Little leather
Horse Makeover
The "Special Project" I was working on...
At Thanksgiving, a special request was made to "Dress this horse up." Then it went home with me to do some of my magic to it.
To be honest, I had absolutely no clue on how to proceed. LOL!
It is a vintage leather horse that is about the size of a full-grown German Shepard and the little leather saddle was/is extremely brittle and literally cracked in places with the slightest pressure.
So, with that in mind I decided to remove the old saddle and cut/sew a new saddle from scratch.
It was later requested to add rhinestones and very bright colors... exact description was... "Liberace' it."
For the younger ones on my page, Liberace' was an earlier, very eccentric version of a 1970's Elton John... but with more diamonds and bold color... LOL!
So, the challenge was a good one. The final results were so much prettier than I expected, and I just could not bring myself to put blue paint on the hooves as previously suggested, so the little hoof covers were born, and they turned out cuter than I had originally thought.
I delivered this little beauty today and all in all, I am very pleased with how all of this turned out as I had never done anything on this level of "cut/sew to body type and size" ever before without any patterns.
The mane and tail were my design and a very first that worked out well.
There were SO many coincidences in this project in the form of having the exact colors of leather and types of leather already in the shop. That blew my mind when doing all of this.
These photos are the before and after of this special project...
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View with the very old and brittle, original saddle.
New leather being cut and sized to replace the old.
Stirrups being added.
I cut the leather for the new little saddle and then added all the impressions and then shaped the little saddle to have a curve to fit a doll or something on the saddle, like a real saddle. Again, this is the very first time, ever in my life to do anything like this.
Saddle fitted, attached and now begins the rhinestones.
New leather bridle and halter cut, sewn with rhinestones.
The creation and design of the new tail, main and forward face braid in the works.
The fringe mane, tail, and forehead braid are all in place and completed.
The coincidence of this entire process was that this was a very last-minute job request with this horse to be completed before Christmas.
This horse was delivered to the shop to begin work on Thanksgiving Day.
The time frame for this job was to finish at least one week before Christmas to allow time for any new additions or changes. The coincidence of everything was that I actually had the exact matching color of leather hides in the shop already to finish out this horse.
The leather cover over the tail hides the tacks that hold the tail fringe on. I had that leather in the shop for a few years and matched it precisely in color and texture to this vintage horse leather.
What are the odds of that happening? You can see that leather band on the tail in this photo. It's an unbelievable color match. As for the vintage age of this horse, the original saddle was so brittle and broke at the slightest touch that this horse could very well be 100 or more years old. That is what makes it so incredible to match the colors the way this job went, and I just happened to have the leathers in the shop already that match this exactly.
I am still amazed by how all of this came together so beautifully.
When I asked about the colors requested in this reference drawing to work from, I was a little stunned by the color range they had requested. At first, it was suggested that the hooves be painted turquoise. I couldn't bring myself to paint the leather as it would not stay and would flake off into a mess later on. So, the fashion designer mode kicked in and created little fabric hoof boots instead, which turned out adorable.
To meet the color requests, I chose these fabrics to make this project work and fit the color scheme they requested.
These are the final results and honestly, this little horse turned out far prettier than even I was expecting it to be upon completion. I would have never dreamed these colors would fit so well together.
I made the bows with hair clips so that they can be moved or worn in the little girl’s hair.
I had no patterns to work from with this project and was working from the size and shape of the original, brittle vintage saddle that was on this horse, so my round cuttings of the little blankets didn't come out as round as I was shooting for as this entire process was cut completely freehand and, on the fly, sized to fit as it was sewn...
What a tremendous difference in this vintage little horse. Even I am still surprised at how pretty and cute this job turned out.
Oh, and as I mentioned before, I was able to finish this job within 2 1/2 weeks. The coincidence of having all the leathers, dyes, and tools in the shop already, which matched this horse perfectly, was the lifesaving factor in finishing this entire project before Christmas.
It's just another one of those unbelievable accomplishments.
Before and After Photos side by side.