Western Wares and Woodburnings

Western cloth for custom work

2011-03-08T09:29:00.000-05:00

This large panel of a cowboy rounding up the cattle would be nice for a wall-hanging or a bedspread, or even a window covering.

This is smaller matching blocks which would be nice as pillows or surrounding the above panel on a bedspread.

This cloth also is a matching scenery to the above prints. It could be used for a variety of things.

If someone is interested in having me make a custom project out of this cloth, please contact me. I might also sell the cloth if another seamstress wished to do her own sewing.

Horse woodburned rolling pin.

2011-02-02T10:19:00.000-05:00

This running horse woodburned rolling pin was made to match the horse/western spoons.

Western woodburned spoons

2011-01-05T20:18:00.000-05:00

Here are two sets of horse and western wood burned spoons I have burned recently. These spoons can be ordered at $12 a set or $3 each, plus shipping

Horse head cake

2010-12-24T18:53:00.000-05:00

We were having friends drop by sometime and got a call about 5:30 or so in the evening asking if they could come the next day. I wanted especially to do a horse/pony head cake when they came, but I have never done any cake decorating before and had no idea how it would turn out. Forgetting, or not caring, that I was not finished with supper, I got up and after some indecision decided to try it. There would be no practice ahead of time and some of our guest were excellent cake decorators. (I have seen pictures of one of their wedding cakes with the most beautiful icing roses I have ever seen.)

So, I baked a cake in my yet un-tried horse pan and was thankful that it came out of the pan without sticking to the bottom. I could use plain powdered sugar icing for the white, mix in some cocoa for the brown, but what could I use for the halter? I could think of no natural color on hand, so I dug through a drawer and found some really old (like maybe ten years) food coloring we had. I did not like the thought of using food coloring, old or not, but could think of nothing else and figured a couple of drops of blue would not kill us.

Then I started my first time attempt at cake decorating. We had some icing tips in the cabinet so I chose the ones that looked like might achieve what I wanted. I had an awful time trying to keep the tip from getting squeezed off the end of the bag. (I asked my friend about it the next day and she told me I could have put the tip inside the bag. I should have called and asked her that night!) Doing the cake was partly fun and certainly an experience. The icing kept wanting to squeeze out of the top of the bag, so there was chocolate cake icing all over the counter, my hands were covered in it, and it was dropping on the just mopped floor. But by a couple of minutes after 10:00 P.M. I had the cake finished, not professionally, but at least presentable. It did not take us near as long to eat it as it did for me to make it!

We are not health nuts, or we would not even eat such a cake, but I and my friends tend to prefer natural foods. We were discussing using the old blue food coloring when one of them said it couldn’t have gone bad that coloring was too synthetic to go bad. The stuff is actually bad when it is brand new. It seemed everyone was eating around the blue halter to avoid the poisoning blue dye! Eventually the whole cake was eaten though, and as far as I know we all lived to tell about it.

Young girl’s rocking horse skirt

2010-12-03T18:52:00.000-05:00

This is a very simply made gored skirt with an elastic waist. Elastic waist band measures 27 inches. Overall length of the skirt is 29 inches. The bottom has rocking horses and other toys making it a cute skirt for a little girl. $9.

Horse back riding - in skirts

2010-11-23T18:03:00.002-05:00

These photos were taken at Southern Cross Guest Ranch in Madison, GA.

More pictures may be posted on my “Goatgirl’s blog” later. I made my riding jacket and skirt as well as Dave’s coat and trousers. Kayla made her skirt. She also braids western leather work such as: bolos, key chains, whips, and other things not posted on her webpage. Dave does blacksmith work making: dinner bells, hooks, fire pokers, and other neat things like this horse head letter opener.

Horseshoe n’ flowers pillow case

2010-10-13T15:06:00.000-04:00

I took some of the left-over flower and horse border of this bedspread and made some pillow cases. The picture does not show up as bright and pretty the flowers really are against the white background. Even though it was made to match the horse bedspread, the purple flowers match rather well with the purple in my flying geese quilt.

