Embroidering Bojack Horseman

When my Grandma use to babysit me when I was little she would teach me everything! From her I learned how to bake, sew, knit, and even embroidered. The problem, though, when I was a kid, it is very hard for an eight year old to stick with a hobby that is very detail oriented so I ended up giving up my sewing, knitting, and embroidering. There has been there has been a huge push inside of me yearning to get back to those three crafts.

Slowly, I started gathering my materials at thrift and antique stores to pick up there hobbies again. I ended up buying a huge box of embroidery thread and hoops at an antique store. Once I got my materials I knew I wanted to embroider a knit hat. I sat down with all of my materials including my sketchbook.

There were so many designs I wanted to do instantly, characters I felt a special connection with. In the end I decided on Bojack Horseman because his character is very real and raw. I know that he connects with not only me, but with many people.

Once Bojack was the design of choice I had to practice drawing my design on paper. This took much longer than I expected. I had so many attempts of him that weird extremely bad I had to stop mid-stitch and start again. I got closer and closer to the design I saw in my head until I finally got one I loved.

Unfortunately, the hat I bought was to thick to see a sharpie outline on a piece of paper on the other side of the fabric. I went to my backup plan and tried to draw the outline on the hat in pencil, that didn’t work either. So after both my plans failed on how to get my Bojack outline seen on/through the fabric I decided to do the only option I had left and I went freehand. I was terrified to mess up my embroidery, but there was such a creative drive in me I continued on.

After staring at my drawing, I made my first stitch- the top of one of Bojack ear. Even though I had my sketch on paper to try to follow I was nervous every stitch, yet ever stitch I could see more and more of Bojack on the hat. I finished the outline and was pleasantly pleased to see my work after giving up this craft for years. I choose the colors for Bojack and started to add more thread to him and saw him come to life.

I wore my embroidered hat out the next day. I was so proud of my work and I needed to show it off right away. When I was in a store one of the employees even asked if that was Bojack on my hat! I knew my hard work was a success one someone I didn’t know recognized the design.

This is one of my favorite pieces in my closet now and right in time for the colder weather coming up. It’s not the best piece of embroidery on Earth, but it makes me smile and isn’t the whole part of having a wardrobe is to have pieces that make you feel great and smile?

In the comments down below let me know what piece of your wardrobe you have that makes you smile!