Friday, March 6, 2009

Frances' Little Pony

Several weeks ago my husband, Mark, was over at our neighbors and their two year old little girl, Frances wanted to show Mark her stick pony. This little pony was "sleeping" because the chenille mane had a shedding problem that would get all over their nice purple velvet couch.

Mark came home to tell me of this dilemma. Being the resourceful doll maker that I am and more importantly the "Auntie" to young Frances, I set out to fix up this little pony!

Before & After

I received this pony, went to the fabric store for "fixin's" and brought it to my studio. It is of fairly simple construction, so just needed some tweaking. I eased off the reins. The mane was just stitched to the top so I un-stitched it. I had to make a small slit to insert my trim that had a binding on it for the mane . I used the ladder stitch with a heavier thread to sew it nicely into place. The rest was gluing and top-stitching to secure things in place, a little paint...a little love!

Before & After

As many of you know the best part of all of this is the smile and hug you get from such a sweet little child!

And how can I resist a girl after my own heart- whose favorite part is the pink ribbon on top!

A Little History:
A Hobby Horse or Stick Pony is a child's toy horse, particularly popular before the days of cars. Just as children today imitate adults driving cars, so, in past times, children played at riding a wooden hobby horse made of a straight stick with a small horse's head (of wood or stuffed fabric) and perhaps reins, attached from the head.

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