Horse n' flowers bedspread

2010-07-23T08:46:00.000-04:00

I recently finished the top to this bedspread and now I’m not sure how to finish it. I like the horses jumping through the horseshoe and the beautiful, lovely flowers all around with plenty of white. The white areas would look to nice to be quilted, but I’m not too eager to hand quilt such a mass of space right now. I thought about tie quilting it, or just hemming the edges and leaving it as a thin bed sheet. If I did though, I am not sure what to do with all the raw edges of the seams of each block. For now, I’ll leave it as it is until I decide.

Western glass etched glasses

2010-06-16T09:21:00.000-04:00

Here is my latest western themed project. Glass etched western glasses. Each glass has a different picture: a bucking bronco, an Indian chief, a saddle, a steer, a cowboy sitting on the fence rail, a desert seen, and a cowboy on a horse.

Silver heart spur bookends

2010-05-22T13:36:00.000-04:00

Several years ago I bought a pair of silver heart spurs to make western bookends. Just this afternoon, I finally got around to drilling the holes and putting them together. It is rough cut wood and slightly bowed. The spurs are rustic and the hearts have already started to turn. It does not have the shiny polished look of the set I made for my friend. Still, it has the silver hearts and what girl doesn’t like hearts?

Yes, I know, western bookends and I have no horse books between them. While I don’t own many, I’ve read some of the best - John Lyons’ training books and Monty Robert’s Join-Up and his Shy-Boy, the story of the mustang tamed in the wild.

Western vest and boot sewing kit

2010-04-27T17:32:00.004-04:00

I made this little western suede vest and boot for a friend. The little boot is a scissor holder and the vest has pockets inside for thread and a little pin and needle cushion.

Woodburned Horse-head spoon

2010-01-30T15:46:00.007-05:00

Here is one of the woodburned horse-head spoons I have done. I can burn a horse spoon for folks at $2.50 a spoon, plus shipping. Since each one is done individually, the look will change slightly. Some folks have told me these are too pretty to use for cooking, but at only $2.50 a spoon, you can buy one for looks and for cooking for only $5. :)

Riding jacket and skirt

2009-12-22T17:05:00.007-05:00

I have just finished making a riding jacket and skirt. The jacket has pretty feminine puffed gathered sleeves. They do not show up too well in the angle of the photo. My mind was not at all on these pictures being taken when they were and the background is poor as well. Maybe I can get some better pictures later. The coat has the splits in the back for properly hanging in the saddle. I thought of using a wool gabardine, but wanted something washable since the caot will not only be worn riding, but used as a dress coat as well. I made it from a "linen look" cloth, a rayon/polyester mix. I like how it looks like linen and yet does not wrinkle hardly at all. It is very easy care and wear.

The skirt was made from some cotton broadcloth which was on sale and I am paying for it by having to iron it after each wearing. It wrinkles terribly. So much 1800's time period sewing has nearly made me adverse to using synthetic cloth, but the cotton wrinkles so, that I may make the skirt out of a rayon next time. It is a complete circle skirt, full enough for cross-saddle riding and nice enough for side-saddle riding. Kayla C. is always making circle skirts and I used her instructions for making this one. Some of her skirts are pictured on her blog. Here: http://custerfamilyfarm.com/blog1/index.php?blog=3&title=my_new_skirt&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#trackbacks

and here:http://custerfamilyfarm.com/blog1/index.php?blog=3&title=lots_of_pictures&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#trackbacks

Ruffled western skirt

2009-09-15T16:16:00.004-04:00

Recently, I made a western skirt from some very light weight denim. After cutting the yoke and basting the skirt on, I did not like how deep or pointed the yoke came. I took the skirt off and cut the yoke higher and with less of a curve. This altered the hem-line of the skirt a bit making it un-even, but all the ruffles on the bottom helps to hide this defect. The belt loops also come to the traditional western yoke shaped points.

Western dress and vest

2009-05-18T11:39:00.006-04:00

About ten years ago I received a western catalog with a nice burgundy dress and western vest; I wanted to make something similar. I purchased some burgundy cloth and found some drapery/upholstery cloth with the right pattern for the vest, and never made it until just a couple of weeks ago.

The upholstery cloth had a suitable texture in the pattern design part, but the green on each side had a texture like carpet. I cut it off and sewed black cloth on each side and cut my vest fronts from this. The back of the vest is solid black.

