Doll Hair Decisions

 I have an idea for my etsy shop of cloth nesting dolls.  Nesting dolls are those usually hollow wooden dolls where a smaller one ‘nests’ inside a little one.  Also known as Matryoshka dolls, they tend to be quite popular. I have already made some dolls similar which I called art dolls (a picture is below).

But I want to do some that look traditionally like the Russian nesting dolls.  Now these would be made of cloth not wood and they would not ‘nest’ inside each other. 

The one big difference in the face of the dolls pictured above and the one I want to make is that some hair will show on their face.  The big problem I have is how to quickly make the hair.  I would go to bed thinking of different ways to do the hair.

Do I applique some fabric to simulate hair, do I do some colored pencil or fabric market hair, or should I do a little embroidery for the hair?  There is a thought among quilts when deciding on fabric for borders, for example, which is to ‘audition‘ different border fabrics along your top.  Lay the top over the bolt of fabric and see which one looks the best.

So I decided to do that with different hair ideas.  I immediately eliminated the idea of appliqueing fabric for the hair.  The biggest face would be about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.  The idea of appliqueing something that small and then smaller for the medium and small dolls made me get a little panicky.  I am only average in my needle turn applique skills.

So for the other ideas of pencil, pen and embroidery, I drew out the biggest face on fabric, inked in the facial expression and then did the hair.  I did a different face for each pencil, pen and embroidery idea. 

The pencils were the first I tried.  I used two different browns.  (I also decided to do the faces in the same direction after I did the first one.).  I liked how it looked but am concerned about the textile medium I would use to make the pencil permanent.  If these dolls went to babies who might suck on them, the medium might be harmful. 

I then did the pigma pens.  I had a fine point pen and a “brush” pen.  My fine point was running out of ink so I couldn’t make it real dark.  When I showed it to a friend she said it looked like strains of hair and she liked that.  This wouldn’t need textile medium to make it permanent.  It just had to be heat set with an iron.

Then I tried the embroidery.  I did a long and short stitch which covered the whole area.  I liked how that look.  I then did pencil over the whole area and then did a stem stitch.  It gave it a good look but I liked the long and short stitch better (which is why I didn’t finish the entire hair area). 

So I am going with the embroidery.  I think I will use some of the pen underneath so if the dolls are played with a lot and the embroidery pulls out, it will still look like she has hair.

I am glad I auditioned the hair styles.  It gave me something to try and really see how it would look as opposed to imagining it in my head, or trying it on a completed doll.  So the next time you can’t make a decision, try auditioning your options.  It might make the decision easier for you.

©2021 Cheryl Fillion