How to Curl Yarn

I recently got to make my very first couple set, a bride and a groom. My client was a recently engaged bride to be and fell in love with my dolls on Facebook. She wanted a bride and groom set to have for her upcoming wedding as a gift for her future husband and decoration at their wedding. For such a special occasion, I wanted to make sure she received exactly what she wanted so I made sure to ask her about everything from the dress shape to the hair color.

She wanted a big ball gown dress (excellent choice), and brown hair for both the bride and groom. She also wanted a pretty specific hair style for the bride. My client wanted her doll to have realistic curly hair, which meant I could not just simply crochet ringlets like I usually do for my curly haired dolls. So I ventured to Pinterest to learn how to curl yarn.

Now I have been wanting to learn this technique for quite a while, but have been putting it on the back burner because my list of things I want to learn is a mile long and I only have so many hours in the day. This, though, was my chance!

Click here to see the post I used to learn! This crocheter has a PDF download too!

The process of making curled yarn is actually rather simple, just requires a bit of time. The supplies you will need are:

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Wooden dowel

Yarn

Iron (and optional spritzer)

Dishcloth

Now for this post I used 3 different types of yarn and 3 different dowel sizes so I could demonstrate the variety of curl sizes that can be created as well as show which kinds of yarn work best. I used a 1/16 in, a 3/8 in, and a ¼ dowel from Michaels. I then had my husband cut each into 3 equal parts so I could curl multiple pieces at once. You can cut them down as short as you would like but I recommend keeping your dowels at least 6 inches long. ALSO make sure to either cut off or avoid the area the sticker was on because there will be a sticky residue and you do not want that to be on your yarn.

The three kinds of yarn I used were a weight 3 super shiny and light yarn (bright orange), my favorite yarn (Yarn Bee) weight 4 (medium orange), and a heavier Crafter’s Secret cotton weight 4 (dark orange).

To curl yarn, here are the basic steps

Step 1:

Create a slip knot with your yarn. Attach the yarn to the dowel and pull the knot tight so the yarn does not slip off the ends.

Step 2:

Wrap the yarn tightly around the dowel. Once you have wrapped the desired amount onto the dowel, trim the end and tie a loose knot so the end is secure on the dowel.

Step 3: (optional)

I used a spritzer to lightly mist my dowels first, you don’t want them soaking wet, but just a little damp.

Step 4:

Place the dowels on the dish towel and cover them. Now you will want to steam them with the iron. I make sure to very thoroughly steam them, flipping the dowels occasionally. (The reason I spritz my yarn first is because my iron steamer is a little weak). You want to make sure the dowels are covered is because you do not want to touch the yarn with the iron and burn it.

Step 5:

Uncover and let dry. This part takes the longest because you want to make sure the yarn is completely dry before you take it off the dowels so it holds the curl.

Step 6:

Once the yarn is dry, remove the curled yarn from the dowels and you are done!

Alright, now that you know the basic steps on how to do it, here is what I learned by using the different sizes and yarn.

When I originally made the curled hair for the bride doll I just used pencils for my dowels because it was what I had readily available at my house. I noticed that the curls were really loose and if I pulled too hard on them or worked with them too much they straightened out completely. The yarn I used was just I Love This Yarn in dark brown from Hobby Lobby, nothing fancy or special. It is mostly acrylic, so I thought maybe if I used yarn of a different weight and material it would react differently.

Dowel 1 – The smallest dowel.

This dowel worked great for all three kinds of yarn. I did notice with the Yarn Bee that is was weighed down a little more, but overall the three held their curl tightly and did not stretch out easily.

Dowel 2 – The medium dowel.

This dowel worked the best with the bright orange and the medium orange yarns. The heaviest yarn still held the curl, but the weight did cause more stretching and less curl towards the top.

Dowel 3 – The largest dowel.

This dowel worked well for the Yarn Bee Yarn, but not really for the other two. The curl held fairly well and did not straighten out too easily. At shorter lengths though, it did hold for all three.

Conclusion:

For all curls of all sizes, the longer your piece of yarn, the more it will stretch because of the weight. For the bride doll, the way I was able to alleviate some of my issues was by making the curls shorter so the yarn weight would not drag them down.  So if you want bigger curls, you can use the bigger dowel, you just will want to cut your strands into smaller lengths.

The thinnest dowel worked amazingly. I definitely will be using that size when I do curly hair again. The curls held tight and kept the “styled” looked even when pulled and messed with.

If you have any questions about the yarn I used or the process please feel free to contact me!