The catalog picture was a two piece dress with the blouse having hidden buttons except for the top one which was silver, as most western buttons are. I used a hidden button blouse pattern and used matching silver buttons on the vest and the top blouse button.

To make it look western, it really needs black cowgirl boots, but I haven’t any black ones and my cream ones do not match. I am thus obliged to wear my burgundy/wine lace up boots. These, along with my re-enacting hat, gives the clothing more of a Victorian western look than a modern western look. I plan to make a matching western purse out of some of the vest upholstery cloth. Lord willing, when this is done, I will post pictures.

Cedar board and spurs bookends

2009-04-06T16:22:00.009-04:00

A few years ago I saw some bookends with spurs in a western catolog and decided to make some. I purchased the spurs and cut the wood, but have never put them together. My friend Kayla who likes western stuff as well, had a birthday in March and I thought I would make her a set - even though I still have not made mine. I bought some shiny silver spurs and sanded some cedar wood. My dad helped me cut the pieces and screw them together.

Kayla makes hand-braided whips, bolos, and key-chains.

Cowboy boots baby quilt

2009-03-24T12:25:00.003-04:00

One of my friends who is expecting a baby boy had told me cowboy boots were too expensive for how quickly a baby would outgrow them. I thought baby Colton should have a pair of cowboy boots - even if he couldn’t wear them. I machine stitched this little baby quilt and tie-quilted it. The boots were hand embroidered with a simple out line stitch. The drawing was from a coloring book. There is a rod cover slip sewed onto the back so it can be used for a wall hanging when the baby grows to big for it.

Horse silhouette

2008-12-10T22:43:00.002-05:00

At a re-enactment in November, I burned this horse silhouette with iron poker pieces heated in the fire.

2008-08-16T19:32:00.001-04:00

This blog has not been abandoned. Even if post are few and far between. Several years ago, I made matching western shirts for my brother and me out of this cloth. It has the traditional western yoke in the front and back though they do not show up much since I matched the stripes instead of placing them diagonal as some shirts are done. My brother’s shirt also has front pockets with the western cut flaps with the stripes matched as well. We do have one picture of us wearing these shirts together, but it was taken before I had a digital camera, so I cannot post it on here.

Horse drawing

2008-06-06T19:28:00.000-04:00

This is a drawing I did of my pretty Casey back when I had a horse.

Cowgirl’s room

2008-04-22T20:47:00.005-04:00

This is a bandana tie quilt I made years ago, plus some horse pillows and a "Fancy Fiddle" neelepoint picture.

There is still a lot of the horse fabric from which the large pillow was made, if someone wanted a pillow or small quilt made.

Horse hair bracelet

2008-03-03T21:10:00.001-05:00

I braided this bracelet from horse hair. It is special to me because it was taken from the mane of my horse Casey.

Western Suede Vest

2008-01-28T10:55:00.000-05:00

This is my dad wearing a suede vest I made him several years ago.

Cowboy woodburning

2007-12-17T20:31:00.001-05:00

Cowboy silhouette burned onto barn wood. $40

“Branded” Boots

2007-12-11T23:09:00.000-05:00

Here are some boots I leather burned today. My family is always complaining my work boots look like boys boots. These are not boys work boots for the tongue says Herman Survivors For Her. Still, to make them really look like girls work boots, I decided to “brand” them with hearts. It was a fun project and no boy would wear hearts on his boots! Kinda hate to wear these to the barn now.

Woodburned Eagle

2007-12-08T17:58:00.000-05:00

This woodburning was done for someone who liked eagles. I think the wood is a type of soft cedar.

Rustic Rugs

2007-11-08T21:30:00.000-05:00

Hexagon - M Approx. 36" $75

Rectangle - K Approx. 23" x 38" $40

Checkerboard - L Approx. 25" x 40" $45

Large Rustic Star - J Approx. 50" $ 80

Country Blue Round - H Approx. 32" $ 60

Simple and Rustic - E Approx. 20" x 30" $40

Rustic and Rugged - D Approx.20" x 27" $60

These rugs are almost too pretty to wipe your cowboy boots on. They look great on hardwood or tile floors.

Woodburned key chain

2007-10-29T21:49:00.000-04:00

This is just an example of my woodburing. I do not usually make key chains.

2007-09-25T22:19:00.000-04:00

This is just a test post!