Tada! To form a good head of hair, I ran a line of hair down the center of her wig cap and around the edges. I think that used about 50 strands or so.
Then I filled in every other stitch on the two rounds inside that, every third or so for the rest. Altogether, I think I used about 130 strands of yarn.
Chloe needs a little something up top. The other dollies are starting to make comments about the new gal with a face but no hair. Since dolls have tender feelings, I thought it best to get started.
Normally, I’d make a round wig cap, like this one on flickr, but these gals have flattish heads. I figured an oval cap would help a bit, and I really like the fit. I’m using worsted weight, but this could be done in any weight. Try on for fit as you go, and increase as needed. Remember: it will stretch, so aim for a close fit. Here goes:
Materials:
Worsted Weight yarn
Size F or G crochet hook (you can go smaller, if you crochet loose)
Doll wig
Wig will be worked in the round. Do not join rounds.
Work in Back Loops Only throughout pattern!
Ch 6, place marker (move to first st of each round)
Rnd 1: 3 sc in second ch, sc in next 3 ch, 3 sc in last ch, continue on back of chain: sc in next 3 ch. Do not turn. (12 sts).
Rnd 2: (2 sc in first 3, sc in next 3 sts) repeat, (18 sts).
Rnd 3: sc in first st, *2 sc in next 4 sts*, sc in next 5, repeat between *s, sc last 4; (26 sts).
Rnd 4: sc in 2 sts, *2 sc in next, sc in next 4, 2 sc in next*, sc in 7 sts, repeat between *s, sc in last 5 sts. (30 sts)
Rnd 5 (if your doll has a more round or football shape head alternate a round of sc with the enlarging rounds): sc in 3 sts, *2 sc in next, sc in next 4, 2 sc in next* sc in 9 sts, repeat between *s, sc in last 5 sts. (34 sts)
Rnd 6: sc in 3 sts, *2 sc in next, sc in next 6, 2 sc in next* sc in 9 sts, repeat between *s, sc in last 6 sts. (38 sts)
(Just a bit more):
Rnds 7: sc in 3 sts, *2 sc in next, sc in next 8, 2 sc in next* sc in 9 sts, repeat between *s, sc in last 6 sts. (42 sts)
Rnd 8 (more rounds as needed): sc evenly
For a plain cap, sc around for Rnd 9 -or- to add the loop stitch across the front (to give her bangs):
Rnd 9: (I know it sounds off balance, but we’re not keeping the beginning stitch lined up if we don’t join and turn when working in the round. The first stitch very slowly spirals back from center, and we started off center. ) sc in 11, loop st in 12 sts, sc in 19 sts, st in next 2 sts, cut yarn long (so it blends in with the hair you’ll add next, or finish by weaving in end).
I’m aiming to have the cap reach from the front of her face dart to her hairline:
Weave yarn in at least a little to secure stitching!
Now put that wig on the doll’s head. Sew around the edge with a backstitch, I like to knot occasionally, and then tack down several places in the middle until you’re satisfied that no Destructomatic can easily pop her hair off.
And if the ornery kid wants pink hair, the first wig cap can go to another doll!
Next thing will be to decide on her hairstyle and latch-hook-style some hair on!
We love this game!! Obessively Stitching has a tutorial on how to make these in fleece. If I’d remembered, id have made this on the bias because I just used regular quilter’s cotton. The children want me to make green pigs, and MissC has me crocheting a blue bird.
In yesterday’s post, the new doll is wearing a jumper and tutu. Yep, that’s Stitch’s dress for her amigurumi doll. Again, I crocheted it awhile ago, but I didn’t like the buttons I had. I found these the other day when I was at the fabric store. They’re the perfect green post buttons.
The tutu was simple to make. I bought a roll of 6″ wide tulle from the wedding/floral section of the local craft store. I picked yellow to go with her dress. I just sewed a long basting thread for a while and gathered it up. When I stopped gathering, the edge was too long to wrap around her waist just once, so I loosened the gathers until they wrapped around her twice. Then I pinned the skirt and marked it in quarters. I cut an elastic the size of the doll’s waist, overlapped the ends and sewed it, then marked that in quarters. I pinned the elastic to the tulle at the marked points and found that I needed to pin more to keep it in place as I sewed. Then I used a 3 step zigzag (wavy line on my machine) and stitched the elastic in. My basting thread didn’t want to come out, so I just stretched the waistband till it popped and voila: super quick tutu.
