Well, I'm finally "biting the bullet" and addressing those new mohair wigs I've been wanting (and needing) for some time. It's a messy, labour-intensive project. I've crocheted four wig caps, sorted through the bags of mohair and drawn up four patterns - sets of lines the length the weftings need to be. I'm using dyed angora goat mohair that I bought years ago from the woman from Edgewood Angoras who raised goats just for doll hair.
Many people use the term "mohair" to cover both Tibetan lambskin and the hair from angora goats, but they are not the same at all. Tibetan sheep are raised for meat and their pelts are used for a host of products - including doll wigs. But real mohair comes from angora goats. It gets shorn off yearly, is cleaned and dyed, and also used for many things including being spun into yarn, and it's also used for making wigs for dolls.
The mohair I have comes in lengths from 3-15". The really short mohair was shorn off the goat twice a year from an older goat, or once from a younger goat. Longer mohair was shorn off yearly. And the really long mohair was shorn off only once every two years. To get the longer mohair, the goats would have to wear "cloth coats" to keep their coats reasonably clean, otherwise they just become a dirty tangled mess full of burrs and other plant material. The woman I bought my mohair from named all her goats. They all had different amounts of curl in their hair - some goats had very tight curls, while others had loose waves - so she was careful to keep each goat's locks separate, and would label the packages of dyed hair with the name of the goat it came from too - I have mohair from 'Jezebel', 'Hope', 'Rebecca', 'Hero', 'Delilah', 'Cleopatra', 'Pharaoh', 'Lucille', among others. I've already sewn the wefting for one wig with some beautiful dark auburn mohair from 'Cherub'.
Many people use the term "mohair" to cover both Tibetan lambskin and the hair from angora goats, but they are not the same at all. Tibetan sheep are raised for meat and their pelts are used for a host of products - including doll wigs. But real mohair comes from angora goats. It gets shorn off yearly, is cleaned and dyed, and also used for many things including being spun into yarn, and it's also used for making wigs for dolls.
The mohair I have comes in lengths from 3-15". The really short mohair was shorn off the goat twice a year from an older goat, or once from a younger goat. Longer mohair was shorn off yearly. And the really long mohair was shorn off only once every two years. To get the longer mohair, the goats would have to wear "cloth coats" to keep their coats reasonably clean, otherwise they just become a dirty tangled mess full of burrs and other plant material. The woman I bought my mohair from named all her goats. They all had different amounts of curl in their hair - some goats had very tight curls, while others had loose waves - so she was careful to keep each goat's locks separate, and would label the packages of dyed hair with the name of the goat it came from too - I have mohair from 'Jezebel', 'Hope', 'Rebecca', 'Hero', 'Delilah', 'Cleopatra', 'Pharaoh', 'Lucille', among others. I've already sewn the wefting for one wig with some beautiful dark auburn mohair from 'Cherub'.
Now I'm making the wefting from some lovely dark brown mohair from 'Mandrake'. He had very curly hair, but the mohair I have is among the last that was sold and it's full of plant material, so needs considerable combing before I can even sew it into wefting.
I figure I'll sew the wefting for all four wigs at once, and then glue the hair onto the individual caps. I know if I just finish one wig at a time from start to finish I most likely won't make more than one or two, but if the wefting is all sewn I'll have to finish them all. At least that's the plan - I could get fed up untangling and combing the dirty mohair. Hopefully the locks from the next goat are cleaner!
I figure I'll sew the wefting for all four wigs at once, and then glue the hair onto the individual caps. I know if I just finish one wig at a time from start to finish I most likely won't make more than one or two, but if the wefting is all sewn I'll have to finish them all. At least that's the plan - I could get fed up untangling and combing the dirty mohair. Hopefully the locks from the next goat are cleaner!
RSS Feed
