HOW TO MAKE YARN DOLL HAIR

An easy tutorial explaining how to make doll hair from yarn. Ideally suited for adding hair to rag dolls and other homemade soft toys.

I thought I’d share my little impromptu project to upgrade Emma’s doll ‘Memma’, who was badly in need of a new hairstyle and sadly a little bit neglected.

Emma loves Jemima from Play School and I had some dark brown yarn laying around that was ideally suited to a Jemima hair style on our little rag doll.

Instead of sewing the yarn together. I used a very basic crochet stitch to create a sort of little wig from the yarn and create a central part in the yarn hair.

You will need:

• Large Book or piece of cardboard.
• Brown Yarn – or yarn in hair colour of choice.
• Crochet hook (sized between 4mm to 6mm).
• Needle and thread.

How to Make Yarn Hair for a doll

1. Wrap the yarn around a large book or cardboard piece to create an even layer of yarn.

Note: If you would like longer hair use a large piece of cardboard to wrap yarn around. The longer the wrap the longer your finished hair length. For fuller coverage use more yarn.
Try mixing yarns for interesting colour or textural effects.

2. Use a crochet hook and with some extra yarn crochet a tight slip stitch across the centre to create a part and hold the strands together. I did this on the top and bottom of the book then the ends.

3. Securely hand sew along the centre part on to the doll scalp.

4. Style the yarn hair in to two side pony tails and tie them off with yarn.  Then stitch the ponytails in place to secure the hairstyle. Longer yarn hair can be styled with plaits if desired.

Memma has been renamed Jemima and is getting lots of cuddles that’s a crafting win in my eyes. Now I have to to something about her awfully garish wardrobe!

KNITTING PATTERN

My friends at American Yarns have set me a challenge this month create a project with one of their best selling products Bernat Blanket yarn. Of course I could have made a blanket but instead I harnessed the absorbent power of this chenille yarn’s microfiber material to make a spa style hair wrap, perfect for using after showering instead of a bulky cotton towel.

I love waltzing around in a turban and now that winter has set in this hair wrap is ideally suited to keeping my head warm after my Aqua Aerobics classes. I hate going outside with wet hair in the cold weather but it’s a pain to dry with the crappy hairdryers at the gym so my turban is the perfect solution for keeping the chill off till I can dry my hair properly at home. More stylish than a towel, and won’t get soggy like a woollen beanie.

It’s also great for using over a plastic shower cap with your conditioning treatments or to keep dry hair away from your face when putting on makeup or a skin treatment mask. When it gets dirty just throw it in the wash.

You could also make a smaller child size version for your kids to wear after swimming.

I’m the youngest member of the Aqua Aerobics class but with my trusty turban I totally look the part. Next I may graduate to one of those cute vintage swimming floral swim caps – I’m embracing my ‘old lady chic’.