DIY Troll Wig

Today I'm showing a step-by-step photo tutorial on how to duplicate this fun troll wig! It's super simple and fast, and is a cheap alternative to buying a legitimate wig from anywhere else. I had this funky faux fur fabric on hand, (whoa, there's some alliteration for you) so I paid $0. (My friend got three scraps of it at an estate sale and we were both scratching our heads like.... what are these FOR!? Well, now we know. Thanks Jeanelle!) The wigs I was looking at on Amazon were going for around $30. Depending on where you go, and if you use a coupon or not... my guess is you could buy the material and make this bad boy for less than $5. Each piece that I had was roughly 21" x 12.5" which meant that I had to get a little creative in order to make a wig that was large enough for my head, but don't worry, you can buy a bigger piece! First, let's make a list of what you'll need.

Materials:

1/2 yard faux fur (your color of choice)

Sharp scissors

Butcher Paper + Pen

Measuring tape

A sewing machine

Matching thread

Pins or clips

A hot glue gun

Here is the pattern for you... how simple is that?! Only two pieces, and my measurements are below. You can draw up your own based on your own measurements.

Mine is roughly 9.5" across the bottom before the curve, which adds up to be 19 inches all the way around. You can add or take out length if your head is a different circumference. Take note of the acute angle this pattern creates at the fold... it's not 90 degrees! Why is that important? Well, once it's unfolded, it will create a broad 'v' shape along the bottom.

Now that it looks like a sting-ray, you can see what the shape of your soon-to-be-cut fur will look like, as well as the height of it. Since I didn't have much wiggle room, mine was 12.5" tall. But since half of a yard equals 18 inches, you could make yours up to 18 inches tall! How fun would that be?

Here is the inside-out view of the finished wig. That extra wedge piece will end up being the front of your wig!

And here's the back.

 The front view of the finished products...

The side view of the finished wigs. See the little "bump" the wedge piece creates? It allows it to actually form comfortably around your head and adds a nice shape to it as well!

Before we start, I need to show you an important tip when working with shaggy furs. Any edges that are going to be sewn (or cut) need to be clear of whispies. Carefully brush the fur away from the edges so it looks like the picture below.

See? No wandering hairs to be seen. I'm going to show you why that's important.

Here, I've folded the fabric and put the edges together to prepare to sew.

These clips are game-changers, I use them all of the time instead of pins! Then I sewed a little bit up the side and flipped it right-side-out.

You can see the seam at the bottom, but if I cover that part up........

Whoa. You can't even tell there's a seam there!? Yup! That's because we were careful to brush the fur AWAY from the edges, so that they remain free to be brushed over the seam to conceal it. It's brilliant, and works brilliantly. SO, please remember that, and ALSO remember that similarly, when cutting out the pattern, you'll absolutely need to brush the hairs away from the line you are GOING to cut (before you cut it!) otherwise there will be no long, perfect furry hairs to cover up the line you inevitably will be making when sewing the pieces together. Does that make sense? If not, please read it again, and again. If you don't understand this part, then your wig won't turn out nearly as pretty.

Ok, yay! So we're moving on now. It's time to cut stuff. This part gets messy! You'll have little hairs everywhere, so get your lint rollers ready!

Fold the fabric in half and line up the pattern's "FOLD" edge with the fur's folded edge. I didn't even bother tracing the pattern this time around, you can though. For this one, I measured the important lengths and then just eye-balled it. It's pretty forgiving.

Here are the two pieces, side by side, just full of potential.

Plop the wedge piece like so, and sew along the K'nex piece as shown in the picture below:

Next, pin or clip the remaining side, and sew all the way from the bottom to the tippy-top in one go! This literally only requires two seams that are almost straight lines! It's outrageously simple, and I love simple. Remember to keep the hairs as far away from the edges as possible the entire time.

And voila! Look familiar? It should look like the inside of the pink wig I showed you at the very beginning.

Then, just turn it right side out to behold its glory! The hair will be kind of wild at first. I remedied this by slathering my hands in aloe vera gel, running my fingers through the neon colored hair and then brushing it up with a comb while it was still wet.

Here's the front view.

And the side view.

And the back view...

Uhhh, yikes. Basically, I looked up from taking these tutorial pictures and my kids had lined these up like so. And I laughed a lot, took this picture, and then resumed my tutorial-minded pictures. You are so welcome!

The last step is super easy. Make sure the wig fits properly, if it's too large, take it in a little bit. If it's too small, then stitch-rip the seams you made and replace the wedge with an even wider/taller wedge.

Once you're satisfied with the fit, use a hot glue gun to turn the edge under 1/4 inch all the way around. It will create a finished look and will also keep any loose ends from falling out.

And then, guess what? You did it! You're done. Go party like a 1990's troll... preferably not in the nude. 

I'd love to hear how this turned out for you! And I'm willing to answer any questions to the best of my ability. Here are some pictures of my cute kiddos so you can see how they fit on little heads vs. my bigger head. Thanks for visiting!

I'm sorry about the super poor picture quality on this shot of me (and all of the pictures of the kids!) I used my phone for us humans just out of convenience, and the lighting was pretty poor due to the smoky skies we've been having. But I'm going to work with what I've got... that's kind of my life motto!