Make it: Unicorn Hobbyhorse with free PDF download

This month of DIY gifts is so exciting for us because we get to share so many things to make for your family and friends. Today I'm going to show you how to make any of the little princesses in your lives squeal with joy. We are making a Unicorn Hobby Horse!  We have included a PDF download for this too so you can print it off and keep it handy for birthdays as well as Christmas time.

You will need: 1/2 metre of white fleece, 3 x 15cm by 75cm strips of coloured fleece, ribbon, toy stuffing, thread (normal and extra strong), a pole or stick, scraps of felt or fleece in black and a pretty colour, pins, scissors and a sewing machine (optional) glue (optional).

Start by drawing out your pattern or use the one we have provided and scale it up to size. Place the unicorn head piece on top of two layers of fleece and cut around the template leaving a 1.5cm seam allowance all the way around. Do the same for the ears and horn, making sure you cut two extra ear pieces from a pretty colour of felt to make the inside of the ears. Stitch all the way around your head shape leaving the bottom open and snip into the seam allowance at all the curves. Next, fold over the horn, pin down the straight edge and stitch it down to make a cone. Also stitch the ears leaving the flat edge at the bottom open, then turn everything right side out.

Next, take a square scrap of fleece and a handful of stuffing and make a ball on the end of your stick by wrapping some thread around the base, I have used an old fabric pole, ask at your local fabric shop if they have any spares you can have, or head to a DIY store and pick up some dowelling. Start to stuff your unicorn head until you reach the bend at the top of the head then insert your pole. Continue to stuff down the neck until you are about 7-9 cm from the base of the neck. Take some strong thread and stitch around the neck pulling it in tight at the base, wrap some pretty ribbon around to cover the stitching and to help keep it in place on your pole.

Next you are going to make the mane. Layer up your three colours of fleece strips and pin them together along the centre. Stitch all the way down the centre of the strips. Take your super sharp scissors and start to snip the strips all the way along both sides leaving 1.5 cm between the end of your cut and the centre line of stitching. You should end up with a lovely fleecy hair do for your unicorn.

Stitch the mane to the base of the neck and tack it in place along the neck seam until you get to the forehead of your unicorn, then fold it back on itself and carry on tacking it on until you reach the end of your mane piece.

It should look a little bit like a horse now, so it is time to make the horn. Take the cone you stitched earlier and stuff it. Stitch up the bottom of the cone with some strong thread and without cutting the thread take it and wrap it up and around the cone, pulling it tightly to create the spiral up the horn. Finish off by stitching through the tip of the horn and tying off your thread.

Fold the ears in half and taking your strong thread again, stitch them to the head either side of the mane, then stitch around the base of the horn. Lastly take a scrap of black felt and cut yourself some cute eyelashes and stitch or glue them onto the unicorn's face.

Here is a picture of the template I drew, you can easily download this picture (right click on your mouse and choose save as or download our PDF) scale it up and use it for your own template.

I am in love with this girl, I am going to be hard pushed to let her go, but the little girl who is getting her for Christmas is going to just love her even more than me I'm sure!

We would love to see what gifts you are making for your loved ones this year, link in the comments or #livelovemake on Instagram or twitter to show us your goodies. 

Sammy xxx

Bloglovin / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest / Google+ / Instagram

Love it: Books, books everywhere!

Whilst over at my parents during the Christmas and New Year break I got a big reminder about our family hobby...  books!

I have so many books that I cannot fit them all in my current house and they are mostly languishing in a tall bookcase at my folks place.  I have a few with me, but they seem to grow so easily that soon they will take over all over again.

Having studied design for 6 years, this has meant that I have Architecture, Design and Museum books which range from the Coffee Table books to the theory ones.  I think I have more than my Uni Library used to have!  Then there is the travel books and the fiction books which I try and pass on to Charity shops, but there are just some that you want to keep aren't there!

I really like old books and used to love rummaging around Spitalfields and Portabello market when I was in London to find unusual fiction or craft books.  Now being out in the suburbs means I have lots of Charity shops to check out and also the web to get my new book fix!  I have a book from the 1950's on dressmaking and bough my dad an engineering book which was a newer version of something he had at college - good skills for a great rummage in a second hand bookshop in Wantage.

I love rummaging in bookshops wherever I go, I always have a look in museum bookshops, second hand stores and charity shops wherever I go, from New York to Manchester, I have a book from pretty much every place I have visited!  This probably lends itself to a collection, but I have more of them so I like to call this my hoard!

Over the holidays we discovered that my parents had books in every single room of their house (this was not a new thing, but something we just thought about!), apart from the bathrooms - but even then some people like to have a bathroom book don't they?  I'm not sure about that one myself, but each to their own.  My dad's books are more engineering and racing based and my mum's books are art based, then there are the books from my childhood (more about them another time) and the information ones, like the Joy of Knowledge which was the encyclopaedia to have in the 1980's - it got me through my GCSE's!

I love having books around me and often refer back to them for all sorts, but it's like a comfort blanket for me really, I know where I am with them and it's the joy of getting them home and then flicking through it to find something new.  So on that note, I was given Material World by Perri Lewis for Christmas and so I am off to read some fascinating crafty bits!

Love it

H