Little dude needs a little more hair!

Recently a gorgeous little guy arrived at my home and he needed a little hair repair!   His mohair hair was somewhat matted (maybe was washed & it felted?)… but the longer he was here the more I liked it, I was rather smitten with the little fellow!  And, so I decided to add some hair to the bangs/forehead line rather than replace the whole head of hair.   So… here is my little hair repair tutorial for this situation.  You can also use it to add bangs to a new doll.

Beginning!

First thread a metre/yard of the hair yarn you want to add into a blunt needle.  This is sometimes called a ‘yarn needle’ and it is a ‘ballpoint’ rather than a ‘sharp’.  You will want to use this kind of needle because if you choose to stitch the hair right into the doll knit a sharp needle can cause runs.  Next, stitch through the cap (or doll skin if you’re doing it that way) and pull the needle with yarn until you have a little bit of yarn left (the length you want your hair to be).  You will want to make this stitch small; if you check out all the arrows in the photo you can see where I put my needle in and where I pulled it out. 

pull yarn through & leave some at the end

Next you will need to anchor the yarn.  This is done by making a backstitch.  Instead of stitching forward (in the same direction) you will reverse direction and put the needle in between where it came out and the piece of yarn you left hanging.  Make this small, exit past your last exit point (going forward now), then pull tight.  This creates a little knot.  How do you know if it’s knotted?  You will not be able to pull the end piece of yarn out, it will be anchored.  The photo below shows the first exit point, plus a new entry point and exit.

make a knot

Next you will make a loop.  It’s made the same way as the knot process (backstitching), only you won’t pull it tight to a knot.  You will make this loop, then a knot, then a loop, then a knot, etc. until your yarn runs out (then rethread your needle to do more).  It is a series of loops and knots, and the purpose of the knots is to anchor the loops.  In the end you can cut the loops (like I did) or leave them as little loopy curls.

keep going; loop, knot, loop, knot, etc.

Loops all done!

Loops cut

Here he is, all done & ready to play!

hair makeover done!