The Fright Wig

The photo on the left shows the fright wig underway. I happened to have two brands of fuzzy threads in my stash I thought might be perfect for the wig of the right hand trick or treater. One used to be called Viola when it was distributed by SharonG but I believe the new name is VaVoom. It's a soft hair-like thread that is very thin and delicate. In the photo below it is the purple thread in the plastic bag and in the stitched samples. It is distributed by dede Odgen now. The other is less soft and more plastic. It used to be called Charleston when the defunct Needle Necessities sold it. Now it is called The Legacy Collection and comes from ThreadWorX. It's the skein of green you see in the photo below.

Here's a link to information about VaVoom.

http://www.needleartworks.com/dsgnr/deo/deo9.htm

And here is one for The Legacy Collection. My skein of green is color #606 Kelly Green.
http://www.threadworx.com/product.php?catid=5&catName=The%20Legacy%20Collection

Even though the black VaVoom is soft like cashmere and looks like long hair and the green looks like a plastic feather boa, they are stitched the same way--in long stitches. The stitched sample you see uses dark purple VaVoom and fancy stitches to show what these threads can do. The stitching is by my dear friend Penny Evans who test drove Viola for me 4-5 years back. Thanks, Penny!

I decided to use the ThreadWorX green instead of the Viola purple since I thought the green would stand out against the purple background of the stocking and the purple robe next to it better. This thread comes in precut yard lengths, so I pulled one out carefully from the skein and cut it in half to have an easy-to-use 18 inch length. Then I used a number 18 needle so that there was plenty of room in the eye for the thread. My canvas is 14 count, by the way, so even the holes are large enough for this thread.

If you look at the top photo again, you'll see that I first stitched three straight lines spaced across the roughly fan shape of the wig. This divides the area into 4 pie-shaped wedges. Then I stitched straight stitches across one wedge at a time, working from left to right. You can work from right to left--this doesn't matter--but I think it helps to distribute the thread evenly to work a section at a time. You can work one half if you want, but I preferred to divide the wig into four areas.

The little plastic hairs that stick out of the central core (look at the green thread in the needle on the left side of the top photo) get mashed down in stitching. One you have totally finished the area in this thread, take your needle and gently stroke it a few times in the opposite direction you want the hairs to point. Then stroke it many times (gently!) in the direction the hairs should point. This gentle petting motion will pull the hairs out from under the long stitches and make it fuzzy.

I'll need to pet the hairs again occasionally as I add other attachments and do the finishing. They do get matted down or point the wrong way after handling. But you'll get the fright wig effect very quickly and easily using either of these threads.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow