craftgrrl | Horse Scout Uniform with Embroidered Badges

Hello! A while ago I posted asking for input on a project I was undertaking. Basically it was a boy scout sort of costume for a horse, for which I planned to embroider badges based on my horse's skills and accomplishments. I just thought that I'd show you the results!

An overall shot of Eagle with his costume. Unfortunately I forgot my camera on the day of the competition that this costume was actually made for, so this was his second time with the costume and he was kind of annoyed and not posing well. So, his hat is a little sideways and his sash had shifted up. His kerchief also had shrunk in the wash! But you get the point. Under the cut I'll show you the badges that I embroidered.

I had never used a sewing machine before, but I knew that trying to make the sash by hand would get old fast. My mom has a sewing machine which she claims not to know how to use, but she showed me how to set it up and left me to figure it out. I think it came out pretty well for my first project! And I found these great eagle buttons to go with the theme/my horse's name. I finished the sash and then did his kerchief (and a matching one for myself) quickly in one night. I'm very excited about the sewing machine now!

Here is one badge before I sewed it onto the sash. I had planned to take decent pictures of all of the badges before sewing them onto the sash; however, in the time between starting and finishing the project I got a full-time job after two months of looking! So I barely had time to finish (I did plan on TEN badges, rather than the six I was able to get to in time).

Here it is on the sash. This badge is a little "abstract" for the sake of cuteness -- it is meant to represent that Eagle is able to raise a bearbag into a tree in a camping situation so as to protect our food (hence the carrots!).

The fire preparedness badge, for having safely evacuated from wildfires.

Gatekeeper badge for opening/closing gates.

River crossing badge.

Rattlesnake safety badge.

Camping badge. This one is a little embarrassing since I haven't gone back to fix it yet... I was finishing this the night before the event, and I ran out of the thread I was using! I improvised by adding some water awkwardly close to the tent and mixing some green threads that match A LITTLE better with the other threads out in daylight/not right up close. I will be going back to fix this one though, and I also plan on sewing the badges on again in a less dramatic way/with thread that matches the badge borders. This will happen over time as I make more badges though.

Here's one where Eagle's hat isn't tilted too much. The only thing I didn't make in this costume is the hat -- I bought that from the army/navy surplus, and it's vintage from the 50s! I sewed little button holes into the hat and ran ribbon through so that it could be tied to his rope halter.