Lulu - hair ribbon

In this reference picture of Lulu aged 7, she has her hair tied back in a ribbon, a common style of the day. Fringes were also very common for little girls and she has slightly wavy hair although curling hair in rags was in fashion for many decades.











To add the ribbon to the animation puppet I have first tied her hair back from her face, leaving the short fringe hanging forward, making sure the hair is not bulging out and is tied back firmly, the sides especially, and covering any bare patches of head.

I have then held the hair by putting a twist in it and used a fine sewing needle and brown cotton to sew the hair in place. I have sewn the hair to itself here, not into the head. 

This is how the hair looks when I've finished sewing it in place. The twist disappears and the hair is caught in the centre of the head. 





The bow is made from narrow blue ribbon. This particular ribbon was taken from the blue top used for the fabric for Lulu's dress, where it was the hanging loop. This makes sure the colour matches her dress. 

This method is very simple and uses a fork to tie a bow with the ribbon. If you need to make very tiny bows you can use a darning needle with half the loop sawn off. 

Here is the front view. 

The bow is then held in place with a few stitches of blue cotton at the back, not showing through at the front.

The finished bow looks like this.

I have sewn the bow in place on Lulu's hair.