Making Ellie: Flowing Strands of Yarn

I knew I wanted Ellie's hair to be fun. I couldn't find a tutorial on how to make hair for a girl puppet out of yarn on Adam's website so I scoured the internet and found this video. It was a helpful resource to get me started. 

Ellie is an Earth Protector, so I wanted her hair to represent the Earth using sea blues, emerald greens, sky blues, and mountain greens. Moana's Te Fiti was my inspiration. 

First, I made a template to wind the yarn around. I used cardboard from an old box. I started with aqua blue and kept adding color by color. To add more dimension, I used different textures of yarn. 

Once I finished winding, I slid a rectangle-shaped piece of cardboard under the yarn and attached my tape. I did this on both sides and then cut the bottom edge of the yarn. 

Next, I got a scrap of green fleece and placed it in between the two strips of tape. This helped secure the yarn as I put it through the sewing machine. I got two inches into sewing when the needle broke! I guess the needle was no match for the yarn. I hand sewed the rest. 

After sewing I flipped it over. I was so happy with how it came out. I thought I would need to make multiple pieces to fully cover the head, but I didn't because it was so thick. It was perfect! I trimmed the back of the hair to make it straight then pinned it to Ellie's head and started sewing it on.

Look at that! It proves that if you have perseverance, you can do anything! Sesame Street, here I come!

Ellie is a real character now. I can't wait to play with her. 

Next up, I need to make her arms and legs, and put an outfit on her! We are almost there!