My Little Waifu Plushies

Hair Lines Tutorial

When I first started making
plushies, the thing that took me Drawing Guides for Hair Line Placement
Lea
ve O

the longest to figure out was

pen

how to do the hair lines prop-

erly.

‘Hair lines’ are lines often

drawn on simple hair to give
it more detail. These lines are
represented on the pattern
pieces as dotted lines.
SIDE
MANE
2x (1mirror)
This tutorial is intended for
use with a sewing machine,
but if you don’t have a sewing
machine and would like to add
hair lines, you can also do them by hand with a run- To make the hair lines, first trace and cut out your
ning stitch. Just be careful to make your stitches extra fabric pieces.
tidy since they will be visible on the outside. Since
it isn’t going under a machine any stabilizer is not
needed.

On the backside, draw some guidelines where
you want the stitches to go. It is best to use a
water soluble or heat erasable pen.
You can cut some grooves in the paper pattern
pieces and use them as a stencil for where to
draw the lines.
If you are sewing pretty much straight down with
the nap, you don’t need stabilizer, but if it’s a
little more complex, stabilizer may be needed.
To use it, pin the stabilizer on top of backside of
the fabric, then draw the guide lines on top of the
stabilizer. You can also put it underneath touching
the front of the piece, but it’s hard to remove all
the tear away bits and would show on the front.
Here’s a simple shortcut if you don’t need a stencil to draw the
lines.

Put your piece nap side up with stabilizer underneath. Use the
nap to your advantage and use something thin like a seam
ripper to gently draw some guide lines in the nap. As you sew
the nap will flatten down. This doesn’t work very well for hair
that needs water soluble stabilizer, but it works in most cases.

Sewing the Hair Lines

There are 3 methods for making hair lines:

1. Regular stitches; I sometimes do this as a preliminary

step when doing the satin stitches.
Method 2:
2. Stitch though the finished sewn piece. This is probably
the simplest method, however you cannot stuff the hair
with this method, so it is limited.

3. Satin stiches, the most common and in my opinion, best

looking option.

Method 1:

The second way to do hair lines is sewing straight

through hair pieces that are already sewn together.

Once you have your hair pieces sewn, select a normal

stitch and sew through it to create hair lines. No tear
away stabilizer is necessary, but water soluable may be
used.

To sew a regular stitch type hairline, follow your guide- Use regular sewing thread for this, not embroidery
lines and use a regular stitch. Larger stitch length is thread as it isn’t as strong and your thread will be
preffered if you want to see your thread color. vsible on both sides.

Tou can use embroidery thread or regular sewing Either ladder stitch the opening end of the piece closed
thread, bu keep in mind that if you sew with the nap before sewing the hair lines, or leave a little bit of
down, your bobbin thread is what will show on the space near the opening to tuck the edges in to sew
front side. them shut after.

Here is what it looks like finished. If you are sewing When using this method, it’s best to draw in the guide-
against the nap at any point (like with Pinkie’s curls) lines gently against the nap. Since you don’t need to
you should put some water soluble stabilizer on top of worry about getting both sides symmetrical you have a
the nap. little more room for error.
 Method 3:
Stitch Width and Length

There are many different ways to do satin stitching but it

must be done nap side up. If you need precise guidelines,
use method 1 to first to draw them directly on the front side
of the minky. Always test out your stitching on a scrap be-
fore doing it on final the hair piece. The settings I prefer for
beanies are 2.0mm width and 0.6mm length. (#3)

#4 is 2.0mm width is 0.4mm length. Subtle difference, but

there is less of a gap in between the stitches. #2 is 2.5mm
width and 0.8mm length. For comparison #1 is a regular
running stitch.

When doing satin stitches, especially the more dense ones, it’s best to put your machine near as fast as it
can go to get the smoothest lines. If you go too slowly your lines are more likely to have tiny bumps in it.

Some machines can’t handle a high stitch density, and it’s easier to control the lines the larger the stitch
length is. Since the machine is putting down less stitches it can move faster so lines are smoother.

The most important thing when doing satin stitches is to treat it like embroidery. When I do satin stitches,

I use tear away stabilizer beneath the fabric, embroidery

bobbin thread, and embroidery thread for the upper
thread. Stabilizer is essential otherwise your fabric will
warp like crazy under the high stitch density. I also some-
times use water soluble stabilizer on top if I will be sewing
against the nap of the minky (like doing the curls in Pinkie’s
hair).

You could get away with using regular thread but only for
the lower density satin stitches (such as 0.8mm to 1.0mm
stitch length).

Now to sew the satin stitches, set your machine to a zig-

zag stitch and adjust your stitch width and length. (2.0mm
width and 0.6mm length is recommended). Carefully turn
your fabric under the machine in smooth motions. Try to
avoid stopping to life the presser foot. It takes a lot of prac-
tice to do this well.

Make the satin stitches on the other half of the hair and
sew up the two pieces, trim seams, and turn. You can now
stuff the hair as you wish. The piece on the right is what
your result should look like! For comparison, the piece
on the left is what it looks like sewing straight through the
piece with regular stitches.

I really hope this tutorial helps with those pesky hair lines!