Curio Sized Haversacks

There isn't much of a market for Curio sized haversacks. Most people prefer Traditional or Extra Long Traditional (XLT) sized ones. 

But I do get asked occasionally if I carry haversacks for Curios, so I try to keep some on hand. As I took inventory for the Great Lakes Congress show next month, I discovered that I was low in stock for that size and made some. (I'm sewing both 18th century clothes and haversacks simultaneously.)

Here are the four I have completed thus far.

I love circus horses and orange is my favorite color, so this fabric was win/win for me.

In fact, I once made myself a deluxe XLT out of this fabric with a satin lining and quilt batting for padding, just for fun. 

It turned out really nice, but I won't be making those to sell - I'd have to charge too much just to recoup the cost of the supplies to make it.

This corgi/horse fabric has been very popular in other sizes 

so I thought I'd see how it sold in Curio size.

If it doesn't sell, I'll donate to a show or keep it for myself.

Pink zebras! Occasionally I receive a message from a customer to tell me that I made a mistake and that the fabric is sideways as it is on this haversack.

I explain that it was a conscious and deliberate choice on my part. When I have remnants left over from other projects that are big enough for a haversack, I can't see throwing that fabric away just because the print will be sideways when used. 

That's wasteful and adds to what goes into landfills.

Understanding the "why" behind  the sideways print generally mollifies the person who contacted me about it.

With these done along with the Stablemate sized ones I have also made, I am moving on to stitching up some Classic sized haversacks. I'll show some of those when they are finished.

Stay 'tooned!

Brighty Haversack Drawing

Find out who the lucky winner is by watching the drawing!

Winner, I will be in touch! Congratulations!

Haversack Give Away!

Horsiemama's Haversacks (i.e. me) has been inundated with orders for the past two months. That's a good thing and I am grateful, but it has also kept me at the sewing machine for long hours. I finished up an order last night and realized as I packed it up that I had used the wrong fabric for a Brighty haversack. She wanted burros; I made cats.

Brighty takes some pretty specific measurements due to his unusual sitting position.

This haversack may look a little large for him, but trust me, it's not.

Due to that sitting position, his body is very wide, and when he is put inside, it fits him just fine.

My goof is some reader's gain because I am giving away the Brighty haversack to a lucky reader.  The usual rules are in place - you may enter once every day beginning today (May 27) and ending Tuesday, May 30, at 11:59 PM. Entries after that will not be accepted. I will spin for a winner on Wednesday or Thursday.

To enter, comment on the day's blog post or email me at horsiemama8@gmamil.com.

Good luck to all!

Another Project Completed

When Barn Buddy Kelsey was at my home Indy Blooms weekend, she asked if I would make her an XLT (Extra Long Traditional) haversack out of the Racing Silks fabric. I was happy to do so, but I had a few orders ahead of her that I needed to finish first. (And I did all but one of those, and that's only because the fabric is still on order. )

Racing Silks has turned out to be a popular fabric; I've sold out of it twice.

Now I am sold out of it for a third time. It took the first year or so of sewing haversacks,

but I have finally gotten a sense of fabrics that will sell and buy multiple yards of it so I don't sell out so quickly.

It takes a big haversack to enfold the Cleveland Bay!

I will do a barn delivery either this afternoon or sometime tomorrow and put the package on her saddle rack in the tackroom.

I received two more orders for haversacks from this Crazy Kitties fabric and it is now out of stock again in my stash. However, there is more at the local fabric store where I got it, so this morning I am running out to get a couple of more yards.

Yesterday I got Hawkeye Sarah's vintage apron

cut out of this National Parks fabric. It will be the second one I've made her in this fabric. I made the first vintage apron in 2010 (I put the date I made it on every commercial pattern I use) so after 13 years of daily use, Sarah has worn it out. (I was glad that the fabric was still in production!)

Today will be a fun day - going to the barn, Nash and Molly spending the day with us, fabric store visit, Teacher Daughter Lisa going out to dinner with us, and any other open time spent in the sewing room. (Let's hope that fabric I'm waiting on comes in!)

Michelle E., I got that dog that you asked me to pick up. Please email me at horsimama8@gmail.com and we will make arrangements to get it to you!

 

New Life for Vintage Fabrics

Here are some more haversacks, some made from the bag of fabrics that Trina gave me, and others from fabrics I had on hand.

Two extra long traditionals from the vintage stash. I always add velcro for this size.

I really like this fabric - something about navy and silver together that I think is lovely.

Vintage.

More vintage.

Last vintage.

Stablemate haversacks from my own stash. This customer said she did not mind if one-way fabrics were sideways. (Like the circus ponies are.) 

