as well!