Sewing Own Blankets? Hard Fit Dwarf Needs Wardrobe

[lindsay.anne]

I have a little dwarf, she is cute as can be & she is round. It is a characteristic of dwarves, as she is not too fat. That being said, I can not, for the life of me, find a blanket that fits her. I’ve tried the Amigo Petite line, and she swam in the 33"(the smallest) but she’s outgrown her Dover Dog blanket in 30". All foal blankets are too big, all dog blankets are too short on her belly. Because he neck is short too, if she wears anything too long and lays down, it literally moves up to her ears when shes down or she steps all over it and has a hard time getting up.

Has anyone successfully sewn their horse a blanket/cooler/etc and have any tips? Any suggestions on where to buy materials?

Or Does anyone know of a good seamstress who could take my measurements and execute? She is a yearling, so I’m not looking to drop $300 on a custom blanket just yet.

I’ve had a hard time with Triple Crown emailing me back unfortunately.

[cayuse]

Have you tried StarLake Tack? They deal in mini items only and are pretty good about fitting things. They do have blankets but I don’t know how small they go. She might be able to help. I tried to make my mini a sheet last year and never finished it. I just could not get it right.

[2miniB]

Have you tried the Kensington mini turnouts? My minis aren’t dwarfs, but I’m extremely happy with how they fit. They’re actually proportioned for little horses. My 32.25" tall mini is very slight of frame, and turnouts are normally quite big on her…just not enough horse there to fill it out. She’s a 45" in turnouts, and the large Kensington fits her very well. My larger mini is in an XL Kensington, and there’s still quite a bit of belly band despite her roundness.

It sounds like the small Kensington might work, since they do seem to run a little on the small side.

[betsyk]

I made a dog coat once, and it wasn’t too hard - but a horse blanket probably needs to be a lot more durable. I copied another dog coat, drew a pattern, modified it, etc. It was fleece lined so not more than my average machine could handle - again, a heavier horse blanket would probably need a heavy duty machine.

[Sansena]

I alter mini blankets often. What my client does is put a blanket on the horse, then make darts by pinching the neckline on either side of the wither fleece–and marks them with chalk. Then, the client will tell me how much they want the sides hemmed. The blanket is sent to me and I hem it accordingly, removing and re-installing hardware as needed should it fall on a hemline.

You can alter your own blankets in this manner as well. However, you’ll need a heavy duty machine that can power through several layers of binding and blanket material.

Insofar as making it from scratch, I have yet to find a store, online or in person that sells the type of material weight that would last when used as a horse blanket. You may have better luck than I.

[HannahsMom7]

[QUOTE=lindsay.anne;8946231]
I have a little dwarf, she is cute as can be & she is round. It is a characteristic of dwarves, as she is not too fat. That being said, I can not, for the life of me, find a blanket that fits her. I’ve tried the Amigo Petite line, and she swam in the 33"(the smallest) but she’s outgrown her Dover Dog blanket in 30". All foal blankets are too big, all dog blankets are too short on her belly. Because he neck is short too, if she wears anything too long and lays down, it literally moves up to her ears when shes down or she steps all over it and has a hard time getting up.

Has anyone successfully sewn their horse a blanket/cooler/etc and have any tips? Any suggestions on where to buy materials?

Or Does anyone know of a good seamstress who could take my measurements and execute? She is a yearling, so I’m not looking to drop $300 on a custom blanket just yet.

I’ve had a hard time with Triple Crown emailing me back unfortunately.[/QUOTE]

sewing a blanket is not too hard, however the heavy weight fabric might be a poor fit for the sewing machine.

How about buying polar fleece or even muslin which is cheap, make a model of how you want the sheet to fit then decide how to sew it and what fabric you want to make it from.