Making doll hair?

[ShannonCC]

I mean plain old rag dolls (think Raggedy Ann) not the waldorf dolls.

I have a vague memory of my Grandma wrapping a bunch of yarn around paper (?) and then sewing a line down it, removing the paper, folding the yarn over the stiching and hand sewing it to the doll head. Repeat til you have a head full of curls.

Does this sound right? I'm wondering if it's cardboard, not paper, but in that case, how would you sew through it? I don't think paper would be stiff enough to wrap the yarn but I think cardboard would be too stiff for what I'm envisioning so I'm at a loss here.

Help?

[ShannonCC]

I figured it out In case anyone is interested, it's here http://www.masseysewing.com/projects/kids/rag_doll.html Scroll toward the middle to the "cardboard frame for making hair".

[Basylica]

I saw this post and i've been trying to learn to knit for the past 2 months or so (I get like 2 hours a month...lol) and the first thing that came to mind when frogging my practice bit was the mention of a rag doll with hair that had been knit and raveled in the little house book (little house in the big woods, the first one)

And ever since i've decided that once I have a little girl i'm going to try and make a charlotte replica doll with "wooly hair that was knit and raveled" for her

I actually made a pattern for a rag doll that is roughly the same size as a skipper doll (i'd made tons of period clothing for my sister's dolls when I was like 14/15 by hand) and stuffed it with sawdust I got from the shop teacher at my HS.
My mom embroidered on faces with really basic stitches (you should SEE my xmas stocking she did when she was 22, it's FAMAZING...this was beyond simple compared to that!) and I did the hairdos for the 3 dolls I'd made.
One I did pieces of embroidery floss that I seperated out and stitched on one by one, tying a small knot in each. The second was tea-dyed and I did hair just at the top thickly and did braided pigtails down her head and gave her a indian headband, and the third I did the same way with hair at the scalp only (basically the dolls head was 2 pieces and i'm sewing right around the seam on the back portion) and then did some running stitches across the back of her neck to hold the hair flat, then sewed a bun of floss ontop of those stitches.

They all still look really good, depsite going to civ war re-enactments with me and being played with

[Meiri]

When I've made cloth dolls, I just sewed the yarn on directly. I do a back row or two, stitching as I measure each section of yarn to the approximate length I want the hair to be. Along the top of the head I loop in both directions for bangs (the doll bodies I have are flatish btw) again stitching as I go. I cut the hair after I'm done, do a braid or two along a side if I want...

To keep cotton yarns from unravelling, I do have to put a single knot at the end of each strand. I got sort of a dreadlocks effect for one doll by using a really neat two part textury yarn in two shades of brown.

[nym]

I'm so worried about the dolls hair. I think I am going to do it like Shannon posted, but I dont know. I am making a boy doll. you think it would be okay with lots of curly hair?

I'm trying to get this done for Xmas!

[3_opihi]

I'm making some dolls and their hair looks terrible I think I'm just going to have to knit little beanies to go over the tops of their head, then have pigtails coming out. I hope it doesn't look too weird.

I can do the seaming up the middle just fine- its attaching it to the head that I'm having trouble with.

[muse]

nym, I'm also mama to Kai! And I just made him a boy doll. I think the trick is getting the right kind of wool. My pattern recommended a blend of 1/3 mohair and 2/3 medium weight pure wool. I couldn't find the mohair in the colour I wanted but there is some lovely, very lifelike stuff out there. I used two different colours (yellow and light brown) of medium weight wool.
First I sewed on bangs (at the hairline, width from one eye to the other) that went over the top all the way to back of head, keeping it shoulder length. I then sewed on two more layers of hair, sewing down the top centre and about 2inches below that all the way round the head. the final layer was sewn on just at the centre. I kept it all pretty long to start and then cut it pretty much the same way as my son's. Short bangs curving around the face and layers around the rest. I didn't like it while I was working on it but now I think it looks great, especially now it's a bit more "tousled"!

[3_opihi]

I'm a mama to Kai too! Well, we call him Kai for short. Isn't it the most beautiful name? I'm making him a baba doll from magic cabin. Thank goodness I don't have to sew hair on that one.

[ShannonCC]

[QUOTE=nym]I am making a boy doll. you think it would be okay with lots of curly hair?[QUOTE]


Well, since one of my dolls is going to my curly headed son my vote would be why not? :LOL

My dd has straight hair and I wondered for a minute if I should make her doll with straight hair. I'm making both of them curly though. I like the way it looks.

I'm calling them "fairy babies" since they are totally un-natural. DS's doll has thick, chenille yarn purple hair and DD's is a very fine, sparkly lavender (and purple eyes!).

[muse]

Originally Posted by mamamaya

I'm a mama to Kai too! Well, we call him Kai for short. Isn't it the most beautiful name? .

Boy, we're both Maya's, mamas to Kai's?! Only on mothering, eh?! So, what's it short for? OK, sorry for hijack...

[3_opihi]

Hehe...actually, I'm a May, only there was already a mamamay, so I put an A after it, because my first name starts with A. Confusing enough, eh?

Kai is short for Makai. It means "by the sea". Interestingly enough, I'm due with a baby any day now, and if its a girl, we were going to give her the middle name of Solstice Sorry, I swear I'm not stalking you! :LOL

Ok, back on topic....