A Dada called Maurice

 

So goes the story: whe Mimi was a little girl we loved to take her to the zoo ​​and she was allowed to ride on a horse.
The horse name was Moritz. And since I speak french with her, the name turned into Maurice and since that day all horses were named Maurice, no matter if they were real or not, Barbie horses or teddy horse or ponys...

As she loves horses so much, she always wanted to have horse puppets in any form and size. And so it happened one day that she discovered a stick hobby horse (we say Dada in french)in a shop.

Of course I wouldn´t buy one. I am a sewer, maker and had already the right fabric in mind, that would suit her.

So here you go with a description: How to make your Dada:

- a (broom) stick (diameter 22mm)
- caps (to make the edges more soften and at the end to hide the glued end of the pony tail)
- wool for the pony tail
- fabric (a different one for the inside of the ear and the eyes)
- buttons (for the eye)
- hot glue gun

and a quiet moment to design the perimeter of the horse's head on the fabric or a piece of paper.

I begun with the pony tail. Cut the wool in same length (to have equal threads), make a knot in the very top of the threads. Now make a hole in one of the caps and pull the wool through, with the knot in the inside so it cannot be pulled out later on. Then use hot glue on one end of the stick and put the cap with the tail on the stick. As my english is some times far away from perfect, here some pics:

Now the head:
cut out twice the head that you have designed on the fabric and don´t forget the 1 cm seam allowance. Also cut out a center part for the front to throat part, so the head isn´t to slim and looks more like a horse:

For the tail and the mane, I took cream and pink-colored thick wool taken. Wrapp the wool around a piece of cardboard and then cut it on the one side:

Then place the threads for the mane with the uncuted side inbetween fabric pieces and sew together the three parts (side and front)

Make sure while sewing that the threads stay where you have put them, so that the mane will be nice and full of wool "hair":

Now you can cut out the ears from the two fabrics and cut out the eye form.

Then turn the fabric to the right side, make a little hole for the sewed ears to the left and right side of the head, now again turn inside out and sew the ears through the hole:

 

For the eyes I used pink baby cord and made it look like eyelashes with a yellow wool stitch. And finally a button eye.

Then fill the head with a filling. For the stick I made a little bag with filling that I glued on the front of the stick. Why? Because like this there is no chance the stick would trespass the fabric of the head and if I can prevent any accident I´ll be glad.

 Last step: sew the throat together but leave a little hole to put the stick through. Now some glue and  a few more stitches. You can also decorate lower throat with some nice ribbon.

Et voila now you have a Dada Maurice .. :)

Ok. I know there are 3 millions hobbyhorse diy articles, but let there be 3 millions and one :)

If you make a Dada,  please be so kind and send me a photo or post your link!

bisous

Fanny & Malou