One thing I suppose I should mention is the crafts that I've been doing that have a distinctively horse flavored theme. On a whim I decided to start making my own saddle pads. I love saddle pads, I'd have a ton of them if I could in all of the colors imaginable, but that's -expensive- to do a lot! I have some very basic sewing skills and thought to myself, it can't be -that- hard to make them.
Turns out, there are a few guides online, and I found one that wasn't re-purposing an old pad, but making one entirely from new material. I modified it for myself since I didn't have scrap fabric lying around the same way that the person writing the instructions did.
This is the first pad that I made. The upper fabric is an upholstery style fabric in a pretty purple-gray. I added plum and silver trim and it looks NICE. It's got wool backing and cotton batting for extra cushion and should hold up nicely. Time will tell on that one, since I haven't washed it...
This is the second pad I made. It was a gift for my friend Cortney who has been looking for hot-pink accessories for her bay Arabian mare, Amira. Everything she had found was pony size or had zebra stripes. I found some nice flannel and fleece and made her a pad with black trim and pink and black ribbon. She LOVED it, which made me feel great! I had many less mistakes on this one than on the first!
I've got a third pad started that I tried a different quilting pattern on. I love the fabric on it! I'm worried, though, that fabric won't hold up to use, but again, we'll see. This fabric was a definite impulse purchase, but it's lovely! This one is incomplete. I've just done the quilting and attached the two sides together. I'm holding off on finishing this one until after we move but I have everything for it.
I'm also making a stall nameplate for Gwyn! I'm planning on putting a picture of her below her name and adding a few hooks for ribbons. I used acrylic paint and a stencil brush with stencils for the letters. Also unfinished.
Since Gwyn is half Friesian, she belongs to this registry and they were selling fabric patches. I got four! I'm hoping to find some really nice fabric and make a good dressage pad to put them on so Gwyn can show off! They were really cheap and I was so impressed by the turnaround time for ordering!! But again, this will have to wait until we get unpacked in Michigan before I can work on it. I hope I find a fabric store that's as good as my Pacific Coast Fabrics out here in WA.
If I get really good at the saddle pad creation I might try and turn that into a business. I need to improve my quality control first!
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