MissB found the pieces she needed for her dress pattern. She dutifully cut out enough pieces to make a dress and she used the machine to sew them together. Right sides out. Seams blazing in the sun. But she couldn’t figure out why the skirt was so much wider than the top! Finally, she asked for assistance. I helped her gather it, and showed her that if she put the right sides together, the seam is smoother when done. She did a great job!!
The day I gave MissB her doll, the eye went missing. I was at a loss. How do I replace the eye without removing the hair or going in through the neck? It would be a fiasco of stuffing everywhere and wonky seams! MissB solved it by making her an eyepatch.
Finally, it dawned on me:
I had two blues and I picked the darker, but grabbed the wrong one! Oh well, I think it looks fine, and if she loses her other eye, I can (hopefully) still match it.
When my MIL was here, she’d let the girls pick a new pattern each. MissB chose McCall M5554. I managed to cut it out while Grandma was here, and now the girls have a new doll dress.
Every so often I shop for old patterns. Once I found an adorable size 2T dress. It had a scalloped neck edge with a few buttons, and it seemed to be a crossover bodice that continued onto just the front of the skirt. The sides and back were gathered for fullness. In the Great Craftroom Gutting, the pattern pieces were lost. How? I have no clue!! The instruction sheet remained neatly in its special tomb-like bag, but the pieces are gone.
On many of the older patterns, the pieces are drawn nearly to scale. So, off to the scanner I went and enlarged the page 200%. Our victim? Dora!!
She needs a new shirt, apparently. First order of business: mend the shirt!
Okay, so the pieces aren’t perfectly to scale, but they’re close enough. I tossed the facings after noticing they were quite ill sized for this. Facings patterns are easy enough: just trace the pattern piece that needs facing, but just leave off what would be a couple/few inches from the edge. In this case, about a quarter to half inch. 
Oh no! I’ve put the sleeve on the wrong way! No loss without gain: there’s one of the facings we just discussed.
I fumbled through the pattern, looking at directions only when completely muddled. I should have read step 3. It’s made to be a pullover dress with ties for sizing. I thought it was buttoned closed, so I hadn’t entertained the idea of connecting the bodice halves before sewing the skirt together. Dress makers in the day were clever!!
For Dora, I shortened the skirt by about a third, and could have shortened the waist by a scallop. I think it worked out nice, and I’d like to make it another 200% bigger for the doll I recently made.
when MissC saw Dora in her fancy new dress, she decided Boots needed a new shirt, so he was given Dora’s hand-me-down. That’s a little sister.
Like a freakish butterfly emerging from its cocoon..
“Just taking a breather..”
I’ve adjusted the body shape some. This is the doll pattern I used to make Chloe last week. I shaped her sides and neck. Somehow I managed to attach her arms at an angle and she looks perpetually ready to either hug or dismember anyone in proximity.
Side by side, “I don’t understand why my sister thinks I’m prettier, at least she has a face.”
They both can sit, the new one a little better than Chloe. When I quick fixed the head to fit the neck, I didn’t fix the whole seam, so her head’s a bit pointy on back. No worries, that’s what hair is for!
I often leave doll faces blank. It could be laziness, but I’m more fond of the idea that the doll needs to show her personality and sometimes I don’t know what it is yet. I left the Olive and Archie dolls’ faces blank for years, and one day MissB drew on hers and I just evened it out. The face is just right.
This doll is a replacement.. Years ago, I dismembered MissA’s doll. I hadn’t realized that it was so loved.. I’ll really have to dig to find that post. Anyway, so I chopped up a doll for her pattern. I enlarged it, cut out the pieces, then had it tucked away to work on during TJ’s guitar classes. Then TJ started riding his bike to class and my stitching remained unseen. Until last week. While Grandma (my MIL) was here, I came across the bag and stitched up the doll with the machine.
MissA was set to the task of drawing the doll’s new face. She had several practice goes and came back with what she wanted: a unibrow. Oh dear.