Left Facing Seahorse Tutorial

The basic preparation for a left facing seahorse is the same as for one that faces right...but I will go ahead and repeat it here.  This seahorse is based on a .75 inch grid and its finished size is 6 by 13.5 inches. There are three colors: a bit of black/dark for the eye, the background fabric (in this example BLUE) and the seahorse color (in this example pink).


First, cut one piece of black or very dark fabric that is 1.25 by roughly 1.5 to 2 inches for the eye.

Next, we'll cut the main fabric, the blue background and the pink seahorse.

To start, I cut three strips from both the BLUE (background) and PINK fabric. From each fabric, cut a 2.75 inch, a 2 inch and a 1.25 inch strip.

From the 2.75 inch BLUE strip, I cut:

one 2.75 by 5 inch rectangle
one 2.75 inch square
one 2.75 by 2 inch rectangle

From the 2 inch BLUE strip I cut:

two 2 by 3.5 inch rectangle
six 2 inch squares

From the 1.25 inch BLUE strip I cut:
one 1.25 by 9 inch strip
nine 1.25 inch squares (for flip triangles)

plus extra 1.25 lengths of the BLUE that will be sewn then trimmed. At least 18 inches.
(If you want to pre-cut these instead of strip piecing: cut one 1.25 x 3.5 rectangle and a 1.25 x 2.75 in rectangle.)

Next, for the PINK fabric:

From the 2.75 inch PINK strip I cut:

one 2.75 by 6.5 inch rectangle
one 2.75 by 2 inch rectangle

From the 2 inch PINK strip I cut:

one 2 inch square
one 2 by 4.25 inch rectangle

From the 1.25 inch PINK strip, I cut:

two 1.25 by 2.75 inch strips
one 1.25 by 9 inch strips
nine 1.25 in squares
two short lengths somewhere between 1.5 and 2 inches for the eyes.

plus extra 1.25 lengths of the PINK that will be sewn then trimmed.
(If you would like to pre-cut this, cut one 1.25 by 4.5 in. strip, one 1.25 by 2 in. strip, one 1.25 by 2.75 in. strip and 1.25 by 3.5 in. strip. These are for the tail and back of the head.)


Let's start with the eye:

Sew the 1.25 by 2 inch (or so) length of black inside the 1.25 by 2 inch (or so) lengths of purple. Trim across the three strips so they are 1.25 inch long. You end up with a rectangle that is 1.25 by 2.75.

This is the same step as the right facing seahorse so I used the same photo...and that's why the fabric is different. So just for this step, pretend purple is pink.

Next, we have to construct the seahorse building blocks. Because we are changing the seahorse direction, the flip triangles are sewn to different corners as shown in the diagram.

The next step is much easier than it looks. I have laid it out to correspond with the seahorse (kind of) so you can see how it will go together. But really you are making the basic building blocks of the seahorse.

A: Sew the 1.25 by 9 inch pink strip to the 1.25 by 9 inch blue strip. After its sewn and ironed, cut the paired strip into two 3.5 inch lengths and one 1.25 inch length.

B: Sew a 1.25 inch pink flip triangle to three 2 by 2 inch squares of blue. (As a reminder, a flip triangle is a square that is sewn along the diagonal in the corner of another square. The inner part of the purple square is ironed over the sewn line to make a triangle. The bottom two layers are trimmed away leaving a quarter inch seam.)

C: Sew a 1.25 inch blue flip triangle to one of the 1.25 by 2.75 inch strips. See diagram for direction. This is the seahorse's back fin.

D: Sew three 1.25 inch pink flip triangles to the 2 by 2.75 inch blue square. This is the section just under the seahorse's back fin.

E: Sew three 1.25 inch blue flip triangles to a 2 by 2 inch pink square. This is the ear or whatever that is on the top of the seahorse's head.

F: Sew a 2 inch blue square onto the 2 by 2.75 inch pink square. See diagram for the direction. This is the seahorse's forehead.

G: Sew a 1.25 inch blue flip triangle to the bottom left corner of the 2 by 4.25 inch pink square. Then sew a 2 inch blue flip triangle to the top right corner. See diagram for the direction. This is the seahorse cheek and nose.

H: Sew a 2 inch blue square to the top right corner of the large 2.75 by 6.5 pink rectangle. Next sew the 2.75 inch blue square to the bottom right corner. See the diagram for the direction. This is the seahorse's belly.

At this point, all the flip triangles are ironed and trimmed.

Next, we will sew some of the building blocks together so we can see the seahorse take shape.

1.  Sew the eye piece to the bottom of seahorse forehead (F).

2. Sew the ear piece (E) to the top of one of the long pink/blue strip sets.

3. Sew the short pink/blue strip set to B3 (as shown in the diagram). This is the tip of the nose.

4. Sew C to its pink strip companion to make the back fin.

5. Sew D to the top of the second long pink/blue strip set to form the bottom of the back fin and the top of the tail.

Next, let's build the seahorse face.

The forehead and eye component is going to be the center where we build all around it starting with a partial seam.

Take the seahorse cheek (G) and partially sew it to the bottom of the eye as shown in the diagram. Next take a 1.25 inch strip of pink, and sew it the full length from the top of the forehead to below the cheek.

 Cut away the excess pink strip, trimming it to align with the seahorse cheek.

Next, sew a 1.25 inch blue strip across the top of the seahorse's head.

First, trim the blue strip that was sewn to the top of the component. Next, sew a 2 by 3.5 inch blue rectangle to the left side of the component (also known as the seahorse forehead).

Then finish up by completing the partial seam, sewing the seahorse cheek component to the blue rectangle.

Now its time to tackle the tail.  This will follow a basic log cabin construction built around one of the 2 inch blue squares with a single pink flip triangle (B2).

1. First sew the pink strip to the left side of of the B2 square. Trim.

2. Next, sew the pink strip to the top side of the B2 square. Trim.

3. Next, sew two 1.25 inch blue square flip triangles to the top corners. Iron back and trim.

4. Sew a blue strip to the right side and trim.

1. Sew a 1.25 inch pink square as a flip triangle to the bottom right corner.

2. Sew a pink strip along the bottom and trim.

3. Sew two 1.25 inch blue squares as flip triangles to the bottom corners.  Iron back the flip triangles and trim the excess in the back.

Your seahorse tail should look like this.

Now, lay out the pieces as shown. In this example, the top of the back fin has been sewn to the bottom fin/top of tail.

1. Sew the back ear piece to the seahorse head.

2. Sew the nose piece to a 2.75 by 5 inch blue rectangle.

3.  Sew the last B square to the bottom back tail.

4.  Sew a 2 by 3.5 inch blue rectangle to the left side of the tail.

 1. Sew the head pieces together.

2. Sew the center front blue piece to the seahorse belly.

1. Sew the belly section to the tail.



1. Sew the back lower section of the seahorse to the front lower section.

2. Sew the head to the body.

And now you have a left facing seahorse!