How to make DOLL HAIR with YARN easy tutorial!

Yarn Doll Hair Tutorial: learn how to make doll hair for a rag doll, Waldorf doll, or any kind of cloth doll!

waldorf doll blue dress blue wings pink hair with yellow sunflowers and blue sky in background pink waldorf doll weft

While I’ll be specifically discussing how to make a wig cap for the Waldorf doll pictured above, this is a great way to make some nice long hair (or short!) to adorn any dolls head!

This free crochet pattern and tutorial will create a yarn wefts for medium sized dolls, about 12″. Although — it’s easy to adjust to make a larger (or smaller!) size to attach to any doll, and I teach you how to easily make it for any doll size!

If you’re interested in making the butterfly ballerina doll pictured above, I have complete patterns and tutorials available to you for FREE, outfit/accessories included as an added bonus! See the bottom of this page for some convenient links, and be sure to check out all of my free doll patterns on the blog!

The way this pattern works: First, we’ll create a cap, attach it to the center of the head, and then we’ll take a piece of yarn to pull it through the cap. This will create the hair style of your choice for your doll!

While there are many different methods for attaching doll hair, I find this to be a much easier way if you have some basic crochet skills!

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Supplies Needed to make a waldorf doll weft:

Stitches Used in Pattern:

SC (Single Crochet)
Slip Stitch

Let’s jump right in!

pink skein of wool yarn with pink crochet hook and yellow dahlia on a white background making a waldorf doll weft

Chain 3. Slip stitch to join.

This is your easy “magic circle.”

If you’d prefer to make a magic circle, you can just do that instead.

Either way, continue in the center of the circle you made, and work in the round.

Important note: Be sure to crochet your stitches in the back loop only as seen in the photo below!

Now that you’re properly set up with a magic circle and know which loop you should crochet into, let’s make the cap for your Waldorf doll’s weft!

Round 1: 5 SC into the magic circle. Slip to join, place stitch marker. (5 stitches total)

Round 2: 2 SC into every stitch. Move marker, and continue to move marker with every round. (10 stitches total)

Round 3: (SC 1 time, 2 SC in next stitch) repeat to end (15 stitches total)

Round 4: (SC twice, 2 SC in next stitch) repeat to end (20 stitches total)

Round 5: (SC 3 times, 2 SC in next stitch) repeat to end (25 stitches total)

Round 6: (SC 4 times, 2 SC in next stitch) repeat to end (30 stitches total)

Round 7: (SC 5 times, 2 SC in next stitch) repeat to end (35 stitches total)

Round 8: (SC 6 times, 2 SC in next stitch) repeat to end (40 stitches total)

Round 9: (SC 7 times, 2 SC in next stitch) repeat to end (45 stitches total)

Round 10: (SC 8 times, 2 SC in next stitch) repeat to end (50 stitches total)

Round 11: (SC 9 times, 2 SC in next stitch) repeat to end (55 stitches total)

How to Adjust to ANY Size

At this point, the little cap that will soon become your weft is big enough to fit this 12″ doll’s head.

Alternatively, if you wish to make this weft for a larger waldorf doll, continue in the pattern above until the cap fits your doll’s head.

To increase the size of the weft, simply increase how many single crochets you begin each round with. I’ve underlined the number in the above pattern so you can easily see which number needs to change with each new round.

Or — if you are making a smaller waldorf doll — you can stop crochetting the cap earlier on in the pattern once it has reached the proper size for your doll’s head.

No matter how large or how small you make your waldorf doll’s weft, the next steps apply for all sizes.

Attach Hair to Cap

The cap you crocheted has two sides.

Flip the cap to the side you see in the picture above.

Note the horizontal “lines” that wrap around the cap.

Sew the cap onto the back of the head.

Think about your doll’s hair — do you want long yarn hair, short? Decide now on your length of hair.

The length of the hair will be double the length of each length of yarn strand.

You can use whatever kind of yarn you want, from acrylic yarn to cotton yarn, but my choice is wool!

If you’re making a Waldorf doll, know that traditionally, mohair yarn is used. (Waldorf dolls use all natural materials!)

Find a definitive spot on the doll that you can measure each lock of hair to.

Personally, I used the “hips” of the doll as my visual hair-length marker.

Then, starting close to the forehead, use your crochet hook to pull a yarn piece down to your desired length.

Pull a second strand of yarn to match the length, snip with scissors, and tie a double knot. You want to attach the next strand of yarn into the next loop of your crochet cap.

Make your way down the side of the face, all the way towards the base of the head. Then, continue going around in circles this way until you have attached the rest of the hair.

waldorf doll weft being made with red flower in background

Be sure you keep measuring each bit of hair to the proper length — the strands of hair towards the bottom back will be shorter than the strands all the way at the tippy top of the head.

Use those horizontal strands of yarn on the cap we mentioned earlier as a guide for attaching the hair to the doll head.

Attach one (double strand) of hair to each of these horizontal loops.

Depending on how thick or thin you would like your waldorf doll’s weft, you may decide to skip a row of these horizontal loops. You may opt to attach hair to “every other row.” You really don’t want more than a 1 inch gap between rows of hair! Otherwise, your doll will appear to have bald spots.

Continue attaching hair to your doll until the hair looks like you want it to.