DIY Seahorse Stick Hobby Horse.

Is there a mermaid in the house in need of a lift?

Have no fear American Felt and Craft is here with the perfect solution.

This adorable felt hobby horse is actually pretty easy to make and guaranteed to be loved by all weary mer-people in your underwater castle.

But first lets learn some fun facts about Seahorses*, shall we? Oh I think we shall…

*Seahorses (that’s correct plural form- yes, I looked it up) are actually fish.

Most *seahorses are monogamous and can be extremely romantic they “dance” and even “sing” to one another while courting.

Male *Seahorses carry the young.  (That’s right ladies singing AND childcare)

*Seahorses are one of only two fish species that swim upright and are actually quite slow-moving.

*Seahorses are vulnerable to extinction for many reasons (mostly us) and need to be protected.

*Yeah I know it’s bothering me too but I swear it really is “seahorses”.

For more on these beautiful fish and to see some amazing pictures of *seahorses as well as ways to help I would encourage you to visit:

Project Seahorse

(I guess it’s just the one because as we’ve established the plural is seahorses)

Now on to our felt seahorse craft project:

You will Need:

1/2 yard Seahorse Body Color – I used Sparrow*

1 – 9″ x 12″ sheet Seahorse spot and back fin color – I used Ice*

Scrap Black* felt

1/8 yard green felt – I used Fresh Cut Grass*

4 x 5 scrap White felt*

Hook and Loop in color matching seahorse- I used Pool

Wooden Dowel  The one I used was 5/8″ x 48″

1/ 4 yard matching Tulle netting

*matching thread

Sequins in Mermaid and Snow White

Hot glue gun and “ammo”

4   yards 3/4″ ribbon

Large eyed needle

Templates (in PDF at the end of this post)

Tape Seahorse templates together as shown: 

Cut 2 tail pieces and 2 head pieces from main body felt color

Desired number of dots and 3 back fins from contrasting felt color.

1 – Kelp Bridle from green felt on a fold.

2 Eyes from black felt

4 Shell sides from white felt

Cut hook and loop into 2 – 1″ lengths – you will be trimming the loop (soft side) down more later.

Sew snow white sequins to black eye pieces and to 2 of the shell shapes as shown above.

On the opposite side of the second shell piece sew hook (rough side) of hook and loop.

Set aside these will be used for the detachable kelp bridle.

Add coordinating  sequin details to felt dot shapes as desired.

For more on sewing Sequins to felt see our post on -well …sewing sequins to felt.

Fold tulle in half and cut.  Set one half aside for the fin and cut the remaining piece in half again for the ear fins.

I totally made up that body part name – they are actually called pectoral fins but I think you’ll agree ear fins sounds at least 45% cuter.

Gather the tulle up along the long part and tie together with thread or thick string to hold.

Lay out details on one side of the seahorse head. Pin tied tulle piece under a dot.

Cut loop (soft) side of hook and loop into small ovals.

Pin one oval onto each side where the bridle will be attached.

Stitch details to each of the two sides.

Because of my deep love for you I ask that you please double check to make sure you are using mirroring sides.

Otherwise you may find yourself cursing like a sailor and no one wants that!

Pin 2 back fin pieces between the two detailed head pieces.

OK technically it’s a called the superior trunk ridge but we make our own rules around here so back fins it is!

Overcast stitch around the outside and around the “back fin” with a running stitch leaving the bottom open.

Stuff head piece and set aside.

At this point you should have a lovely and large felt seahorse head.

Mad at the pool guy or local aquarium? Consider placing this head in their beds for a warning that’s creepy – yet whimsical and also squeezably  soft because we are after all a peaceful people and everyone needs a hug.

Sew details to both sides of tail piece and begin sewing around the loop stuffing as you go using the overcast stitch you used for the top piece.

Stop where marked on template and place “fin” piece between tail pieces and sew closed.

Bonus points if you just did air quotes when you read that.

Cut small slits into felt to make sewing and gathering with ribbon easier do not cut through any of your stitches.

Unless you are feeling too accomplished and wish to begin all over again.

Necessary but  glaringly obvious instruction: Thread needle, pass ribbon through holes in felt piece.

Place stick inside and all the way up to provide structure for years of play. Pull ribbon to gather.

Tuck raw felt edge in. Use your hot glue to attach tucked in felt pieces to the dowel.

Work through the process a time or two before breaking out the scalding hot glue.

Knot to hold and wrap the ribbon around the base a few times before gluing down for a cleaner look.

Add ribbon down the length of the dowel gluing the entire way down.

Attach tail to the dowel the same way you did the seahorse head.

Use the remaining tulle to create a top fin by tying in a knot around the dowel.

