Martin gets hair

We finished Martin last weekend, but didn't manage to get any hair on him. We made him a toque to wear to school, but looking at him...well, you see what I mean.

Oldest is sick. He's got a terrible fever. Consequently we've not been out and about the way we usually are and I got some time to get going on finishing Martin up.

We started with wool (acrylic) that Oldest chose the colour of. I wrapped it on a piece of cardboard that was 1.5" X 12". I tried to keep the wraps relatively even, and NOT stretch the yarn as it went around the card. If the yarn is stretched at this stage, it will shrink up and not be all the same length once cut.

Once the cardboard was wrapped along it's full length, I stitched along the edge of it with my sewing machine using a blind hem foot, with the needle position moved over to the left a little. The goal was to stitch through each of the yarn wraps. I shortened the stitch length, too, just to be sure.

Once everything is firmly stitched, I cut through the wraps along the opposite edge to the one stitched. This gives a kind of mini feather boa-like fringe. For those of us born at the beginning of the '70's, it reminds us a little of carpets that we learned to crawl on...

I made about 8 of these little boa fringes, but in the end only ended up using 6.

The next bit was fun. Starting at Martin's crown, I stitched the fringes to his head in a spiral pattern. If I'd had my head screwed on tight I would have drawn a hairline guide right on his head before I began. Once I got stitching around in circles things got a little lopsided...the good news is that the lopsidedness was solved by just adding more fringe!

This is a point where you can stitch the fringes as close together or far apart as you want. I placed these ones about a 1/4" apart, closer at the crown. I didn't want anyone to be able to see any of the fabric through the 'hair'.

And so, Martin is ready. Not for his debut, as he has been telling jokes and doing some disco dancing ever since his arms and legs were attached. Ready, perhaps, for his close-up, Mr.Demille!

Now, once Oldest is feeling better, he'll have us all in stitches!

Have a great weekend,

Lisa