a DIY clown wig

This year for Asher's Halloween costume, he is going to be a clown, inspired by a clown puzzle we have.  I decided to try my hand at making him a wig, and a balding wig at that, and wanted to share my process for all future cute little clown costumes!  

I have seen DIY yarn wigs, but had a vision of bigger loops, (not made with yarn) from the beginning, and was thinking of using strips of felt.   Before I got as far as purchasing the felt, I found this  jersey ribbon, that did the trick perfectly.  If you don't want to make a balding wig, like I did, you can easily continue this process until it fully covers the head, making a full head of red hair. 

SUPPLIES:

green yarn, red jersey yarn (or strips of felt!), neutral jersey fabric, (or an old pair of leggings, like I used) colorful felt for flower, and hat, ribbon, curved needle, small piece of wire, clear elastic, hot glue gun, thread, sewing machine, and needle to hand sew.

STEPS:

1. Trace a circle to the size you would like the brim of that hat to be, cut out, (mine is 4" in diameter) and cut a rectangle, to make the hat.  (My rectangle is 2" wide, 9" long.) Connect the ends of the rectangle with pins, and hand sew that closed.  Once this is done, trace the inner part of the piece, to make the top portion of the hat.  Hot glue the inner circle to the sewn rectangle (making the hat), and then hot glue that piece to the bigger circle, for the brim of the hat.

2.  Wrap the small piece of wire with green yarn.  Before you start to wrap, you can tie a knot to keep the yarn in place, then wrap all the way to the end, and tie another knot.  These will be covered later.  Cut out circles to make the petals of the flower, and hand sew them together.  

3.  Hot glue the petals to the yarn covered wire.  Hot glue the flower stem to the hat.  Measure the size of ribbon you will need to wrap around the hat.  Hot glue the ribbon onto the hat, covering the green stem of the flower. 

4.  Cut a lot of small strips of jersey ribbon.  These will become your wig 'curls'.  I didn't really measure mine, just kept them around the same size, about 2-3 inches long.  Set aside.  

5.  I had some (kinda) skin colored leggings, and cut them to use the leg portion as the base of the wig.  Once I put it on Asher's head, and did a basic measurement of the size it needed to be, I laid it down flat and cut it round, across the top.  Sew it with your sewing machine to close it off.  (Make sure to sew wrong side out!)  Sew a strip of clear elastic on either side, where the child's ears will be. 

6. Once the base of the wig is sewn and ready, draw with a sewing marker a basic line to where the hair line will be.  Pin 4-5 of your jersey ribbon pieces at a time and sew with your machine.  (Or more, really.)  Once those are sewn, pin another row right next to the line you just finished, and sew again.   Continue to sew the jersey ribbon strips until you have filled your wig to your liking!

7.  Try the wig on your little one, and hold the hat to where you would like it to be.  Mark the spot with a marker, and then take the wig off, and sew the hat on the wig on the spot you marked.  It worked best for me to use a curved needle.  

8.  The hat should be nice and secure to the wig when done sewing it on.  

 

And the wig is done!  Once the wig is on your little guy, trust me, you won't be able to stop smiling at the cuteness!  Surprisingly, my boy keeps it on, and doesn't seem to notice it.  I am excited to share his full costume next week.

Enjoy!