This fin has no name since it does not actually exist but you cannot ride on seahorses so lets not get too bogged down in reality shall we?

Hot glue to hold.

To make the detachable felt kelp bridle:

Sew the sequined shell front to the loop shell back with an overcast stitch and white thread.

Sandwich one end of the kelp in between the front and back of the felt shell pieces before sewing closed.

Check to make sure the bridle isn’t twisted before attaching second shell end.

Stop by the shop:

Templates

Look at that! I’ve put all the templates into a handy PDF for you:

Seahorse-templates

Happy Crafting!

Andie Clark

More felt summer crafting awesomeness:

Glue Gun of Glory DIY Christmas Tree Topper – Domestic Bliss Week

So how do you top off a Domestic Bliss tree?

With the holy grail of all craft supplies!

Of course I am talking about…the glue gun!

Ahh but not just any glue gun…no this is the glue gun of glory!

You will need:

1 Paper Mache Cone. This one is 7″ x 3″ but I cut it down to around 5″

Paper or fabric to wrap cone

Hot glue gun and glue for gluing with

Mini Glue Gun to sacrifice in the name of crafting greatness

Mini Glue Stick

Ribbon about 6″

Sequins

I used Opaque Crystal and Baby Pink

Try the cone on your tree and mark where you would like to trim down if desired.

Since my office tree is only 4ft I needed to make the cone a little shorter.

On the back side of your fabric or paper roll and mark out your cone shape.

Trim down cone after tracing outline onto paper.

You will want your paper to be longer than the base of the cone so you can neatly tuck in the ends.

Glue fabric or paper onto cone with hot glue and cut slits into the overhanging end.

Fold slits down and glue to hold.

Set covered cone aside.

Using hot glue gun add sequins to mini glue gun in rows.

Don’t cover the back of the handle until after you glue the decorated mini glue gun onto the cone.

Wrap cord around your cone and hot glue into desired shape.

Wrap mini glue gun stick with ribbon and secure with a small dot of hot glue. Carefully slide decorated glue stick into decorated glue gun.

Join us tomorrow to ooh and ahh over our textile celebration of domestic awesomeness.

(translation: I’m going to show pictures of the tree all put together)

Happy Crafting~

Andie

We sell felt. Because we love felt.

Whatta ya crackers? – Felt Food Salty Crackers Tutorial

 I must have sewn at least 100 different felt foods since I started my daughters collection. One afternoon having nothing whatsoever to do with myself  I decided to make felt saltine crackers, why? Because I couldn’t think of anything else I hadn’t yet made. These are actually really easy to make and you can whip up an entire box of them in a single afternoon.

What started off as an after thought has quickly become my absolute favorite felt food of all time, sure some people like frilly wool felt cupcakes and others prefer the more solid and interactive felt sandwich, there is something so basic and cool about these. I love them so much that I can’t stand if one gets lost , it seriously creates some anxiety and I have to dig through the sea of felt food crammed into her little pink retro style  fridge and retrieve it. When I finally find my (notice I call it “my”) lost little crackers, I always place them all together back  in their little plastic container and walk away smiling.  Here’s hoping you love yours as much!

Happy Crafting Andie

These little guys are easy to make here’s what I used:

This will give you 4 crackers

1 sheet of felt in buttercream

Thread to match the felt

Wool batting-  about 4 inch square, you can also use acrylic batting but you will need to double them possibly even triple since they don’t have the same loft as wool, you can also use stuffing but you will want to make it lay as flat as possible.

Cut the felt into a 2.5  inch square and the batting  into a 2 inch square. See diagram below for approximate cracker size, ignore the dots for now.

 Sandwich batting between two felt triangles and whip/ overcast stitch up sides in coordinating thread I used red for clarity. (at this point you may want to mark out the pattern of dots shown above with pencil if you don’t want to wing it) Now knot your thread and go in to the cracker through the side.                                                                                            

Pop the needle through the first dot on the template above, sew a small stitch pulling thread slightly so the batting puffs up around the stitch. Pop needle back out on the opposite side and make another small stitch mirroring your first.

Now instead of moving the needle out of cracker move needle head between the sandwiched felt squares (where your wool is) and out through the next dot on the template above .  Sew a small stitch once again pulling it tight and repeat for the last indentation on the first row.

Start dots on second row by once again moving in between your two felt pieces.  Place your next stitch underneath and in between your dots above. The  line up doesn’t to be precise. This becomes second nature after you do one or two.  Now move between the felt again and create the second and last stitch on the second row, the  row patterns are  3, 2, 3, 2, 3 .

Proceed to the next set of three lining them up directly below the first set of three.

Finish your cracker by coming out the side and hiding your knot between whip stitches…Tada!