Wigged Out

I've had a beautiful piece of white tibetan lamb skin for nearly a year but haven't used it because I was afraid of wig making. The piece was perfect for the doll I'm making for my art final so I took a deep breath and plunged in.

I had done some research on wig making before and the attempts I made at just making the wig form were awful. Tried wetting buckram and molding/darting it to the head - looked terrible and, boy, was it ever sticky! But I found an interesting picture/tutorial on Mimi Kirchner's blog (she's got hair) which I adapted for my doll.

What I did was take the basic measurements of my doll's head (hairline to nape) and cut out a piece of craft felt to size. Then I pinned it front and back to hold it in place. Using Mimi's technique I then took my little binder clips and pinched in darts - I only needed four - two by the temples and two by the nape of the neck. Took the felt off and drew lines where the binder clips were and then sewed the darts in. To draw the lines I took my trusty old tracing wheel and some wax-free transfer paper (you know - the stuff you used when you marked darts on clothing. First attempt fit but wasn't long enough in front after I sewed the darts - so I cut another rectangle of felt but added 1/4" to each measurement. Now to be absolutely honest this method makes a very strange, skewed pattern because the darts aren't even with each other. So I got kind of anal and made a paper pattern using the felt as a guide but I made this mathematically correct- making the darts opposite each other, same size, etc. Made another cap from this pattern and it fit fine. I then trimmed the felt piece while it was on the doll head so it was even all the way around. This then was my final pattern.

So then I needed to make a pattern from the felt piece to transfer to the skin. Felt is kind of flimsy to draw around - it moves. I scanned the felt pattern and printed it out on card stock.

I"m happy with this method and now I will start using that big bag of fur scraps that I have had for ages also!