I always send customers photos of their completed haversacks including one with models that I have tucked inside to check the fit.

This was a custom order for someone who wanted two haversacks of specific size measurements with padding, velcro, and a satin lining.

A Most Unusual Haversack

Going through a decade of photos is taking me longer than I thought, and with needing to finish preparing and packing for this weekend's Great Lakes Congress show, I'm not ready to publish the next post.  In the meantime, here is a most unusual haversack.

Remember the crying towel the I found at an antique shop?

After doing some research and discovering that they aren't too rare, I felt comfortable turning this one into a haversack.

In order to preserve certain aspects of the text, I had to cut a much deeper flap than I normally would.

 

And to make sure the jockey caps and crops on the sides didn't disappear, I had to make narrower seams and work around the hem that ran along the perimeter of the entire towel.

The back of the haversack.

The back with the front flap open.

The crying towel haversack sold before I even made it - I mentioned the idea to a hobby friend and she asked if she could buy it.

The crying towel has the same dimensions as the towels I embroider, and that gave me an idea. I may play around and embroider some tea towels and then turn them into haversacks. It would not be cost effective (embroidery work is far more expensive than general sewing), and I'd have to charge more for the haversack so we shall see.

I guess that's a stay 'tooned, right? LOL

That Last Little Bit

So, what did I do with that last, teeny tiny scrap of fabric that was left over from the two yards of University of Iowa fabric?

First, I measured it and trimmed it up so that it was 3/4 inches wide. Then I got some fusible interfacing from my sewing stash and fused the two pieces together to give it some stability.

And then I turned it into the tiniest haversack I have ever made. 

Closed and finished, it was about 3/4 inches square.

Way too small for Breyer's Mini Whinney 1:64 scale models.

 

But just right for an HO 1:82 scale horse.

The friend receiving this set of haversacks is a vintage Breyer lover like me

So I chose a model that was reminiscent of a vintage Breyer mold - the Grazing Mare!

All that was left of the two yards of fabric were the trimmings off that last little strip. I considered making a bookmark, but in the end I swept those pieces off my sewing table and into the trash.

Sometimes you just have to call it good!!

BreyerFest: Ansel Arrives and He is LONG

My BreyerFest items continue to trickle in. I got a shipping notice for WC Marc of Charm and I haven't yet completed the trade of my Tissili for the Seven Arts surprise yet, but when those two transactions happen, I'll be done.

My friend Nancy Kelly sold me her extra Ansel - I'm not in the Premiere Club so I hadn't seen this piece in hand until Marilou's show. What I saw there made me glad I'd bought Nancy's extra!

Ansel confirms a trend that I have been seeing - Breyer is producing longer models. Maybe I notice it because I sew haversacks and these need a special fit, or maybe it's because my shelves are Ikea billy shelves and the longer models have to be placed at an angle. 

A casual scroll through Identify Your Breyer showed eleven plus molds that have been introduced since 2010 and are in these longer poses.

I've been thinking about it for a while, but receiving Ansel helped me make the final decision - I am going to be offering a new sized haversack in Horsiemama's Haversacks & Mercantile that will accommodate these longer pieces.

I'm still experimenting a bit, but I think I'm almost there. It's wider by a few inches and shorter.

Of course, right now I'm in the middle of sewing those riding habits, but when I need a break from them (it took me an hour just to gather the waist of the second habit yesterday), working on a haversack is a good choice.

(Somehow I think I may be taking more than a few "breaks" to work on this new size!)

Circus Time - My New/Old Remco Circus Horse

Recently a friend who knows my love of circus horses found a Remco Circus Liberty Horse and offered it to me in trade for a haversack. 

I had one of these when I was a kid, and played with it until it was in pretty bad shape. (I think I still have it tucked away in a box.)

Photo from Google Images.

The kit was distributed in 1969 so this is an old piece - no surprise that its glue is yellowing. (I'm kind of surprised that the plastic isn't yellower, too.)

The one my friend found has been well loved, too.

It needs some time with Dawn dishwashing liquid and I may even wash its mane and tail, too. (It's fake fur on a mesh fabric base and I have some just like it in my sewing stash. I will try hand washing some of that first.)

Someone in the past decided to hot glue it to the base. That's not necessarily a bad idea, but they didn't get the pegs down into the base's holes all the way when they applied the hot glue. As a result, the model lists to one side.

The Recmo Circus Liberty Horse is about the same size as a traditional Breyer so it won't be a problem to fit it on my shelves.

Thanks, Betsy, for thinking of me when you found this guy - I'll take good care of him!