Quick and Easy SM Travel Pockets

Hi all! Our first Friday guest post/tutorial is by me, Lynn Weber. When I moved from Montana to Texas in 2000 I let the movers take everything in the house except my models. I needed a simple way to pack my minis and I came up with these fleece pockets. If you can sew a straight stitch (machine or by hand), you can make these! All you need is a yard or two of nice soft fleece to make several. Each individual pocket typically ends up being between 4" x 4" and 4" x 5", but you can make them smaller for SM foals, or larger for bigger minis like the AA resins. I have used these for 12 years and the only casuality I've had was a resin mule (those ears!), so you have to make sure to wrap any ears or tails that need extra protection. If you have a horse with especially skinny legs you may want to add a little toilet paper to support them.

 

On to the instructions! Lay out your fleece in a single layer and decide how big you want your pockets to be, and how many horses you want in it. For this example I'm showing the process to make travel pockets that fit six (2 x 3). Take your fabric and lay out your models along it so you know how big to cut your fleece. I made this one two models wide, and six models long. I have a small tote that I use and I made my pockets to fit it. Most of the ones I use are 3 x 3. I just stack them right on top of each other, and you end up with two layers of fleece between the models because of the way they are stacked.

 

 

Now you are going to trim it to fit, leaving 1/4 - 1/2" extra for seams along the two longest sides. Fold as shown below.

 

 

 

Now lay your models out and make sure they all still fit. They should, so sew along the sides that are not folded. Then flip it inside out. It should still look pretty much the same, but you'll have nice smooth edges along those sides. 

 

 

Now you have six pockets, but you can't access two of them. Just take your scissors and go just to the side of your new seam and snip along side of it. Be careful not to cut too close to any of the edges, or through both layers. Now all your models can be put in the pockets. 

 

 And now you have what was shown at the top of the page.

 

You may wonder how the pockets with opening that face each other don't slide out and bump. I just fold it. You can even fold it in thirds, and that makes it easier to fit around larger models as well. 

 

 

 

I hope this helps some of you get your models to shows a little more safely.

 

 

Lynn