tutorial... doll wig. (simple)
today is your lucky day.
how many times have you wished you could apply real-ish looking hair to your cloth doll, but just couldn’t figure out how to do it and needed someone to show you? pinch yourself, because your wish has been granted.
*warning* this can get stressful and frustrating, so take the precautionary step of playing some soothing background music before you begin.
lets start out with a simple, part down the middle, two buns at the side hairstyle. for this, I am using a synthetic (kanekalon… I don’t know what this means) large pony tail that I bought from our local costume supply store. I’ve also seen them at wig shops. (I have one in my hair color for when I want a big ’60s style bun) they are rather reasonably priced.
the manufacturer thoughtfully rubberbanded the hair directly in the middle, and we only need half, so snip snip at the rubberband, put away the other half for later.
first, we have to measure just how long of a piece of hair we’ll need. with a pencil, I draw a line right down the center of the doll’s head, this will also be the stitching line. take a 4-5 inch width of tissue paper and measure out that length. give yourself a little extra at the ends. cut 2.
trim paper to length. then hold up your hair bundle and find the center. (see the photo of my friend Heidi in the background? she’s the one with the black hair, and her friend Nick has the white hair. she called herself a “female drag queen” and she hung out with actual drag queens and would go to gay bars with them and get hit upon by gay men and she would have to confess to being “100% woman.” she was a kick, and I miss her immensely.)
using one of your tissue paper lengths as a guide, lay the hair flat. the center of the hair bundle should be in the center of the paper. spread everything evenly over the length of the paper.
then place the second length of tissue paper on top. so now you have a tissue paper fake hair sandwich. I drew a line down the center of the top paper… maybe you should do that too.
now, I hope you took my advice and loaded up the cd player (or ipod for all you fancy, modern people) with some REAL soothing music, because now is when everything could quickly go to hell in a hand basket… we have to carefully pick up this mess and transport it onto the sewing machine and sew teeny-tiny stitches down the middle. synthetic hair is slippery as all get-out, so CAREFULLY lift it up. because I don’t have a really wide sewing platform like some quilters do, I placed a tin (could use a book or whatever) to act as a platform. (good gravy… wrong photo orientation… sigh)
okay, now the pressure is kind of off. if you did a good job, and the hair is evenly spaced, pat youself on the back. if not, start all over from the beginning. there is no redeeming it.
stitch to the left and to the right of the center line. just a presser foot’s distance.
now we need to rip away the top layer of paper… carefully! don’t pull the stitches, we want them to stay even.
use a pin or something to pick away ALL of the paper on the top side. take your time.
nice and clean
now fold it in half. (look at those nails of mine. gorgeous!)
with the original center row of stitches now at the center of the fold, stitch just a TINY, almost unmeasureable, distance to the left of the left row of stitches.
now let’s open up and see how we did.
not too good. can you see the line of stitching? we don’t want to see that. but all is not lost… fold back. this time, flip over to the other side and stitch down to the left of the last row of stitches.
let’s check again. perfect. no visible stitches.
now we have to peel off the tissue paper. hope the soothing music is still playing, because this can take a while… you’ve got several layers of stitches there. and don’t think you can cheat and not pick the paper bits all out. and also don’t think you can get away with not using the tissue paper in this whole wiggy nonsense…. you will have a big, frustrating, tangled mess on your hands.
while I’m picking out miniscule bits of tissue paper with a pin, let’s see what the doggies are doing…
Orla, the ragamuffin rescue dog, at my feet as usual…
Sally, the sensitive poet, composing monumental works of beauty in her head while observing the glory of nature.
now we are going to pin the line of hair down the center of the doll’s head (along the pencil line). hopefully everything is fitting nicely and you maybe have a tiny bit of extra length at the front and back, which will be folded over, giving you a nice neat hairline. hand stitch using heavier craft/button thread, NOT all-purpose thread. believe me!
and that’s it! you’re done!
well, you have to style the hair… I did braided buns, but you could just do pony tails or whatever. I stitch them firmly to the head right behind the ears so that they’re not flapping about. also, to cut down on the synthetic hair sheen, I dust it with ground cinnamon.
a big, fat pain, no? but worth it, because the doll looks fantastic.
(footnote: for reference… just googled kanekalon, which I probably should have done sooner. “Kanekalon hair is a pretty good quality. Most synthetic wigs are made of this fiber because it looks more realistic in regards to color and texture. However, Kanekalon hair seems to tangle and mat very easily.” it seems that lots of dreadlock extensions are made of this material (wish I had known this 15 years ago! I can vouch for the fact that it does tangle easily, as I use it for my own fashion requirements. so, keep this in mind when using it for the doll’s hair. in order to avoid a big tangled mess, it would be best to permanently “style” the hair in braids or whatever.)
