yarn hair on a dolly

Hey y'all,

I know at least a few of y'all have made dollies...  maybe you can help?  I made a doll for my girl, and it turned out pretty cute, I was pleasantly surprised.  But the hair...  oh, the hair!  I bought some yarn, super soft and nice, and got it somewhat sewn together, so that it was kind of a flat sheet of yarn (does that make sense?).  Then I sewed that, by hand, onto the dolly's head.  So far so good...  it didn't look that nice until I put pigtails in, and then she was a super-cute little thing.  Great!  But then on day one of Meg playing with the doll, she carried it around by the hair (also dropped it in a mud puddle, but that's a separate issue), and the hair went all wonky, mainly I think because it was only attached at the part and down where the pigtails were tied.

So that's how I did it, but it wasn't really a success once the play started.  I'm thinking to try again, probably with a new dolly because this one had some structural issues, but how have y'all done doll hair?  I really like the yarn I purchased, so I'd like to use it, but how in the world do you make it work??

thanks for any advice or tidbits of experience you can share!

-holly

I vaguely remember making Raggedy Anne and Andy dolls and threading the yarn through a large needle, then making one stitch into the doll's head, cut the yarn at the desired length, but a tad bit longer, then tie a knot in it and do that all over the doll's head.  Or you could just make a big stitch so it is on the outside of the head to cover the head part then have the lengths at the bottom.  Here is a pic of what I meant:

Also, most little girls carry their dolls by the hair and no matter what you do, it's going to look messy in no time, but they do not mind!

Sharon

Oops, I forgot to post the link:

http://www.raggedysmiles.com/patterns.html

Sharon

Coincidentally I just made a doll with yarn hair today.  I made it from a UK book from 1979.  It tells you to make a very very long braid (about 6 ft for a smallish head doll).  You then sew the braid kind of flat against the doll's head, shaping it and sewing it as you continue to coil it around the doll's head.  This turned out to be a really good method as my doll ended up with cute hair that is really attached well.  It does take some doing though--I used a rug needle and needle-nose pliers to help me pull the sewing yarn through the braid and the muslin.  I hope this helps!

The Crafty Sheep has a great tutorial on making easy yarn doll hair.  It is such a simple process that you'll ask yourself, "Why didn't I think of that?" 

The process is super quick, you can make virtually any hairstyle from it, and I'm pleased with the results.  I'm finishing up my doll tonight, so check out my blog to see what hairstyle I choose.

Here's the link to the tutorial:

http://starrysheep.com/crafty/?p=103

This site has a whole book on how to make doll hair:  http://www.joyswaldorfdolls.com/dollmaking_supplies/wig_making_instruction_book.htm.
A good friend of mine makes beautiful waldorf-style dolls and she uses this book.  Basically, you crochet a hair cap which is hand stitched to the doll's head.  Then depending on the style you want, you insert lengths of yarn by tying them to the cap.  The best part is that if the hair gets matted or dirty or whatever, you can cut the yarn off and insert new hair! 
I'm about to make my little one a doll and have ordered my supplies from Joy.  Everything I ordered was great especially her hair yarn!  Since my daughter has curly hair, I ordered the bouclez (http://www.joyswaldorfdolls.com/dollmaking_supplies/yarn_for_doll_hair.htm) and absolutely LOVE it!.

Hope this helps!